Tyrone Henry: A Changing Attitude

14th June 2023

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Millwall have made their initial first-team venture into the transfer market this summer by adding Manchester United’s Axel Tuanzebe for £16.25million.

The DR Congolese international has failed to make a lasting impression at his boyhood club since he signed at the age of 9 years old in 2006.

The centre-back made his professional debut with the club on 29 January 2017 as a 68th minute substitute for Timothy Fosu-Mensah in an FA Cup match against Wigan which his team went on to win 4-0 in.

With defensive options always ahead of him in the pecking order, Tuanzebe never found himself to be a regular feature in the Man United back line, leading to his two loan spells at Aston Villa where he made a total of 35 appearances.

After signing a four-year deal at The Den, the 25-year-old is expected to have his first permanent move that will make him a regular starter and begin to kick on with his career.

“I think Axel has been the victim of a theme that happens all too often in English football - young homegrown talent not getting the opportunities that they deserve,” Tyrone Henry stated to the press upon Tuanzebe’s confirmation.

“He’s an outstanding player and that is for all to see, I just think that Man United’s handling of this young player has been irresponsible and I’m delighted to have him on board with us for the new season.”

Tuanzebe will wear the number 6 shirt for the Lions throughout the 2023/24 season.

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Tuanzebe’s transfer wasn’t the first move that was made by Millwall this summer, as they also brought in the young Tottenham Hotspur right-back Iván Herrero for £500,000 earlier this month.

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In addition, the loan of Troy Parrott from Tottenham Hotspur has also been extended for the fourth consecutive season as the young Irish striker continues to impress for Millwall. He scored 9 goals in 24 starts last season in the Premier League.

In terms of outgoings, Billy Mitchell, James Hillson and Boubacar Ba have all departed on loan moves to lower tier clubs Preston, Yeovil and Wimbledon respectively.

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Scott: You’re right, we’ve performed not only well above expectations but also played some good football in doing so, it bodes well for the future. Always good to see Leeds adding to the cabinet, even if I am Millwall in this save

The signing of Tuanzebe is a great addition for a club that's looking to strengthen in their quest for European football, and £16.25m is a snip when you think of the exorbitant prices that are usually thrown about for English players. Herrero looks very developed already in an athletic sense, but he needs a lot of work technically/mentally if he's to become a solid first-team option.

Extending Parrott for another year is awesome, and Spurs have lost the plot if they're not looking to incorporate him into their plans by now. Their stupidity is to your advantage though, and hopefully we see him find the back of the net a bit more frequently next season.

Great signing in Tuanzebe but I'm more impressed with the extension of Parrott's loan. I can't believe Spurs have agreed to let him go for another year despite all of his success at Millwall as James says.

19th June 2023

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Millwall have completed their second first-team transfer of the season as West Brom’s Rekeem Harper joins the London club for £12.75million.

Just three days after the announcement of Axel Tuanzebe, 23-year-old Harper is the next homegrown player to come through the door at The Den.

Following his loan to Blackburn Rovers in 2017, the central midfielder’s career at West Brom took flight, becoming renowned as one of the country’s hottest prospects through his performances in his debut Championship season in 2018/19, making 16 league appearances and scoring one.

Harper helped West Brom win promotion back to the top-flight the following season as the club finished behind Leeds in 2nd place.

In his only season in the Premier League to date, Harper made 17 appearances and scored twice as they were immediately relegated to the Championship where he has thrived for the past two seasons.

Between 2021 and 2023, Harper has made 81 league appearances and scored 18 whilst assisting another 19 times, being named in last season’s divisional Team of the Year.

Harper joins the rank of midfielders in the Millwall squad who have been sourced from the English second tier alongside Ben Pearson, Herbie Kane and Ben Thompson, the latter being a Millwall academy graduate.

The England U21 international has taken the number 4 shirt for the upcoming season.

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Tyrone Henry has also been keeping busy by continuing to add to his youth teams, bringing in Notts County first-teamer Eugene Murch for an initial £2.5million, rising to £6.5million.

The 18-year-old right-winger has played a key part in Notts County’s return to the Football League in 2021 as he has made 81 first-team appearances in all competitions, scoring 13 goals in the process.

