MASON Bennett has revealed his main motivation to get the most he can out of his career – to “make a future” for his young daughter.
Bennett has moved from Derby to London, and will travel back regularly – along with Scott Malone who is also from the Midlands – to visit five-year-old Aaliyah and the rest of his family.
Despite being just 24, former England underage international Bennett spent thirteen seasons with the Rams and made his senior debut when he was just fifteen.
He spent time on loan at Chesterfield, Bradford City, Burton Albion and Notts County, but this is the first time he has moved permanently away from Derbyshire.
“My family are all up north but I can keep in touch through Face Time,” Bennett said. “They understand, my daughter understands that this is what daddy has to do and I’m trying to make a future for her, at the end of the day.
“My daughter is so young and I thought, ‘what am I going to do?’ It gives you that motivation to run harder, run faster, work harder. She knows what’s happening. Now I’m really happy to be down here.
“I spoke to a lot of players at Derby, they couldn’t believe how young I still was. I made my debut so young.
“I spoke to people at Derby and my own personal team and we agreed that I needed to broaden my horizons and try a different challenge. This is a big challenge for me coming away from where I’m used to, where I’m comfortable close to home and friends and family.
“I’m just delighted to get on this journey and I’m going to make the most of it.
“[Alex Pearce] was on to me since the day I left, he actually wanted me here the first day of pre-season. Which I was trying to do but obviously these things take a while because it’s a permanent move.
“I only had six days off in the summer. I went away with Connor [Mahoney] and Billy [Mitchell] and I was saying to them, ‘I’ll see you soon’. It didn’t happen as quickly but as I had said before my mindset was always here. I knew I couldn’t go back to Derby with a negative attitude [for the start of pre-season], I had to be 100 per cent at it and put the work in. I knew I needed to hit the ground running when I got back here.
“I’m here to work and try to get the team into the play-offs and get us promoted. That’s my main priority down here.
“We got so close last year and the group and staff realised that. We’ve made some great additions already with Scotty [Malone] and Troy [Parrott] coming in, that’s only going to boost us more.
“You can see it already in training, even in my first day it was, ‘wow, the lads have come on leaps and bounds’. So I’m going to have to up my game as well as everybody else.
“It’s going to be an exciting season, I’m sure there will be ups and downs but it’s a great group and everyone sticks together. I think it’s going to be a good season for us.
“I’ve got to Wembley [with Derby] and I know what it takes. It’s going to take everyone in the squad, not just the starting XI and all the subs. It’s the young lads as well. Everyone’s got to be pushing every day and with the squad we’ve got we can definitely achieve something.”
Fans are also set to be allowed back to The Den after October 1.
Bennett added: “I loved playing at The Den last season, the few games when the fans were there, the atmosphere was electric. They really got behind us and also put the opposition team on edge. I’ll be excited for them to come back in.
“But we’ve got a few games at home before then so we need to be at it and create that atmosphere ourselves within the dressing room.”
Image: Millwall FC