Manager Neil Harris has confirmed that club skipper Tony Craig has now been given the green light to resume full training with his Millwall colleagues.
The 30 year old centre half has been out of action since picking up a serious injury in the draw with Bradford City at The Den back in October, and following his lengthy rehabilitation spell, the player has now been passed to return to full training and potentially get an appearance or two under his belt before the end of the 2015-16 campaign.
Speaking to the official site Harris was obviously delighted to welcome the skipper back but he knows some caution is needed because of how long he’s been out.
‘Tony’s been in training for the last two weeks but it’s been non-contact. Physically he has been working like the boys do during pre-season and is fully fit in a sense of running duties. All that he is missing is minutes on the pitch. Bobby Bacic has worked tirelessly to get him to the stage he is at now and, as you can imagine, Tony has been a complete professional during his recovery. The way he has approached everything has been spot on, from his attitude around the training ground to how he has lived his life away from his work. The next move for Tony is to get through a few days of training with contact and he can pretty much go straight into the U21 squad to get some minutes. But naturally we have to be careful because he has been out for a long time.’
Harris knows it’ll be a timely boost though in the dressing room and with options given the games remaining in the campaign and Millwall’s good chance of staying involved in a Play Off battle come May.
‘If he can come through some U21 games before taking his place back in the first team squad then it will be like a new signing for us. Your club captain coming back is the best bit of news we could of had as the loan window closes. We’re not getting too carried away because Tony has some weeks to go before he would be ready for squad selection, but it is really good news that we can have him back on the training pitch and amongst the boys in the dressing room. All players young and old will thrive with him back in the squad because his leadership and experience is vital for us.’
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