Millwall defender reveals he was 90 minutes late for his first training session with club + how rowing nearly became his sporting focus

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

There is more than one reason why Alex Mitchell’s Millwall career might not have happened.

The first is that he took up rowing at The Windsor Boys’ School as his focus switched away from football in his teens.

And the second is that he turned up extremely late for his first training session with the Lions.

Centre-back Mitchell, 19, has won plaudits for the way he seamlessly adapted to National League football after signing for Bromley in April.

And Millwall boss Gary Rowett has already stated that it would be a backward step for the young defender to go back into the development set-up next season.

Mitchell is convinced that the muscle he packed on rowing and lifting weights – he has a gym in his home – have helped him deal with the physicality side of the game.

He played for hometown Windsor at junior level and had trials with Brentford, Reading, Wycombe and Aldershot.

Then came a switch into 2k regattas under the tutelage of Mark Wilkinson [director of rowing at Windsor Boys’ School].

“We used to do it in an eight or a quad – I was normally in the middle because I was one of the biggest and was more about brute force than technique,” said Mitchell. “It’s a very, very technical sport.

“It is good to get into, because it teaches you dedication. You’re on the river very early, before school, and then you’re back out there afterwards – rowing or in the gym. I was training nine or 10 times a week.

“Doing that for a year really bulked me up.

“I loved it. Because you are not rowing as a one, you rely on others. You get quite close. My parents loved it, because of the advantages it has for going into university. You can go to a lot of good ones without having the necessary grades, because of the rowing. I don’t think the money is great, unless you get to the very top. But I definitely would have carried it on.

“Barry Dunn at Millwall recruited me. I can’t really remember exactly how he got hold of my family but he asked me to come in for a training session. I had a day off from rowing, which was quite lucky because I probably wouldn’t have gone otherwise.

“I was an hour and a half late. They train in Eltham, Well Hall and you should go around the M25 – it is a longer route but way quicker. I went through central London and got stuck in traffic.

“I thought I had already blown it. I hate being late, so it was an awful feeling when I got there. But luckily they liked me and the rest is history. I kicked on from that.”

Mitchell is at the start of his playing career but is studying part time for a degree in business management and accountancy using The Open University.

“My dad and mum have always said it, you want to plan for after football – because it is a very short career,” he said. “You never know what is going to happen – you’re one injury away from ruining it.”

Mitchell has had to cut down his time spent pumping iron on the advice of the club.

“I gym all the time – it is one of my main strengths,” he said. “I kind of got told this year to stop doing upper body, because I think they said I was getting a bit too balloon-shaped. You need to be lean.

“But my physique has helped me adapting to the men’s game, as well as me learning the game mentally.

“Twenty-threes football has made me become the player I am, with the help of Paul Robinson and Kevin Nugent. The way that Gary Rowett has talked about me does a lot for my confidence. I want to work as hard as I can and whatever happens, happens.”

Mitchell’s summer break can start now that Bromley’s promotion hopes are over. The Ravens beat Notts County in their first play-off match but then lost 3-2 at Hartlepool in the semi-final on Sunday.

Mitchell describes the switch to competitive matches as “very, very different”.

“I remember my first game, Chesterfield away, and I was playing against a player who was quite old and the other striker was quite small. You look at that and think ‘it’s not going to be that challenging’ – because the older person isn’t going to run and the smaller person isn’t going to want the ball in the air.

“But the way they used their body and could read the game so quickly, it was a completely different tempo.

“What I found out is that everybody in a team has their main attributes they play off and everyone had the same objective of how they wanted to play. It was really hard to step up to that tempo.

“I played 10 or 11 games and feel I properly fitted into it and could read what teams were trying to do.”

Mitchell admits that more experienced players did try and play on his lack of senior action – usually the opposing centre-backs.

“I’d go up for corners and I’d kind of be a bit shaky, because I’m up against 40-year-old guys whose hairline starts at the back of their head. They are calling you every name under the sun. I’m like thinking ‘please don’t hurt me’.

“But it’s 90 minutes – do what you’ve got to do to win and say whatever you need to say to get into your opponents’ heads. It never got into my head, I’m quite good like that.”

Hartlepool were 3-0 up inside 24 minutes before Bromley found some kind of response.

“At half-time I went into the dressing room devastated,” said Mitchell. “But in the second half we properly went for it and I feel we got our pride back.

“The whole set up at Bromley is unbelievable. The gaffer Andy Woodman, Alan Dunne and Roger Johnson are so professional in how they do everything.

“The standard – on and off the pitch – is the same as Millwall. You have to be on it 24/7 and if you’re not, as a young player, then you’re going to get absolutely handled by the seniors players.

“It’s a great club.”