Lions boss leaves after Hatters draw

Millwall manager Neil Harris has left the club following last night's 1-1 draw with Luton Town.
Action from Luton's 1-1 draw with Millwall last nightAction from Luton's 1-1 draw with Millwall last night
Action from Luton's 1-1 draw with Millwall last night

The 42-year-old was the seventh longest-serving boss in England’s top four divisions, having taken over in March 2015.

Harris’ assistant manager David Livermore, a former Luton player, has also left his role, as Lions chairman John Berylson told the club’s official website: “Firstly I would like to place on record my sincere gratitude to Neil for all of his hard work, commitment, determination and inarguable success as manager of this great football club.

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“During his time in charge we have achieved so much and so many of his greatest moments as manager will live long in the memory of all Millwall fans fortunate to have seen and enjoyed them.

“Neil’s achievements ensure that he is listed alongside some of the club’s greatest-ever managers, furthering his legendary standing at Millwall.

“Alongside his coaching staff, Neil worked tirelessly to establish a culture both on and off the pitch which was befitting of the club’s history and heritage and this has undoubtedly been achieved. He has laid tremendous foundations from which the club can continue to build on in the months and years ahead.

"Both Neil and David leave with their heads held high, forever friends of the club, and I wish them both every success in their future careers."

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The Lions had come in for criticism from their own supporters during yesterday's draw at Kenilworth Road, despite taking the lead through Tom Bradshaw's strike on the hour.

Callum McManaman levelled with four minutes to go for the Hatters, as speaking afterwards, Harris had said: "Ultimately, I’m pleased.

“The second half performance was outstanding from the group of players.

"We were disappointed to concede so late, definitely, there is that and even after conceding we responded again and finished the game really strongly.

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“I want to praise my players, we changed shape at half time, we had to change in the game a few times to try and match them, and the reaction of the players was outstanding.

“First half we sat in our shape and Bart’s (Bialkowski) made a really good save.

"Luton have had a lot of the ball to penetrate us quite a lot to get from box to box, so I just felt we needed to get a little bit closer to them.

“We didn’t really have any issues first half apart from the great save Bart’s made, but then our problem was using the ball again.

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“We got to the final third but I thought we were very negative, I thought we turned round too many times, we turned down our crossing opportunities, didn’t have enough movement in front of us.

“The change at half time was to match the diamond up and bring Ben Thompson on, enabled us to win the ball higher up the pitch and be more creative.”

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