Millwall man out to ‘ruin Christmas’ for former boss Harris
MILLWALL winger Jed Wallace has revealed he sent a tongue-in-cheek text message to his former manager Neil Harris in which he vowed to ‘ruin his Christmas.’
The Bluebirds boss is a legend at The Den, owing to both his record-goalscorer status and his achievements there as a manager.
However, there will be no love lost when the Bluebirds’ Championship rivals come to town on Boxing Day (3pm), with the added needle of their former manager being in the opposition dugout.
Harris is still thought of incredibly highly at the London club and, of course, enjoys good relationships with many of the players there, having quit as their manager just two months ago.
Harris signed Wallace for Millwall, having previously taken him on a couple of loan spells from Wolves, and the winger has grown to become one of their top performers and will certainly be a danger man for them on Thursday.
And he certainly has the bit between his teeth to get one over on his old boss. Harris, though, was defiant in his response.
“I love Chopper (Harris),” Wallace told LondonNewsOnline. “When he got the job I texted him saying ‘all the best, great to see you back in the game - look forward to ruining your Christmas.’
“He texted back saying ‘that’s one game I won’t be losing.’
“I can’t imagine I’d be texting that to Walter Zenga (his former manager) at Wolves. I haven’t spoken to him since I left.
“We’re no more together now than we were under Neil.
“He built the group and the gaffer now [Gary Rowett] has been the first one to stress that.”
Both teams head into the clash in indifferent form. Both have two wins, two draws and one defeat in their last five outings and sit 12th and 13th in the Championship table.
Neil Warnock was furious following the first meeting between these two sides earlier in the season, feeling his side’s sloppy defending had thrown away two points, with the game eventually ending in a 2-2 draw.
It was an atypically thrilling encounter between the two sides, with Wallace claiming the physical nature of CardiffMillwall clashes means they are never usually a ‘classic.’ “The football normally needs a paracetamol at half-time!” he said.
But Wallace is anticipating a tough test at Cardiff City this week and praised the Bluebirds’ impressive squad depth.
“Some of the lads there don’t get on the bench and you think ‘crikey, they’d improve us,’” Wallace added.
“It’s always going to be difficult for the likes of ourselves, Charlton and Hull to compete with the bigger clubs.”