{"id":478024,"date":"2026-04-18T17:35:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T16:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/?p=478024"},"modified":"2026-04-18T18:52:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T17:52:24","slug":"alex-neil-reflects-as-millwall-close-in-on-play-offs-its-not-fortune-its-hard-graft-every-single-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/sport\/football\/millwall\/alex-neil-reflects-as-millwall-close-in-on-play-offs-its-not-fortune-its-hard-graft-every-single-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Neil reflects as Millwall close in on play-offs: \u2018It\u2019s not fortune\u2026 it\u2019s hard graft every single day\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><strong>Alex Neil said Millwall are on the verge of a play-off place not through \u201cfortune\u201d but \u201chard graft every single day\u201d.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Lions are on the cusp of securing their first Championship top-six finish since 2002 after beating Queens Park Rangers 2-0 at The Den, moving nine points clear of seventh-placed Wrexham with three games left.<\/p><script type=\"text\/plain\" data-tcf=\"waiting-for-consent\" data-id=\"69959\" data-bid=\"1\" data-placement=\"448384\" data-no-track=\"impressions\">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<\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>If Millwall pick up at least a point at Stoke City on Tuesday evening, or Wrexham fail to beat Oxford United, they will confirm a play-off place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Neil, however, was unfazed when asked by <em>NewsAtDen<\/em> how he felt about confirming a play-off appearance. <\/p><script type=\"text\/plain\" data-tcf=\"waiting-for-consent\" data-id=\"68153\" data-bid=\"1\" data-placement=\"448385\" data-no-track=\"impressions\">PGRpdiBpZD0ic291dGgtNDEzNzQyODk0NyIgY2xhc3M9InNvdXRoLWNvbnRlbnQgc291dGgtZW50aXR5LXBsYWNlbWVudCIgc3R5bGU9Im1hcmdpbi1sZWZ0OiBhdXRvO21hcmdpbi1yaWdodDogYXV0bzt0ZXh0LWFsaWduOiBjZW50ZXI7Ij48IS0tICAvMTU0NzI1MDcwLDIyNjk0MTk2OTY5L3NvdXRod2Fya25ld3Mvc291dGh3YXJrbmV3cyAtLT4NCjxkaXYgaWQ9ImRpdi1ncHQtYWQtMngxIj4NCjxzY3JpcHQ+DQpnb29nbGV0YWcuY21kLnB1c2goZnVuY3Rpb24oKSB7IGdvb2dsZXRhZy5kaXNwbGF5KCdkaXYtZ3B0LWFkLTJ4MScpOyB9KTsNCjwvc2NyaXB0Pg0KPC9kaXY+ICAgICAgICAgIDwvZGl2Pg==<\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Fine,&#8221; Neil said. &#8220;Honestly. I&#8217;ve been consistent all the way along. I understand how important it is to the club. I understand how important it is to the fans. It&#8217;s certainly important to me. It&#8217;s important to the players. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;But when you work every single day, every single minute to get somewhere, you don&#8217;t sit there as if you&#8217;ve won the lottery because it&#8217;s not fortune. It&#8217;s hard graft every single day for every single person at the club. So as far as I&#8217;m concerned, I said it before, we&#8217;ve had a brilliant season.<\/p><script type=\"text\/plain\" data-tcf=\"waiting-for-consent\" data-id=\"71156\" data-bid=\"1\" data-placement=\"448386\" data-no-track=\"impressions\">PGRpdiBpZD0ic291dGgtMzI1NDg2NjExNSIgY2xhc3M9InNvdXRoLWluLWFydGljbGUtbXB1OSBzb3V0aC1lbnRpdHktcGxhY2VtZW50Ij48IS0tICAvMTU0NzI1MDcwLDIyNjk0MTk2OTY5L3NvdXRod2Fya25ld3Mvc291dGh3YXJrbmV3cyAtLT4NCjxkaXYgaWQ9ImRpdi1ncHQtYWQtbXB1OSI+DQo8c2NyaXB0Pg0KZ29vZ2xldGFnLmNtZC5wdXNoKGZ1bmN0aW9uKCkgeyBnb29nbGV0YWcuZGlzcGxheSgnZGl2LWdwdC1hZC1tcHU5Jyk7IH0pOw0KPC9zY3JpcHQ+DQo8L2Rpdj4gICAgIDwvZGl2Pg==<\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;As far as the play-offs go, wherever Wrexham are, I don&#8217;t spend too much time thinking about that. We just need to do our bit. We&#8217;ve done it, and now we&#8217;ve got three other games that we need to go and try and do it again. So it&#8217;s a good start, but that&#8217;s all it is at the moment. We&#8217;ve got Tuesday to focus on. The lads are knackered, so they&#8217;re certainly not down there jumping about celebrating. We&#8217;re just focused on what the next game looks like.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alex Neil said Millwall are on the verge of a play-off place not through \u201cfortune\u201d but \u201chard graft every single day\u201d. The Lions are on the cusp of securing their first Championship top-six finish since 2002 after beating Queens Park Rangers 2-0 at The Den, moving nine points clear of seventh-placed Wrexham with three games [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18969,"featured_media":478033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfio_featured_image":true,"sfio_embed_code":"<smartframe-embed customer-id=\"b8c00f0bc75c1b7e35975e9d278ae7cf\" image-id=\"vqLefBK1g4G7\" v=\"f9c32bd173b1b4ea497e63416f67ee6f\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 5085px; aspect-ratio: 5085\/2971;\"><\/smartframe-embed><!-- https:\/\/smartframe.io\/embedding-support -->","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[13590],"tags":[18186],"class_list":["post-478024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-millwall","tag-update-me"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18969"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478024"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":478037,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478024\/revisions\/478037"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southwarknews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}