Neil Harris’ return to Millwall was a success story – yet again he leaves on his own terms

The news of Neil Harris’ Millwall departure came less than two days before his nomination for November’s Championship Manager of the Month. If you’re going to go, do it in style.

Let’s get one thing clear – the return of Harris to the stricken South London club in February has been a total success.

The Lions’ record all-time goalscorer came back with the club in urgent need of positive results. And he kept getting them, not just in the short term when it was required to stave off the looming feeling of doom as Millwall lurched towards the Championship trapdoor under predecessor Joe Edwards, but right up to the point that it was announced his 10-month spell was coming to an end.

At the time of Harris’ exit being confirmed, only Leeds United (59) and Middlesbrough (55) had banked more points than Millwall (51) since he took over the head coach reins.

Before Wednesday’s home game against Sheffield United – his last in The Den dugout – the Lions were averaging 1.64 points per game. If that was extrapolated across a whole campaign then Millwall would collect 75 points, enough to get you in the top six in the last three seasons.

Now we will never know what Harris, whose 18-month deal ran until next summer, would have gone on to achieve.

He is a man who has shown before that he leaves Millwall on his own terms. He did exactly that in October 2019, but not before leading them to League One play-off glory in 2017, two FA Cup quarter-finals and also a 17-game unbeaten run, ended by Fulham in April 2018, that took them close to reaching the Championship play-offs before cruelly missing out.

Now, again, Harris has chosen the timing of his exit.

What has been clear is that there has been a change in dynamics at Millwall since the summer overhaul of senior staff. The landscape has changed.

Long-serving chief executive Steve Kavanagh, head of football operations Alex Aldridge and chief operating officer Billy Taylor lost their jobs at the start of May.

Owner James Berylson, who took over the running of the club after his father John was killed in a car accident in July 2023, appointed Steve Gallen as the director football.

Berylson talked in September about the importance of Millwall signing players that had a “long-term value”. He stated his determination to have “a consistent process for identifying, acquiring, developing talent, and when the opportunity presents itself and makes sense for club and player, to sell on, will allow Millwall to compete at a high level as well as be financially sustainable going forward”.

The plan is to buy younger players that are not fully refined but also have the chance of eventually being sold for far greater sums – Mihailo Ivanovic, Femi Azeez and Dan Kelly, all signed for fees in the summer window, are prime examples of that.

Romain Esse, a constant fixture of Harris’ side this season, might be one of the first to test drive the new model. Crystal Palace have extensively watched the 19-year-old, their sporting director Dougie Freedman has been in attendance at The Den more than once, who has an eight-figure release clause in the massively improved contract he penned in August.

It’s the classic Brentford model. Buy, sell at a big profit, reinvest and bring up the quality of the playing roster as you go along. It sounds so simple. Executing it is another ball game entirely.

That’s not me for one second saying that Millwall’s model will fail.

“The direction we as a club want to head in is clear and the next head coach will play a pivotal role in helping us execute our strategy,” said Gallen as part of the official statement officially breaking the Harris development. It underlined the next appointment will be a head coach who fully embraces the structure.

When Harris was at Millwall in his previous incarnation the job title was different – manager – and so too was his influence over transfers.

This time around he made it clear that, as head coach, he did not have anywhere near such a major say.

I always found him to be someone who carefully measured his words publically and yet there were plenty of more edgy post-match press conferences just as the current campaign started, only intensifying before transfer deadline day.

Young players take time to develop and it is no secret that Serbian striker Ivanovic, a £3million club record signing at the end of the summer transfer window from Vojvodina, and Kelly, a long-term target as his Celtic deal ran down, were not ones that Harris were clamouring for.

Harris revealed after the 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday on August 31 that Ivanovic, 19 at the time, would not feature for two months due to injuries. That timescale was slightly wrong, as the new recruit debuted on September 21 at QPR.

The same could also be said for Macaulay Langstaff, who made the jump from League Two. The Notts County striker struggled to command game time until injuries reduced Harris’ frontline options.

Aidomo Emakhu is another seen by the Millwall hierarchy as a prospect who could have a high ceiling. Harris felt the young Irishman should have been loaned out in January 2024 because of how raw he still is. Emakhu was lined up to go to Wycombe in the last window, only for that to collapse when a deal bringing in Fulham’s Martial Godo fell through on deadline day.

Another major sore point was the late loss of Zian Flemming to Burnley. By the time the Clarets made their move – helicoptering the Amsterdam-born playmaker up to Lancashire – Millwall had no time to bring in a replacement number 10.

It’s not to say that there was no give and take, in relation to deals.

Shaun Hutchinson, who Harris wanted to retain, was eventually handed a 12-month deal after initially being announced by the club as not being retained.

Japhet Tanganga was a no-brainer to get signed up and has played excellently, a number of other Championship clubs now ruing the fact they did not move for the centre-back when he was released by Tottenham.

Middlesbrough loanee Josh Coburn was certainly a deal that met with Harris’ approval.

Harris values players that have experience and the street smarts that they don’t get pickpocketed by more seasoned Championship hustlers. There is plenty of that in the squad – at least for the time being – with Ryan Leonard, George Saville, George Honeyman and Duncan Watmore all important mainstays of his starting 11.

But equally Esse’s emergence, being integrated to the first-team over an 18 month period, to become of the Championship’s hottest properties shows that Harris was not opposed to youth, especially once they could be trusted to perform offensive and defensive duties.

Gary Rowett did the same, in terms of working with players that had decent totals of matches under their belt. It can’t be a coincidence that both have had lengthy careers in management.

Harris was booed by a section of the travelling support after the recent 1-1 draw at Oxford that made it nine matches undefeated in the Championship. He was accused of showing too much loyalty and faith in Tom Bradshaw, instead of turning to Langstaff or Ivanovic.

But should his judgement be doubted? Harris sees his players in training every day and all the nuances that come into selection. And when it comes to judging whether a player was going to be a ‘Millwall type’ his record stood up extremely well – no surprise with 281 matches in charge of the Lions, not to mention the 432 appearances as a player, the fourth most in the club’s history.

It seemed Harris was close to quitting at the end of the summer transfer window but loyalty to staff – some of whom he had brought in – and his connection to the players won out. And it must have been enjoyable putting together the results that took Millwall into the play-off zone – fifth – after a 1-0 victory over Leeds on November 7.

“The way he has galvanised the squad is remarkable, really,” Jake Cooper told the club’s in-house TV channel at the time.

You could also see the sparkle in his eyes and happiness when he spoke to the media after that 2-1 win at Southampton in February, his first game in charge.

Football is all about opinions and decisions. Some matter more than most – manager, director of football, chairman or an ownership group being at the top of any list.

Harris has made his decision. Now Berylson and Gallen will make their decision about who comes next.

Only the passing of time will allow anyone to judge how successful the next chapter is.

Harris has twice returned to the club he is forever connected with and left it in a better place. A hat-trick, something he has had plenty of in his playing days, is unlikely to happen.

But his legacy is secure. One day there might be a statue. Hard not to feel like he deserves it.