GARY Rowett’s contract extension may end up being the highlight of Millwall’s summer.
The Lions announced that Rowett had penned a new deal on Saturday afternoon after confirming the signings of Zian Flemming, George Honeyman and Benik Afobe earlier in the week. Charlie Cresswell’s season-long loan from Leeds United was confirmed soon after, capping off a busy nine-day period at The Den.
Speaking to NewsAtDen, the Millwall boss admitted that he was “delighted to commit to what I see as exciting times for the club”.
“I think it’s all about the club moving forward in a positive way. We’ve got a lot of unity at the moment, a lot of clarity on how we want to work and how we want to improve. I think the club have been very good in the way that they want to try and move forward with the new training ground and different ways of working within the club.
“It was pretty easy for me to look at where I could see things going. I think John (Berylson) has backed our ideas fabulously well, which isn’t easy after the period anyone in business has had over the last few years. But it shows that we want to make the most of us being a stable, long-term thinking club.”
Rowett confirmed that the board proposed extending his current deal earlier in the summer, but that he prefers to think about matters taking place on the pitch rather than contract discussions off it.
“It was something that I didn’t take long to think about,” he admitted.
“I’ll be really honest, I’ve tried to stay away from those discussions and let people deal with that on my behalf and deal with the club on my behalf.
“For me, it’s about football and I’m not one for talking about myself really, I’d rather get on with the football side of it and make sure we’re completely focused on what we’re doing.”
Rowett adds that part of the reason for him extending his deal was to do with the club’s ambition in the summer transfer market, reaffirming that Millwall still have work to do before the season starts in just over three weeks’ time.
“I think it shows the level of investment from the club to try and bring in some younger players at the peak of their careers. They’re different types of players, whether they’re loans or permanents. I think we’re always trying to get permanent deals because we want them with us and we want to develop them and to be our assets as opposed to other clubs’ assets.
“But at the same time, we’re the type of club that’ll always try and utilise the loan market for our own benefit as well as others clubs’, and I think there’ll be more to come as well.
“I think what’s exciting is that this is probably a portion of what we want to do. Obviously the plan is to still bring another two or three players in, and I think we’ll try to bring quality players in as well. That’s a real statement from the club.”
Photo: Millwall FC