NEW Millwall first-team development coach Adam Barrett turned down approaches from a number of other clubs to join the Lions.
Barrett, 37, retired as a player with Southend last month and was part of Millwall’s coaching staff at White Hart Lane last Sunday.
Barrett, who will also coach the U23s after Justin Skinner left the club last week, was contacted by Millwall boss Neil Harris after he gave up playing.
“In football word soon gets around,” Barrett explained. “My phone didn’t stop after I had done it. It was quite overwhelming. I had options, which was lovely.
“I was looking at my options but this was a no-brainer. This was the one that really excited me. To come in and work for the gaffer and Dave Livermore and Scott Fitzgerald, that was really appealing to me.
“We started talking and it happened pretty quickly. There were a few people talking to us, I won’t say who.
“But when this came up this was the one I wanted. It excited me and I couldn’t wait to come and join.”
Barrett and Harris knew each other previously and both live in Southend. Barrett completed his Uefa B coaching badge with former Lions defender and coach Andy Frampton, and links up again with Steve Kavanagh, who was Southend’s chief executive before he joined Millwall.
“I know Steve, so the contact was quite easy then,” Barrett said. “Steve is very good at his job and spoke highly of the football club. It was nice because you come in and there are a few familiar faces that you’ve worked with before, people like Laurence Bloom as well, the fitness coach I worked with at Southend.
“It just makes settling in easy. I want to get stuck into it now, on the grass every day doing what I enjoy. It was before I turned 30 when I started to take coaching seriously. You realise your career isn’t going to go on forever.
“It was good to get to 37. Football is my passion, it has been my life. This opportunity came up here and I jumped at it, I couldn’t wait to get started.”
Image: Millwall FC