GARY Rowett is pleased to be able to continue his ambitious work at “unique club” Millwall after signing a new contract ahead of his fourth season in charge.
Rowett took over from Neil Harris in October 2019 and led the Lions to eighth. In his two full campaigns in charge, Millwall have finished 11th and last season took their top-six challenge all the way to the final day of the season before ending up in ninth.
Rowett highlighted the “togetherness” at all levels of the club as he spoke about his new contract on Millwall’s Recast platform.
“It’s great that the club want me to keep growing what we’ve done and continue the development that we’ve had,” Rowett said.
“There have been very few managers over a long period of time, it shows how John [Berylson], the owner, likes to operate.
“And I think we’ve built in a nice, progressive way. From the day I walked in we’ve always tried to elevate our ambitions every season. We’ve always tried to improve what we do every season and hopefully people have seen the team just play slightly differently and continue to get better and better.
“We’ve had three consistent seasons but we want more, that’s our aim.
“I love working at the club, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it so far. I came here because I know what a unique club it is, I know how unique our fans are.
“Last season was fabulous to be part of. And of course London is an incredible city, so really pleased to be able to continue that work.”
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Rowett has repeatedly spoken about how he wants the club to be ambitious and not settle for “punching above their weight” around the middle of the Championship.
The Lions have broken their transfer record this summer on Dutch midfielder Zian Flemming and also signed Benik Afobe and George Honeyman with Leeds defender Charlie Cresswell set to follow.
Rowett added: “It’s always difficult when a team comes out of League One and your first thought then is to try to solidify in the Championship.
“I spoke about it quite a lot since I’ve been here, maybe our feeling was always to look down and see if we can make sure we don’t get dragged into those positions.
“For us it’s been trying to switch that and show what a good side we are and what good players we’ve got.
“We say to the players we’ve worked hard and deserve to be towards the top end of the table. That’s what we aspire to do.
“It’s not always going to be possible. There are spells in the season when you’re not doing what you wanted to do.
“But we have a real hunger and desire about this group. Even little things like the training ground, the club have supported a lot of the improvements we’ve tried to make. Staff in, the club have supported a lot of the way we’ve tried to move forward with different support for the players.
“We’ve very united at the moment, there is a lot of togetherness between all the layers, the team, the staff, the board, the owner. That’s only going to be positive for this football club.”
Image: Millwall FC
