BY RICHARD CAWLEYrichard@slpmedia.co.uk
Honesty. That’s what you get from Joe Bryan when you ask him to assess the Championship season so far – both on a personal and team level.
There have been ups and downs, particularly for Millwall due to head coach upheaval for the second campaign running, with Alex Neil replacing Neil Harris last month.
Bryan underwent groin surgery in April to correct issues that had seen him dosed up on painkillers just to get through matches – telling our paper at the time that managing his training load to try and be available was “a horrible balancing act”.
The 31-year-old has already made 24 appearances this season, just one shy of the total he managed in the 2023-24 campaign.
“When I spoke (to our paper) in the summer it was very much geared towards fitness and being able to play games again – I’ve done that so far,” said Bryan. “It was the lowest barometer I put on myself for my performances this season – can I just play a load of 90 minutes in a row without breaking down? I feel like I’ve ticked that off. The consistency has been there.
“Sometimes my performances have been lower, in terms of quality. The Oxford and Sheffield Wednesday games, I was knackered.
“Danny (McNamara) getting injured meant there was no option over the Christmas period of making that change. It was a case of: ‘Joe and Ryan (Leonard) are the full-backs – just get it done’.
“Sheffield Wednesday, we looked exhausted – which is natural. We don’t have the luxury of rotating three or four players every game.
“What the old manager was very good at was knowing if there was three games in a week – you can play at 100 per cent, 100 per cent and 50 per cent, so he’d play you in the two 100 per cents and then pull you out.
“For example, Swansea away he rested me. Middlesbrough away, he rested me. That allowed me to build up my fitness levels and play at a better standard.
“In terms of technical performance it has been difficult at times, just the nature of the way we play – it’s very much get the ball forward and run forward.
“In terms of results I would say it has been okay so far – sometimes frustrating and sometimes good. It is that Gennaro Gattuso quote: “Sometimes good, sometimes maybe s***’.”
Millwall were in the play-off places after their win over Leeds in early November, a result which made it four victories on the bounce – all by 1-0 scorelines.
But since then the Lions have picked up just one more three-point haul in 11 matches, losing five of them. All those losses have seen them fail to score.
“We have been quite streaky in terms of runs of results,” said Bryan, who has twice won promotion to the Premier League with Fulham. “We have done quite well and also done pretty poorly.
“Like with most things in life, it is never as bad as you think it is bad and it is never as good as when you think it is good.
“In certain runs there have been things that have gone for and against us – it is the nature of the Championship. That is the way that English football in this league works.
“I don’t get too bogged down when people say about it being one win in 11. Yeah, if you look at it that way then you go ‘ooh, we might be in trouble here’ – but also you look at the table and we’re on 30 points. We’re fairly okay, in terms of positioning. Not okay if we want to push up to that top end of the table, but in terms of safety we’re looking very good.
“You can put a positive or negative spin on it. Everyone has a terrible run in the season, at some points, barring the Leeds, Burnleys and Sheffield Uniteds.
“We might have had our terrible run and we will be getting players back from injury. As we move out of a horrible run of fixtures, in terms of injuries,the timing of those, and the manager changing then we will be looking good, I think.”
The managerial stability at Millwall was part of the attraction when Bryan opted to sign in July 2023. At the time Gary Rowett was in the top-10 in terms of longest-serving bosses in England’s four major leagues.
Successor Joe Edwards was sacked inside four months with Harris opting to call it a day after 10 months in the role.
Millwall v Derby County – SkyBet Championship The Den 19 October 2024Picture : Keith Gillard
“I am an experienced pro so manager changes don’t really bother me – it’s the nature of the game,” said Bryan.
“The last couple of years, in terms of that, a lot has happened. And it does affect the way things happen on the pitch.
“It has been fairly difficult, even for someone who has been through quite a lot of manager changes. Just because it was a bit unexpected, the last one. We were sitting okay. It wasn’t always pretty but we were getting results.
“The new manager came in during the Christmas period and we hadn’t actually been on the grass – in terms of doing any structural things he might want to change – in that two-week period. It was just game, recover, game and recover.
“He hasn’t had any coaching opportunities for him and his staff. This week, with a gap to the Dagenham game and then the Hull one after that, we have a real opportunity to start building and putting in place things he wants to put into the team.”
When Harris left he had only enhanced his standing at the club.
Millwall’s all-time record goalscorer, who was also the boss when they won promotion from the League One play-offs in 2017, returned to haul them away from relegation danger in the closing months of the last season.
Bryan has expressed gratitude.
“I said to him, before he left, that I had been injured, I was low and I didn’t feel I could string a few games together without something happening – getting banned, getting ill or getting an injury. I had one of those seasons, last year.
“At the back end of it I spoke to him and said I wanted to get the surgery done and show that I can play still.
“He allowed me the space and freedom to do that – to get fit, slowly, to get over the surgery and to be in and out of the team, in terms of building my minutes up.
“He allowed me the freedom to play in the way that I can. I really enjoyed working under him.
“I wouldn’t have a bad word to say about him.”
Neil, who has plenty of experience and also promotion success at Norwich and Sunderland, is barely beyond the wedding vows stage, in terms of the honeymoon period.
“Probably in the coming weeks you will start to see some of his style,” said Bryan. “I’ve played against a few of his teams across my career and they have always been difficult games.
“From the first few game preparations of his tenure it has been very, very thorough and detailed. He is a person I’m looking forward to working with.”
Millwall hold an option to extend Bryan’s contract, which is due to expire at the end of June.
He has played more than 400 senior matches at every level between Premier League and National League, making his debut for Bristol City in March 2012.
He is happy and contented with the Lions.
“I have got an agent for a reason,” he said. “I’ve never got involved in transfer dealings or contract talks. I just do my best to play as well as I can. I’ve probably answered the question about whether I can play more than 15 games and hopefully that continues through the rest of the season.
“It is Millwall’s option – there is no trigger. I guess come the summer they just say yes or no. I’ll then go ‘thanks’ or ‘alright, see you later’.
“If I was 25 then you’re more emotionally invested in those decisions. When you have played for as long as I have, you understand if the club want to go in a certain direction.
“If they want to go with a lot of young players and they feel that I’m too old and can’t do it anymore – absolutely fine with me.
“If they think I can help the younger players develop and be an older, senior head in the squad then absolutely fine with me.
“I’ll be kind of very impartial in the whole thing.”
MAIN PICTURE: ALAMY