Millwall boss Gary Rowett on departure of Joe Carnall being a major loss – and why he won’t be replaced

Joe Carnall stepped down as Millwall technical coach this week so that he could spend more time with his family – with manager Gary Rowett freely conceding he will be a major loss.

The pair started working together at Birmingham City in 2014 and Carnall then followed Rowett to Derby County and Stoke City in analysis roles.

But eventually the strain of the long-distance commute from his home in the Midlands has seen Carnall leave his position.

“He is someone I’ve trusted for a long, long time,” Rowett told the South London Press. “I’ve been flat-mates with him [in London] for the last three years.

“He had a little boy, Charlie, a couple of years ago and as soon as him and Soph had him I thought ‘this could be tough now’ because he is travelling away from a young family.

“He has managed really well with it but at some point I knew he’d want to be back home.

“He’s someone I’m going to miss incredibly, both as a friend and as a member of staff, because he is brilliant at what he does. That’s why we’ve worked together so well and for so long. I can ask him to do something and it is done exactly how I envisaged it would be done.

“I spent three months with Joe out of work [after leaving Stoke] and we worked on the principles of how we were going to play, were we going to play a back five? If so, what would that look like? What do the training sessions look like? We have spent so much time together working on these things.

“He was my running partner and got my times a lot lower because I was having to keep up with him. Now you’ll see a sad, old manager running the streets by himself.

“He’s got a background in analysis but he has sort of expanded that into a lot of tactical work and principles that we’ve developed at the club.

“Sometimes you have to accept that people have to do things for personal reasons and you have to respect that.

“I’ll still remain in close contact. I think there’s an opportunity for him to do some stuff remotely but he is so committed I don’t think he is the sort who just wants to do little bits. He’d want to do it properly.

“It’s a brave decision to do what’s right for him and his family. He’s like me, he’s got a three-hour commute every time he wants to go home and that’s not easy for anyone who has got a young family.

“You can do it for six months or a year but once you’re nearly three years in then it starts to take its toll a little bit. I think I’d have done the same myself if the circumstances had been the same.

“If he was telling me he was joining another club then I might not  have been quite so happy. But he kept on [despite his family situation] for longer than I thought [he would].

“From a professional aspect he has been absolutely incredible for me. I could genuinely say he is my right-hand man and the closest person I’ve worked with over the period of time.

“It will be a bit of a challenge but I endorse his decision.

“There will be hundreds of people out there wanting to employ him because there are very few people I’ve met in football as good as he is.”

Millwall are not set to directly replace Carnall.

Rowett said: “The likes of Robbo [Paul Robinson] will step up and have a little bit more responsibility next season, along with Adam [Barrett].

“The plan for the club is to bring in someone who can have half an eye on analysis and half an eye on collating all the data within the club.

“It’s something we feel we need. We’ve brought in a lot of data from all the departments and it is something we need to embrace as a club, it is certainly the way football is moving forward.

“It might be someone who doesn’t have a football background but who can collate all that data and piece it together, make a little bit more direct sense and see trends within our team or within performances and training sessions. We are going to branch out and incorporate a slightly new role within the structure.”

Millwall’s head of performance Laurence Bloom has also left and taken on the same role at Cambridge United. The former Charlton Athletic head of sports science had been with the Lions for six years.

“Bloomy called me and was another who was travelling a lot and looking for something a bit closer to home,” said Rowett. “The quality of his work was excellent.

“He was really popular with the players and not someone I wanted to leave.

“I’ve got Dave [Carolan] as my head of performance for a long time now so we have got a slightly easier transition with someone in the club. Dave will go in and be head of health and performance, a little bit of a dual role, and make sure we get some new ideas in there and move things forward in a slightly different way.