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James: It's a great addition to a defence that has needed a fair amount of adjusting since arriving in the Premier League, I'm hoping that he is a more permanent addition. I'm absolutely delighted to have Parrott back for another year, loving Spurs right now.
Scott: Yeah, Tuanzebe will take the headline due to the fee that comes with his arrival but Parrott's continuing spell at Millwall is by far a much more significant signing in my opinion.

I like that signing, Harper looks a fantastic option as a box-to-box midfielder. His athleticism is unreal, and now that I've seen him... I kind of want to sign him in a FM save of my own now! Speaking of talented players that have come through the WBA ranks, I wonder if Tyrone would consider trying to take Morgan Rogers off Manchester City's hands. I had him on FM20, and although he was patchy at times: he was still extremely good.

Oh, and #SignHarrySouttarAlready

8th July 2023

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As the Millwall team prepares for their South Africa preseason tour, the club have announced the departures of seven players across their squads.

22-year-old Welsh U21 international Reuben Duncan was the first casualty of the transfer window for the Lions as he signed for League One outfit Swindon Town for £250,000 despite making 6 Premier League appearances last season.

Other losses from the club’s Under 23s include George Alexander’s £750,000 transfer to Vancouver Whitecaps in the MLS, Junior Tiensia’s £105,000 move to League One side Crewe Alexandra and Abdul Abdulmalik’s £275,000 move to Championship promotion contenders Bristol City.

However, Honduran international Anthony Lozano was the first player out of the door from the club’s first-team, signing a £6million deal with Serie A team Bologna - just 12 months after his initial £5.5million move from Cádiz last season in an attempt to replace Kenneth Zohore up-front.

The biggest blow to the Millwall fans is undoubtedly Shaun Hutchinson’s £2million transfer to San Jose Earthquakes as he joins George Alexander in the MLS.

Hutchinson has been with the club for seven years, joining in League One and captained Millwall to their first top-flight promotion since 1988 with the Play-Off Final victory over Norwich City in 2021.

With over 200 appearances to his name at The Den, he will surely be missed at the club but the arrival of Axel Tuanzebe left his hopes of remaining a feature in Millwall teams very limited.

Despite this, the biggest transfer of the summer was Tahith Chong, who leaves Millwall just one year after joining on a free transfer following the expiry of his Man United deal in 2022.

The 23-year-old winger played 20 matches for Millwall last season but was frequently left out in favour of Jed Wallace and Joe Lolley on the right flank. He now joins Bundesliga’s Augsburg for a fee of £13.75million, affording Tyrone Henry a lot more flexibility when it comes to signings.

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James: Rekeem is a great asset, tall, physical and has a good range of passing on him too. As you say, his duties will mainly be split between defensive and attacking in that box-to-box dynamic in what has previously been quite an unglamorous midfield trio. As for Rogers, I’ve not really taken a look but he could be worth tracking.

Souttar... Every transfer window that goes by, the lesser the chances of seeing him in blue are Taking a look at his history, he’s barely making a mid-table Stoke side!

Woah, didn't expect to see Lozano or Chong depart so soon! Great to see some money come back into the clubs coffers, and I'm sure that Tyrone will use it to bring in some more British talent. Sad to see Hutchinson go, due to his longevity at the club, but I'm surprised that he lasted 2 seasons in the EPL tbh. Intrigued to see who the other additions will be

13th July 2023

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Following his transfer-listing at Villa Park, defender Tyrone Mings has joined fellow Premier League outfit Millwall on a season-loan deal.

The 30-year-old has been struggling to break into Aston Villa’s starting eleven since the 2021/22 season, leading to last season’s loan move to West Ham United as he helped guide the Hammers back to the Premier League in an instant promotion.

Despite four years at Bournemouth following a £7.5million move from Ipswich in 2015, it was under Dean Smith at Aston Villa where the two-time England international found his feet originally in the Championship.

He played a key role in Aston Villa’s 2019 Play-Off Final victory before his performances were rewarded with a £22.5million move to his former loan team, linking up with them once more in the top-flight.

With Mykola Matvienko’s £9million arrival from Shakhtar in 2022, Mings found himself out of favour with the manager who originally signed him years before and agreed a loan move to Millwall’s bitter rivals.

