Millwall manager Rowett impressed with Troy Parrott’s attitude

In today’s article about Jack Clarke’s loan, I screwed up and responded to some comments about Clarke that I thought were about young Tottenham Hotspur striker Troy Parrott. As a response, it’s only fair that we check in and see how Troy’s doing on his season long loan at Millwall.

The last time we talked about Troy, it was in response to rumors that Spurs were dissatisfied with his loan and were thinking of recalling him. That was also in the wake of Millwall supporters getting plenty of criticism for booing their own players taking a knee in support of anti-racism initiatives, so maybe the wounds were still running a bit raw.

Troy hasn’t had the best of loans — he had an injury early in the season and is only now starting to get serious minutes, and has yet to score in the regular season. He’s also being played at the #10 or on the left side of a front three more than at his natural position as a CF, so that could also be a factor as to why the rumor of his loan recall popped up.

But the good news is that he still has the faith of his manager. Gary Rowett recently said that he’s impressed with how Parrott handled the media attention when the rumors of his recall popped up.

“I had a really good chat with Troy after all the stories were out there that he was maybe going to go back to Tottenham. We had a really good open chat.

“What struck me was, we have to remember Troy is only 18. He’s a young player who’s got a lot of things to learn to get to where he wants to get to in his career, and we’re here to help him. That was our commitment at the start of the season. What you’ve seen in the last couple of games is a young player recognising what he’s got to do to play regularly, what he’s got to do within those games to get chances.

“The rest will take care of itself, if his attitude is right and he does the right things. In the last two or three games you’ve seen a really strong and mature response from Troy and he’ll get his rewards, because we know he’s got the talent. I’ve been really impressed with the way he’s dealt with the recent situation.”

Parrott certainly hasn’t set the Championship on fire, but to be fair neither has Millwall, who are languishing in 16th place with just five wins on the year. Out of the ten matches he’s played since coming back from injury, five have been starts, though he has yet to go the full 90. Hopefully the goals, and the confidence, will come.

Or maybe the rumors are true and Spurs are thinking of recalling him. In which case, you’d have to think that Spurs know what’s best for Troy and that he’d be better served either training with the Spurs first team or heading back out loan elsewhere.

It’s been a mixed bag for Troy this season, but I’m not quite ready to call it a failure. We may know more before the end of January.