WAGs and riches? Not for Lion-heart Harris

13 April 2012

Even by the overheated standards of the 21st Century Premier League, it's been an eye-popping couple of months.

The transfer sagas - Ronaldo, Lampard and Barry - dragging on since May have seen to that. The sums of money that have been attached, like trademarks, to every mention of those players' names suggest football has found a way to defy all economic logic. Or ignore it, more like.

Back in the real world, Neil Harris - a bonafide Den legend - is getting the family ready for a birthday party.

He's just finished playing the Tiger Woods golf game on the Wii with his son and we're keeping our voices down because his little girl's having her nap. Oh, and 'Chopper', as he's known, is grumbling about the preseason trip to Exeter last Saturday where he didn't get a game. So much for the Big Time, League One-style.

But Harris has long since resigned himself to the gap between football's superstars and journeymen.

"People see the stereotype about a footballer's lifestyle and the money he's on," said the 31-year-old. "In the Premier League and the big clubs in the Championship, you're talking about contracts that mean you probably wouldn't ever have to work again. It's a different world.

"In the lower leagues, you don't have those wages or the security of a long contract. You worry about money coming in every week.

"And at this level, when you get to 27 or 28, you start to wonder about how you're going to get on with the rest of your life after playing."

The striker's had a lot on his mind in recent months. This summer he signed a new one-year deal at The Den, something that seemed unlikely six months ago, when manager Kenny Jackett told Harris he'd be releasing him at the end of the season.

Supporters were up in arms. Right now, many suggest he's back in Bermondsey by popular demand. "The gaffer is a strong-willed man but if the fans are saying that, I haven't got a problem with it," said Harris. "If them wanting me to stay had anything at all to do with the manager's decision, then I'd say a big thank you to them for that.'

Mind you, before he won back his place, the support he was receiving led to a bit of embarrassment at times, as Harris said: "I was getting it from the fans all the time: 'Why aren't you in the team?'

"At Millwall, you're not driving in and parking your car under the stadium. You're there outside the ground with everybody else. It was like being interviewed every Saturday."

It was Harris playing a key role in the club beating relegation last spring which led to Jackett (right) re-thinking his plans. He said: "I tried to be a good pro; I kept myself in good shape and hoped I'd get a chance before the end of the season.

"Either I'd go out with a bang or I'd convince the boss I was worth a place. It's as big an achievement as anything in my career: changing the gaffer's mind about me. I'm proud of that."

Not that anybody should be surprised that Harris was ready to scrap for what he thought he was worth. His successful battle with testicular cancer in 2001 is evidence enough of that.

Now, with his summer contract saga behind him, Harris is ready to get stuck into a new season and hoping to get the five goals that will take him past Terry Sheringham's all-time Millwall scoring record of 111.

"Where we were last year just wasn't good enough," he said. "Bottom four of League One? Whatever happens, we will have to improve. The gaffer needed time to bring in his own people and his own players.

"And now I hope we're stable, at the start of something again. All the money in football is in the Championship and above.

"I know we've progressed. But have we progressed enough to be where we want to be after 46 or 49 games, whichever it takes? Just watch this space."

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