Transfer-listed at £15million, Millwall have agreed to pay £1.7million throughout the playing duration of his loan spell at The Den on top of his £70,000 per week wage at Aston Villa.

In return, Millwall have the option to purchase the defender at any point during the loan spell for £13million if the move turns out to be good for all parties.

With Bright Arrey-Mbi’s return to Bayern Munich following his six-month loan spell at Millwall last season, it is looking likely that Mings will play a left-back role, possibly ahead of Max Lowe who has yet to establish himself as a regular starter in the Premier League since his £500,000 move from Sheffield United in 2021.

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Along with Mings, Tyrone Henry has added further to his resources in the youth departments with three new arrivals.

16-year-old Jordan Lee joins for £675,000 from Manchester City’s academy, right-back Nigel Burke joins for £650,000 from Everton and Ipswich Town’s young attacking midfielder Paul Odhiambo also joins for £250,000.

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James: Profit on Lozano, too! He was really nothing special last year so it's great to recuperate that and more. Going to miss Hutchinson, but with much better players coming to replace him, he'll be part of a great recent history.

Mings is a brilliant signing. I had him during my story on FM20 and he was still a rock in his mid-30's, so you've gotten yourself a great deal. Intrigued to see him play as a fullback, as I feel he'd be the perfect partner for Axel, but Tyrone has this managerial thing under control

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With our preseason consisting of a tour to South Africa before coming back to face teams from the Dorking to Inter, our first Premier League game came against Tottenham Hotspur.

The final fixture of last season was exactly the same as our first fixture this season, with a fairly similar result as Spurs started their campaign with a 1-0 win as their £100M signing Phil Foden scored the only goal of the game.

However, we registered our first win in just our second game as Southampton fell apart to lose 3-1, with Rekeem Harper scoring his first goal for us as Jed Wallace and Troy Parrott completed the victory.

Our first away win of the season then came as we travelled to West Yorkshire, beating Leeds United by 2 goals to nil as last season’s signings Joe Aribo and Siriki Dembéle scored the goals for us.

In possibly the biggest upset of the round, League One relegation candidates Forest Green Rovers were able to sneak past us with a 1-0 defeat thanks to an Alex Jakubiak penalty in the second half, knocking us out in the second round of the Carabao Cup.

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We were almost able to secure a point against our mid-table rivals Aston Villa but it was a late foul in the box on Ollie Watkins that gave Marcos Antonio the ability to finish us off with an 85th minute penalty.

Two scoreless draws ensued against Bournemouth and Chelsea at The Den as Sam Johnstone kept on form, whereas our attackers were rather off-form.

This was restored with Rekeem Harper’s second goal of the season against Leicester City in our final match of the month to give us our first win in four games.

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At the end of the opening months of the season, we sit in the top half, much closer to the top four than anywhere near the relegation trio.

Along with performing well recently, we are the second-lowest scorers in the league, yet have conceded the third-least in the division, only behind top four teams Man United and Liverpool. This shows we have become more defensively resilient, even if it has taken its toll on our attacking output.

Manchester United have taken their form from last season into the new season with an incredible start of seven wins from seven games, setting them six points ahead of their closest competitors Chelsea. Liverpool have a chance to play catch up with a game in hand on the table toppers but for now, they are comfortably in the driving seat.

Perhaps the biggest underachiever is Tottenham Hotspur whose only win of the season came from their season opener against us with Foden scoring the goal in a 1-0 win. If we were able to mount a comeback, they would otherwise be bottom.

In the relegation zone are newly promoted sides Norwich City and West Ham United, with Southampton also finishing off the bottom three. With the teams around them, they don’t look to be in too much trouble at this current standing.

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James: I was actually surprised to see how old he was! Mings is certainly a late bloomer. As for shifting him to left-back, we're already too strong without Mings in the heart of the defence and too weak on the left-back position without him. It's an area that we could do with a permanent solution, but the loan deal will do us for now.

A good start. Defensively very sound but perhaps lacking that final ball in the final third. Finding that balance can be tricky but hopefully a solution can be found that doesn't impact the impressive defensive numbers too much.

