There are few clubs in English football where it is more challenging to get a managerial appointment right than at Millwall.
- Published prior to Millwall's 4-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday
It’s important the person coming in can build a team that supporters will identify with and what a significant proportion of the fanbase want is aggressive, direct, high-tempo football.
Often, they like two up top, man-for-man defending on a high line with sliding challenges, and early balls into a physical yet mobile centre-forward.
However, while that template brought the Lions a successful four years under Neil Harris, elements of it are going out of fashion.
Previously, the widely accepted approach to overcoming budgetary limitations was to adopt a more agricultural style, but now individual player development is considered a bigger component.
Clubs who can’t afford the best players often adopt an expansive style to either hold more sway in the loan market, or nurture potential assets to sell on and generate capital.
The limitation of Millwall’s traditional approach is that it isn’t conducive to developing players on a technical level which, combined with the typical age profile of their squads, is why they’ve not had many players that have interested bigger clubs.
The only major exceptions would be Jed Wallace (who walked out on a free) and current favourite Zian Flemming, who have been the star individuals the Lions built their teams around.
For a club that’s achieved five top-half finishes in six Championship seasons following promotion in 2017, they’ve raised only two seven-figure fees in that time, which is not much to show for the good work they’ve done on the pitch.
Gary Rowett’s methods were getting the Lions consistently competitive results, but it wasn’t translating into selling players and helping the club grow financially.
Plus, fans considered Rowett’s approach to be too conservative, missing the intensity of the previous regime, and many wanted something different by the end, so this appointment was a balancing act.
Had chairman James Berylson pandered to tradition, the club would have risked falling behind in the modern game.
Disregard tradition entirely, though, and a section of fans would be asking why the club is playing a style they don’t identify with, developing players they can’t relate to, for the benefit of clubs they dislike.
The sweet spot lies in between.
This appointment is about introducing new ideas, whilst ensuring that core Millwall principles remain embedded.
The patterns of play should be new, the aggression against the ball the same, while assets should be developed alongside a core of players who understand the fabric of the club.
That’s what Millwall hope they’ve achieved in appointing Joe Edwards as their new head coach.
The 37-year-old arrives having coached for nearly half his life, scaling high levels, having assisted Frank Lampard and Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea, as well as having managed England Under-20s.
Crucially, for someone of his lofty experience working with the top talents in world football, Edwards has shown an understanding of the club’s ethos, and can see that it’s a case of building on foundations already in place, as opposed to ripping everything up.
Edwards inherits a core in Jake Cooper, Billy Mitchell, Ryan Leonard and Tom Bradshaw who have been in the senior team for a combined 18 years and can set the tone.
All-action midfielder Mitchell is also highly talented, along with wide forwards Aidomo Emakhu and Romain Esse, while there are further prospects on the conveyor belt, with the Under-21s having won the Professional Development League Southern Division last season.
Elsewhere, the aforementioned core bring proven quality, along with loanees Allan Campbell and Brooke Norton-Cuffy, plus summer recruits Kevin Nisbet and Casper De Norre - as well, of course, as Flemming, who was one of the Championship’s signings of the season in 2022-23.
As such, this is one of the best Millwall squads of the modern era, and with the right tweaks, has the quality to embrace new ideas.
Edwards was unquestionably a brave appointment, as the club backed a first-time manager to have the tools to handle a job that’s unique to the domestic game.
The majority of fans look ready for something different, though, and, described as “engaging and attentive” by Berylson, Edwards has the potential to take Millwall to the next level.
Odds correct at 1050 GMT (13/11/23)
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