IT’S one of the most unique ways a captain leads his team out for the warm-up in the Championship.
Slightly crouched forward, teeth gritted, Alex Pearce strides onto the pitch moving his arms out and up in wide arcs, palms meeting almost behind his head in slow claps, until he has reached the opposite stand.
It has achieved iconic status for Millwall fans. It’s an idiosyncratic routine that he has continued with despite the empty stadiums.
Pearce has those quirks. His team-mates were certainly amused when he led them in saluting Millwall fans in a flat behind the Jimmy Seed Stand at Charlton after the Lions won 1-0 there in June.
Whether he starts or not against Luton tonight, Millwall players will follow their leader onto the pitch and there are always a few smiles when The Clap signals it’s time to prepare.
“So, that was just something that I picked up over time, really,” Pearce explained. “That’s just to get the players going, to get them going with enthusiasm.
“It’s also to clap the fans that we’d normally have and get them going. When we go out for the warm-up I want the players’ minds to be focused. If that can help raise that attention level then that’s good.
“The lads seem to enjoy it as well, which is good. As long as it goes down well enough I’ll keep doing it.
“I think we’ve had a decent enough start, there have been some good performances in there, certainly against Brentford, probably the best we’ve played. We played some really good stuff and deserved to win that game.
“But there’s also been other good results like Rotherham away, we didn’t play as well as we wanted to but got the points.
“Stoke at home is always tricky, first game of the season as well, the performance was okay.
“The only one we weren’t happy about was the Swansea one when we felt as players that we should have done better there.
“Overall we can’t be too displeased with the start we’ve had.”
Millwall’s players were given extra time off during the international break. Apart from the next international break in November, they have mid-week fixtures all the way to December 19.
Pearce, 31, knows the importance of getting his mind off football, and there is one particular reason that’s not a problem for him.
“It’s a very intense game, really,” he says. “The way I switch off is I’ve got a little girl and as soon as I go home to her I forget about football. That’s the great thing about kids, when you walk through the door they do take your mind off it straightaway.
“You throw yourself into your family life when you get some time off, get home from training. That helps me switch off from the game.
“That’s important because it’s very demanding. When you do have that time to switch off you have to make sure you do.”
One of Pearce’s main roles as captain is ensuring his side are switched on. Before the Burnley game, when he was rested, it was intriguing to observe him call in Jed Wallace and the other substitutes who all listened intently to what he was saying. That pep-talk lasted about three minutes and no player budged from their spot.
It’s obvious Pearce commands huge respect.
He adds: “That would just be about switching people’s minds on, helping them focus on the game. If I’m on the substitutes’ bench it’s important to make sure the lads are ready if they need to come on.
“I’d give some feedback, pass a little bit of my experience on to them. It’s all to help people with their game. That’s what we all need to do, we need to help each other as best we can.
“We’re going to need everyone in the squad in this period coming up. Some have played more than others so far but I can assure you everyone’s going to be needed.
“It’s going to be a tough set of fixtures, but everyone is in the same boat in the league. I’m sure every squad is going to be stretched. We’ll be no different.
“People are going to need to be ready when called upon, and no doubt that will happen.”
The Lions should get a boost with the return of striker Troy Parrott from injury next month. Pearce noted the on-loan Tottenham man’s ability despite Parrott’s limited involvement in pre-season.
The Ireland forward still netted twice in less than 80 minutes of friendly action.
“He’s a very, very good young player, you can see he’s got a bright future in the game,” an impressed Pearce says. “He’s got very good movement in and around the box. He always seems to find space and once a chance come along for him he seems to finish it off.
“I know he hasn’t played much but certainly when he did play in pre-season he didn’t need many chances to score.
“From what I’ve seen he’s a very intelligent player and one we’ll be glad to welcome back, for sure.”
Image: Millwall FC