Seven Takeaways from our Interview with Neil Harris
UTAS sat down for an hour long chat with Neil Harris this week, here's what we learned from him
Neil Harris joined Jules and Jordan earlier this week for a chat about all things United and his career to date. From starting out at Cambridge City, to becoming a Millwall legend, moves to Cardiff, Forest, Gillingham and Southend along the way before returning to the Den as manager, and his journey that has bought him to (we’re sure he’ll agree) the pinnacle of his career so far: the Abbey.
Take a listen to the podcast on all good platforms, and read on for our takeaways from the interview…
He’s previously tried to sign a number of our players
We often complain about the strength of our squad, but it’s easy to forget we have some real quality in the first team. Having managed most of his career in the Championship, Harris mentioned he’d previously tried to sign Michael Morrison, George Thomas, Danny Andrew, James Brophy and Jordan Cousins (who he could never afford/attract).
He really buys in to the vision of the club
I’m not going to lie - I didn’t know that much about Harris before he took over other than his reputation as a footballer. I assumed we were getting a manager who was here for a paycheck. But hearing Neil speak, you can tell he really gets what Paul Barry is trying to achieve here at the Abbey. He actually turned down two jobs before us as he didn’t want to work with the owners. He trusts Barry, and speaks excitedly about the future.
He’s ambitious
For all Mark Bonner’s positives he always came across as very pragmatic - he knew the stature of the club in relation to others in our league, and seemed to think that staying up was success in itself. Harris understands that we’re never going to be in a position to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on players, but is certain that we can still take the fight to the big clubs. There’s always big clubs in every division, and they don’t always do well.
His unique career path informs who he is today
Neil came into professional football late - moving from Cambridge City to Millwall when he was 20 years old, and working in insurance in the city before that. He almost had a move to Spurs lined up, but was then diagnosed with testicular cancer. Having made a full recovery, Neil went on to become a club legend at Millwall, taking them to an FA Cup Final and winning promotion twice. He remains their all-time record goalscorer. Neil’s recovery from illness informs exactly the type of person he is - he has no regrets about not moving to Tottenham, and feels lucky to continue to do the job he’s passionate about.
He loves Cambridge as a city
Neil speaks really fondly of his time at Cambridge City, and after the recording at the Portland Arms we invited him to see the site of City’s Milton Road ground, now home to our very own Jack Swindlehurst. Harris declined, saying he would find it too emotional. He’s fairly local (he’s an Essex boy and former Southend season ticket holder), and both him and his wife have close connections to the city itself from his days playing here where it became “his second home”, so to get the opportunity to manage us was a no-brainer and almost came across as a privilege.
He speaks very highly of Mark Bonner
We won’t dwell on past managers too much, but Harris was very knowledgable of everything Mark achieved at United, and spoke very highly of Mark as a manager. I don’t know about you, but given time to sit and chat, Neil articulates himself much better than he comes across in the short post-match interviews on Radio Cambs.
Jordan is crap at Football Jenga
John Beck? In 2003? Really?!
