Date: 24th June 2015 at 8:14pm
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With Jordan Archer and Joe Martin set to join the club when the players return for pre season training, manager Neil Harris has said that fans can definitely expect a more youthful line up next season but of course it will be about balance when it comes to experience – but any additional transfer dealings will again be about getting the right players in – not just getting players in.

In two interviews carried by the official site focusing more on his thoughts about the mix he wants in the first team squad, he explained.

‘Young players tend to be a bit hit and miss in the early stages – I certainly was. However, we have some very talented lads here who will be key to the successful future of this club, so we have give them time and surround them with some more senior players of good character. Joe Martin is exactly that sort. I’ve seen him a lot over last couple of years, he’s attack-minded, full of energy and provides accurate delivery into the box from set plays. More than that, he is an excellent pro, dedicated to his sport, has a good temperament and will be a proper role model for the youngsters.’

Of course having secured Jimmy Abdou to a new deal, that will also be the same sort of role he fulfils in terms of being an experienced head amongst the side. But those two, David Forde aside, are very much our only experienced heads at the moment and Forde is expected to move on.

‘It’s my choice to go this way. The make-up of the group will be very different this time round, with so many players leaving at the end of last season. It will be a smaller squad and I’m hoping to add a couple more in the near future if I possibly can. At 22 Jordan Archer is a good acquisition who we had to work very hard to prise away from Spurs. He already has over 40 senior appearances to his name and I see him as a genuine contender for a first team spot this season.’

He ended that particular interview by saying it was no great ‘secret’ that he’s targeting another striker as well, but he wasn’t going to be rushed into deals.

In his second interview, the focus was very much on talking about finding players with the right quality and making sure we didn’t rush a deal and then end up regretting it.

‘Ideally you want four strikers; most squads I played in had four strikers that were competitive. The important things is that they all bring something different, so we are looking for a fourth striker. We have made enquiries about certain players and things are moving, but we are not going to be rushed into make a snap decision that doesn’t suit the club and doesn’t suit the dressing-room.’

As well as finding a player with different qualities and somebody who poses a different kind of threat to the opposition when we need to make changes to shake a game up, he again repeats that it’s vital that they share a mentality with the dressing room and fit into the existing dynamic as a united dressing room singing from the same hymnsheet will be key to our chances of success – especially whilst nurturing those with a lack of experience at the moment.

‘The most important thing is that it’s somebody who is different to what we’ve got and somebody who fits into the dynamics of the dressing room. I won’t waver on that; if it means that we have to be patient and we have to wait until the start of August before the season starts then I am prepared to wait. I think Lee Gregory, John Marquis and Aiden O’Brien are certainly three different types of players and all are seriously in my thoughts and pushing for the start of the season. If you look at all three of them, any two of them could play in a pair together.’

Talking about last year’s loanee John Marquis, Harris added that watching him and assessing him had become a bit of a project.

‘I saw a lot of John last year playing at Gillingham. I undertook a little bit of a project myself to go and watch him lots and see how he was developing and was really pleased with what I saw. If I was there as a Millwall scout watching a player that wasn’t ours, I would have been coming back recommending to sign him because John’s potential has always been there. At times he has reached that potential, at times he has not been given that opportunity, so he knows under me he will get an opportunity to shine.’

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