admin‘It is hopefully a statement of my intention to be here for the longer term’ – Alex Neil on why he decided to sign new contract with Millwall
ALEX Neil said his decision to sign a new contract with Millwall was “a statement of my intention to be here for the longer term.”
As first reported by NewsAtDen, Neil signed a new contract with Millwall on Wednesday, June 4, that will keep him at the club for the foreseeable future, only just over five months after he was first appointed Lions boss on December 30.
The Scotsman took over a side that had only won once in their past nine games, and, after a slow start, guided Millwall to within touching distance of the top six, with the Lions level on points with sixth-placed Coventry City heading into the final day of the season.
Millwall narrowly missed out on the play-offs after losing 3-1 away at second-placed Burnley, who finished the campaign unbeaten at Turf Moor, and finished eighth.
Neil wants to build on last season’s successes.
“It’s a huge feather in my cap in terms of the trust that Steve and Jimmy have shown in me,” Neil said. “They obviously gave me a new contract to stay on and move the project on to what we want to try and do.
“Equally, I think it is hopefully a statement of my intention to be here for the longer term and try and build as a club. I think stability at every club is really important. I think a lot of people talk about it, but when it comes to the crunch, they don’t have the bravery sometimes to stick with it. So I think that we’re different in that respect.
“I know there’s been a lot of churn of late in terms of over the last couple of seasons, and I think that’s been something that’s not been planned, if you like. From Jimmy’s perspective, I think there have been circumstances that have sort of led the way things have gone. But I think what it does show is how he sees sort of sustained success at the club, to try and achieve that. Hopefully, we can certainly build on that and do that together.
“For Jimmy and Steve and the club to have as much confidence in me, to give me a new contract to try and take this project forward, certainly for the next few seasons, is really important to me. It’s like anything else, that’s what you search for as a coach, because you want to be part of something bigger than yourself. You want to try and drive it forward.
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