IT’S a battle between the current Millwall incumbent and the manager he pipped to the post last October at Adams Park this Saturday.
Gary Rowett, Wycombe manager Gareth Ainsworth and Lions assistant manager Adam Barrett were all interviewed to pick a successor to Neil Harris.
Rowett impressed most but Ainsworth didn’t exactly sulk after missing out. In fact, he led Wycombe to one of the most spectacular promotions in English club football last season as they defeated Oxford 2-1 at Wembley in the League One play-off final.
The Chairboys had finished seventeenth the previous season following promotion from League Two in 2017-18.
Millwall aren’t exactly one of the moneybags of the Championship, but it’s doubtful Rowett is out on the Calmost road training pitches with a wheelbarrow.
“I’m not sure many managers know the inner workings of a sprinkler system and can fix it by bending wires and with bits of coat-hanger,” Ainsworth said in an interview in the Guardian recently. “But we do here. We pitch in. I’m often seen with a wheelbarrow out here. We don’t have a full-time groundsman, but we have rabbits.”
Wycombe were certainly a feel-good story during a difficult and depressing 2020, but the Championship is no respecter of fairy-tales.
They’ve been brought back down to earth with a violent bump. Ainsworth’s side are last in the table, with no points from five games and not even a goal to show for their efforts. Their minus-ten goal difference is the worst in the division by a margin of four, with Nottingham Forest and Derby joint-second worst on minus-six.
But the Lions should be aware Ainsworth has a decent record against them, coming out on top in the last two fixtures, in the FA Cup and EFL Trophy, both at The Den.
Millwall’s players will also be familiar with two of their squad. Jason McCarthy spent half a season in SE16, while Fred Onyedinma’s promotion to the Championship last season was the second of his career, after he was a late substitute for Millwall against Bradford in 2017.
Lions centre-back Jake Cooper knows all about his former team-mate’s ability.
“We all know about Fred’s speed and power, and his technical ability on his day is very high,” Cooper said. “We’ll have to be wary of that.
“He’s now had two promotions out of League One so he’s certainly a player that has good qualities. But we’ll have to be on the ball with all their players.
“It’s going to be a tough game, we’ve found that before against teams who have been promoted. We’ll have to be at the top of our game to get anything from them.
“But I’m sure if we turn up and apply ourselves then we should be able to come away with three points.”
Rowett will again be without Troy Parrott and Billy Mitchell, with the pair not expected to be back from injury until next month.
Meanwhile, according to a report, Rowett was trying to add West Brom striker Kenneth Zohore to his squad before Friday’s 5pm transfer deadline.
Possible Millwall starting XI: 5-2-3: Bialkowski; Romeo, Hutchinson, Pearce, Cooper, Malone; Leonard, Woods; J Wallace, Bradshaw, Bennett.
Match odds: Wycombe 2/1 Draw 12/5 Millwall 4/7
Last meeting: Football League Trophy second round (December 7, 2016): Millwall 1-3 Wycombe (Worrall 53; Akinfenwa 51, pen, Thompson 85, 91).