Norwich City chief Alex Neil bids to lift manager-of-the-month curse at Millwall

Alex Neil aims to lift the Championship's manager-of-the-month curse by getting Norwich City's promotion bid firmly back on track.

Neil's faultless February earned him the award, but City slipped up in midweek at home to Wigan, and the Scot revealed he feared the worst when he got the news.

'As soon as I took the call I wanted to put the phone down right away and ultimately we lost the next game,' he said, with City facing another relegation-threatened side today at Millwall. 'It's nice to pick up an award but points are the most important thing. I don't even know where the award is now. What are you going to do, sit and look at it? No, we need to go again.

'I am not trying to make out it isn't nice to receive it but we have higher priorities. I've won a few in Scotland and my mum will probably have them because she is a collector of stuff. They are probably on her mantelpiece somewhere.

'As a manager you are only as good as your players if they do the business. We've managed to get a clear message over to them and they have grasped it relatively quickly in terms of what we are trying to do. You can change things all you like but if they don't buy into it, it won't work. I just look at it as recognition of how well the players have done. They have enjoyed it and worked extremely hard and when you have quality players it is a good combination.

'Millwall is going to be another difficult one and that is what I found since coming down here. If you underestimate anyone or go in half-tilt then you will come up short in this division. We have to make sure we take the hard work of the previous six games into this one because the best players and the best teams respond when they have a negative.'