Gary Rowett: Neil Harris and David Livermore are Millwall legends – they’ll always be welcome back here
New Millwall manager Gary Rowett has spoken in glowing terms about Neil Harris and David Livermore.
Rowett was on the same UEFA Pro license course as the duo.
Harris quit as Lions boss at the start of October and assistant Livermore followed suit.
“Neil is a top guy,” said Rowett. “Everyone speaks about Neil, but David Livermore was just as integral. They will be welcome back at any point – they are both legends at the club.
“They were a huge part of what the club were about. It’s up to us to try and take it forward in a different type of way – but also maintaining a lot of the principles and the culture they tried to build successfully.
“I did my pro licence with them. Every couple of months, over an 18-month period, you’d be away for a few days with them.
“You get to know people in the bar and on the course. There was no heavy drinking involved – although there was one night where he was singing Millwall songs, somewhere in Marseille!
“Neil and David were the two characters you’d always get along with. They were really good, solid football people.
“I spoke to Neil after he left. Often when a manager leaves somewhere, sometimes their opinions can be slightly clouded by their experiences – but he only had good things to say about the club.
“It’s a mark of him and a mark of what the club means to him.
“It was a big thing that the people who run the club – the owner and Steve [Kavanagh, chief executive] – are brilliant people to work with.
“That’s a massively important part of choosing the next club for me. Just having that opportunity to build something, ideally quickly. But if it needs to be slower, then it needs to be slower.
“The way I’ve always wanted to work is continuity, in terms of team selection.
“Sometimes home and away might be slightly different – with the away form we need to try and address that very quickly and maybe do something slightly different.”
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