Millwall head coach Neil Harris is gearing up to pit his wits against Coventry City on Saturday – with new Sky Blues boss Frank Lampard once a team-mate when the pair were together at school.
Both men attended Brentwood School in Essex.
Lampard, when he was Derby manager, talked about their association. The former Chelsea and England international midfielder said: “He (Harris) was in the year above but we played in the same football teams a lot because I managed to play above my year by a couple and so did he, so we managed to play in the upper-sixth games.
“Obviously, he was a good player. I wouldn’t say our school was fantastically successful at football but he stood out as a player and personality that would go on and do something.”
Harris, talking to the **South London Press** this week, said: “I’ve played against Frank’s teams in the past and some of the staff here know Joe (Edwards, part of Lampard’s coaching team at Coventry) very well. He will be very instrumental in the coaching set-up and playing style at Coventry, which means we have an idea of that (how they may set up tactically).
“It is going to be a completely different game to what we might have faced three weeks ago. Mark (Robins) did a brilliant job at Coventry and was very unfortunate to lose his job. That is just a taste of what modern football and society is all about where people have an opinion.
“I’m really pleased for Frank to get an opportunity to manage again. He is a really good guy and has done really well in his career. He did an excellent job at Derby and did a really good job at Chelsea. It was a really tough gig at Everton and fully deserves an opportunity to be at a really good level again.
“I look forward to catching up with him at the weekend but obviously we are really desperate to win at home.”
Millwall were one of the clubs pushing hard for Ephron Mason-Clark in the winter transfer window when Edwards was head coach.
2YPG9PF Coventry City’s Ephron Mason-Clark celebrates scoring their side’s first goal of the game during the Sky Bet Championship match at the Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry. Picture date: Saturday November 30, 2024.
Initially the attacker was loaned back to Peterborough United after a deal was struck with Coventry City.
The 25-year-old scored his first goal for the Sky Blues in Lampard’s opening game in charge, last weekend’s 2-2 draw at home to Cardiff.
Millwall can make it 10 Championship matches unbeaten at the weekend.
Harris said: “It’s a brilliant run. The confidence is high and the spirit is really good.
“We have got to find that consistency of doing it over a 90-minute period but that has always been the challenge for the football club at the level.
“But we have achieved so much – 51 points from the last 30 games and nine unbeaten. We’re 10th in the league, five points off the play-offs with a game in hand – we’re in a really, really good place.
“The boys have done fantastically well. You concede a goal with five minutes to go (at Oxford) and it goes under the radar how brilliantly the group is doing.
“I’m excited about the next two games in four days at The Den.”