Harris seeks Den date to help keep his Cup love affair going strong
No wonder watching the FA Cup draw has become a family ritual in the Harris household.
Tonight Neil Harris, his wife and their children will take their usual places on the sofa to watch, like millions of football fans, the draw on BBC One after Chelsea’s game against Manchester United.
This will be the second time in three years that Harris will be waiting to find out who his Millwall side will face in the quarter-finals.
His love for the tournament dates further back than his managerial career, as May will mark 15 years since he was part of the Millwall team who reached the 2004 final.
As a child he was also at Wembley to see Wimbledon, the team Millwall dumped out on Saturday, beat Liverpool in one of the competition’s most famous finals, in 1988.
“I’ve always been honest enough to say I love the competition,” said Harris. “I grew up watching it. I saw Wimbledon beat Liverpool at Wembley, went with my father to watch the game. He was a Wimbledon fan, so I really enjoyed that.
“I loved it as a player and a manager. It brings out the best in us. This competition is built on clubs like Millwall and Wimbledon and Newport, and of causing the upsets – that’s what it’s all about.
“I’ve travelled around the world to watch England play, so I think I understand and get the competition, and I understand the value, its importance to the supporters, and certainly the importance financially to my owner.”
Millwall were beaten by a Cristiano Ronaldo-inspired Manchester United in 2004, then Tottenham Hotspur thrashed Harris’s team 6-0 at White Hart Lane in the last eight two years ago.
“I would like to be in the quarterfinal at the Den,” said Harris. “The last time, we went to Spurs and it was a difficult afternoon, a great learning curve for all of us, because their mentality and professionalism was unbelievable. So I would like to be at home, that’s important.
“I’ll watch the draw with my wife and children like I always do. Whether we are in it or not, because I love the competition.”
Just as Harris is developing a reputation for being a Cup specialist, so is Murray Wallace, who netted the stoppage-time winner against Everton and then scored the goal that knocked out AFC Wimbledon.
Millwall had failed to score in or win any of their three Championship games between the Everton and Wimbledon ties. They are just two points above the relegation zone, but have two games in hand thanks to their Cup run.
Asked how he would keep the concentration of his players on the league campaign while preparations for another quarter-final begin, Harris said: “We don’t lose that focus in the changing room.
“I think we know how hard it is to stay in the Championship. We know how hard the fight is we are having at the moment. But that is six wins and three draws and two defeats in 11 games.”