Cambridge United appoint former Millwall and Cardiff City boss Neil Harris as new head coach
Cambridge United have appointed ex-Millwall boss Neil Harris as their new first-team head coach on an 18-month contract
The 46-year-old replaces Mark Bonner who was sacked by the club last week following the U’s 3-0 defeat at home to Lincoln and will take charge of this Saturday’s game against Charlton Athletic (3pm).
Harris knows the area well as he started his senior playing career at Cambridge City before his move to Millwall, where he went onto make more than 400 appearances for the Lions across two spells at The Den.
Speaking to the club’s official website on his appointment, Harris said: “I am super excited and really pleased to be here.
“It’s a brilliant project in motion here and I just want to come and add some value to that.
“I have seen the team evolve over the past four or five years and have always followed the results from my connections with the club from my younger days. I have always had an affinity with Cambridge but the players here have some brilliant attributes that suit the way I want to play.
“I want us to be a Cambridge United side that people fear playing against. I want to win games of football and address recent results as quickly as I can. It’s certainly not revolution, it’s about evolution and supporting the players that are already and trying to get a little more out of them.”
Most recently in his managerial career, Harris was sacked by Gillingham in October after taking charge of the Priestfield Stadium outfit at the end of January 2022.
He also previously managed Cardiff City between 2019 and 2021.
But Harris’ longest tenure as a manager to date came at the side that he spent most of his playing career at.
In his first full season in charge of Millwall (2015/16), Harris finished fourth with the Lions in their Sky Bet League One campaign and took them to the Play-Off Final against Barnsley at Wembley where they fell to a 3-1 defeat.
The following campaign, Harris again took the London club to Wembley where they got over the line to beat Bradford City 1-0 in the Play-Off Final to gain promotion back to the Sky Bet Championship.
In that same season, Harris led Millwall to an FA Cup quarter-final against Tottenham Hotspur having beaten Premier League Champions Leicester City in the previous round.
