Alex Neil has already told Millwall players what makes him angry as 'deal agreed'

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Millwall’s newest manager has already given the Lions players a head start with their homework.

Millwall are said to have agreed a deal to appoint former Norwich City and Preston boss Alex Neil. The Lions have been searching for a new manager since Neil Harris decided to call it a day, officially leaving after the Middlesbrough defeat.

But they have now found their man, with South London News reporting that a deal has been reached for Neil to take over, while current interim boss David Livermore will take charge on Saturday ahead of taking up a backroom post, assured of a role in Neil’s staff, according to the report.

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Neil comes off a difficult spell at Stoke City that ended in 2023, but before that he had secured promotion back to the Championship with Sunderland, and he also has a promotion to the Premier League with Norwich City on his CV. During his Preston days, he just missed out on a play-off spot, but he does look back on the experience positively for the most part.

“I look back with mixed emotions, because I think if we’d held on to a couple of key players, we could have managed what we set out to do,” he told Coaches’ Voice previously. “When I look at how well so many of them have gone on to do, I feel a lot of pride.

“I think I might have got too emotionally involved in parts of it, though. You could say that was a strength or a weakness, but I think it counted against me a little. It meant I didn’t perform as well as I could – or should – have done. That’s certainly a regret. I look back on my time at Preston with a lot of fondness. It was an overwhelmingly positive time.

“When I left in March 2021, I still wasn’t even 40. And yet I’d been a manager for nearly eight years. I’d been in the dugout for almost 400 games. That’s a lot of experience at my age. Even so, I didn’t feel ready for a rest. I did a lot of reflecting on my time at Preston, and took note of the lessons that need to be learned. But I knew how long the days are when you’re out of a job. I was soon ready to dive straight back in.”

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During that interview, Neil also revealed what annoys him the most as a manager, adding: “I try to be positive as a manager, but there are still times when I lose my temper. I don’t get angry at my players for playing badly. There are always going to be times when people have bad games. That’s understandable.

“I do lose my cool when my players don’t do what I’ve asked them to do, though. I’ll have gone to the effort of preparing for a game, of preparing a game plan for a specific opponent. If they do their own thing, you’re just on the touchline thinking: “Why on earth have you done that?” That’s when I get really annoyed.”

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