MILLWALL are one of the favourites to make an immediate return to League One after promotion to England’s second tier last month.
Burton Albion, Barnsley and fellow promoted side Bolton are amongst the favourites, along with Neil Harris’ men for the drop back to the third tier.
And Lions boss Harris feels his side will live up to their underdog tag and attack the Championship.
“Millwall are the underdog, that’s when we are at our best,” Harris told The News.
“The aim was always to build a young, hungry Millwall squad that can compete in the Championship without going the other way.
“We can’t spend the amounts that the likes of Derby and Aston Villa can.
“We’ve been compiling a squad over the last couple of years with quality, young Millwall type players that deserve the opportunity at the next level.
“A team coming up through the play-offs the league below are always going to be written off early doors.
“I look forward to seeing how my young squad, with the experience that we have, cope at Championship level.”
Harris added: “We won’t be fazed by it, we look forward to it. We are going to have a right go in the division. Does it surprise me that we are one of the favourites to go down? No, it doesn’t.
“We can’t compete financially with the clubs coming from the Premier League and clubs that have spent tens of millions over the last few years.
“What we lack in finances we make up for in spirit, determination, desire and team ethic.
“We showed it time and time again last season. We showed it against Watford, Bournemouth, Leicester and teams in League One with big budgets like Bolton and Sheffield United.”
Harris has recently returned from a family holiday in Dubai, a change to his normal annual trip to Portugal.
And with the transfer circus in full flow, he admitted the quality of player he has been offered is on a “different level” to what it was in League One.
“The players I am being offered are on another level,” Harris said. “It’s a different level of player.
“At every level, I’m sure it has always been like that and I’ve never noticed it as a player. As a manager, you see it and it goes up a level.
“When you get into the Championship you get offered players that were top of League One but also bottom of the Premier League quality.
“It’s finding the mix and getting the right ones in.”
Image: ©Millwall FC