The decision to allow Troy Parrott to remain at The Den may have already come back to bite Spurs on the backside, and the lad must be pleased that he's closer to the top of the table than the foot of it. That being said, you definitely need more goals from him, as well as the other lads in the squad, but your defence deserves all the plaudits in the world for their efforts so far! The loss to Forest Green is a major surprise [I wonder if their players having to be vegan is coded into the game!?], but honestly: the cups don't matter all that much. We want European qualification this season, and one less competition to play in should keep you at an advantage to the other clubs in the race for the top-7.

10th November 2023

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Millwall secured their first win over West Ham United under Tyrone Henry today as Jed Wallace and Troy Parrott scored in a 2-1 win at The Den.

The first Millwall goal came on the four-minute mark as new loan signing Tyrone Mings hit a low and powerful ball across the face of the goal which was tapped in by winger Jed Wallace at the far post.

It didn’t take ten minutes for Millwall to double their lead as Wallace was involved with another goal as he took the corner which Troy Parrott nodded home into the bottom right corner.

West Ham tried to force their way back into their game against their fierce rivals and finally got a goal back in the 32nd minute as Pablo Fornals played a cutting through pass to the striker Callum Wilson.

However, the one goal wasn’t enough to motivate West Ham further as Millwall were able to see out the rest of the game.

The fixture gave rise to a new Millwall player as academy graduate Nikos Eleftheriou made his senior debut as he started on the left wing today.

The 16-year-old Cypriot U21 international was delighted to have been trusted with a start in such a significant fixture, thanking his manager Henry for the opportunity after the match.

Tyrone Henry praised his team’s performance and paid particular respect to Eleftheriou who he felt earned his start after some great games in the Millwall youth teams in the build up to the West Ham game.

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Scott: The clean sheets have been remarkable and it shows when the league table looks like that. As you say, with the defence seemingly sorted it's time to find the net more.
James: Parrott coming on loan again is just the best news, we're really loving having him here and I hope he stays on loan with us all the way through his 20s As for the cup, we all know Millwall's favourite is the FA Cup anyway

YOU LOVE TO SEE IT! Jed Wallace once again proving the difference maker, whilst Troy Parrott also finds the back of the net too. Tbh, I expect Parrott to be a 20 a season striker by now, but if you're winning games: that's all that matters really. An amazing moment for Nikos Eleftheriou too, and to make your debut in such a big game: that says a lot about your ability, and the confidence the manager has in you. Keep up the good work mate, we wanna go on a European tour.

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October was a month of all-sorts, with one win, one draw and one loss throughout the three games in the month.

In our first fixture of the month it was Troy Parrott who stole a last-minute winner right at the death to take three points back down to the capital with a 96th minute volley following goals from himself and Kwame Phillips.

The dramatic winner was quickly dampened with a loss to Manchester City as their star-studded squad was able to stick two past Sam Johnstone as Sterling and Haaland got on the scoresheet.

A goalless draw at Goodison Park against Everton helped us gain a point to round off the month.

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November began with a loss to Arsenal despite an early Rekeem Harper opener in the first half.

However, we went on to recover with two consecutive wins beginning against our rivals West Ham as Wallace and Parrott scored to seal a 2-1 win at The Den.

We returned after the international break with a 2-0 win to root Norwich City at the bottom of the table with goals from Ryan Fraser and Siriki Dembélé.

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At the end of November we find ourselves lurking just outside the Europa League spots by one point after 13 games.

As our goal scoring suggests, we haven’t been prolific, but so long as we are gaining points from our goals then we can be happy. Besides, we have the third-best defensive record in the league with 10 goals conceded from 13 as Sam Johnstone sits 3rd in the clean sheets table behind David De Gea and Alisson.

At the top, Manchester United are well on course to follow up on last years’ success as they sit top, ahead of Liverpool on a much greater goal difference. Man City and Arsenal take up the remaining two Champions League spots.

In the Europa League/Conference League spots, Brighton and Aston Villa are the surprise contenders as they sit in the top 7 with Chelsea. However, they are under immediate pressure from ourselves and Fulham who are just a point behind them.

Spurs continue to be an underperformer in the league this season as they take up 15th place - just three points ahead of Crystal Palace in the relegation zone. Joining Palace in the relegation zone are Southampton and newly promoted Norwich City.

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James: Wallace and Parrott are really proving to be one of the more lethal combinations in the best league in the world Very proud of Nikos too, who will no doubt have more of those moments in the future.