‘We want to get over finish line ourselves’ – Neil Harris demands Millwall get job done at Sunderland

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Millwall head coach Neil Harris wants his players to go and completely secure their Championship safety at Sunderland today – and not let results elsewhere get the job done.

Successive wins at The Den over Leicester City and then against Cardiff City on Saturday mean the Lions are six points clear of 22nd-placed Huddersfield with only three fixtures remaining.

Millwall’s superior goal difference effectively means that Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday could only catch the South London club by winning all of their games.

Millwall can mathematically secure their spot in England’s second tier this weekend at the Stadium of Light.

Harris has rode back to rescue a Lions side that were lurching towards the bottom three under Joe Edwards before evasive action was taken to make a head coach change in February.

Millwall have not lost at home since their all-time leading goalscorer returned, winning four and drawing once.

Michael Obafemi, Jake Cooper and Duncan Watmore scored in the 3-1 victory over Cardiff.

While it would take a pretty outrageous sequence of results to put Millwall back in danger, Harris  is not intent on putting his feet up yet.

“We are fully focused on the fact we have still got work to do,” Harris told the South London Press.

“We don’t want to be relying on other scores to get us over the line now – so far we have done the business ourselves to drag ourselves into a lot healthier position, in 16th, and looking at teams above us, as well.

“We are going to Sunderland looking to add to the points tally. Of course we are in a much better position – everyone can see that. But we can’t stand still. I’m not here to allow people to stand still. We need to keep driving forward.

“We want to get back to positive results on the road. That’s a huge part of my thought process in my mind as well, we’re not happy with the defeats we’ve had of late away and I want to put that right.”

Millwall have submitted their 2022-23 accounts and it shows losses pre-player sales of £13.7million, an increase of 18 per cent.

Wages rose by one per cent to £22.6m with revenue up four per cent to £19.3m.

The Lions are owed nearly £2m from other clubs for player sales while the EFL loan taken out during Covid will be fully repaid by the end of the 2023-24 accounts.

Owner John Berylson, who passed away in a road traffic accident before this season started, and other directors put in a combined £17m in 2022-23 to fund the running of the club.