Early career and Millwall Harris was born in
Orsett, Essex, One of his earliest clubs was
Maldon Town but his real football career began when he signed for
Cambridge City for £5,000. however this didn't lead to a transfer. He was later sold to
Millwall for a fee of £30,000 on 25 March 1998, with the potential to rise to £100,000 based on performance. In his first full season, he was named player of the year for Millwall, scored in their defeat in the
1999 Football League Trophy final and later helped them to a Second Division championship in 2000–01. By the end of his first spell at Millwall, Harris was not being played because the then
player-manager Dennis Wise did not believe he was up to par, and that led him to sign for
Cardiff City on
loan to prove he was good enough for first team football at Millwall. Harris made his debut for Cardiff City when he replaced
Cameron Jerome during a 3–1 win over
Gillingham and, after one more substitute appearance, was handed his first and only start for Cardiff when manager
Lennie Lawrence named him to play against
Sheffield United and he repaid the faith shown in him by scoring Cardiff's only goal of the game in a 2–1 defeat.
Nottingham Forest Cardiff City and Harris could not agree terms and he was subsequently sold to
Nottingham Forest for an undisclosed fee after they were relegated to
Football League One in the 2004–05 season. Harris was unable to make an impact at the
City Ground so was loaned out to
Gillingham who had also been
relegated to League One at the same time as Nottingham Forest. He scored six goals for Gillingham during his season long loan spell, at the end of which he returned to Forest. Harris was hoping to make an impact under new manager
Colin Calderwood. Harris's old club Millwall made a loan deal for him on a six-month deal in August 2006, however Harris rejected the offer saying if he were to move it would have to be on a permanent basis, and with
Darren Byfield and
Ben May set to return from injury for Millwall, Harris believed he would have once again been forced out the side, which was the reason he left
The Den in the first instance. Millwall therefore, withdrew from transfer negotiations. Harris finally opened his goal-scoring account for Forest on 2 September 2006, after 21 months of waiting in a 4–0 victory against
Chesterfield. It was a cutely struck volley from a few yards out. His and his teammates' joy was clear to see in his celebration, as he ran towards the corner of the stadium and did not look as though he would stop, until his teammates caught up. In the post match report, he admitted he was finally enjoying life at Nottingham Forest. Nonetheless, a certain contingent of the Forest fans still criticised Harris for his relatively poor scoring record and somewhat poor performance record. In January 2007 Harris' contract was terminated by mutual consent.
Return to Millwall Harris re-signed with Millwall on an 18-month contract on 8 January 2007, less than 24 hours after leaving Forest. Speaking to
BBC Sport the next day Harris stated, "There is something special about this club, it brings out the best in me as a player and a person. It feels like home, it always has done. I can't wait to get started." On 20 January 2007, in his second game for Millwall, Harris made club history by scoring in the 16th minute of the 4–0 win over
Rotherham to become Millwall's top league goal scorer with 94 goals, surpassing the previous club record of 93 goals he had jointly held with
Teddy Sheringham. Harris informed the
South London Press, on 23 January, that it was his intention to surpass Sheringham's 111 goal total for Millwall, stating: "There is no question of me relaxing after one goal. At last I can say, without putting too much pressure on myself, that I want Teddy's overall record. The thing I've always wanted is to be number one, and that means getting a total of 112." wearing a "Neil Harris all-time leading goal scorer" T-shirt over a Millwall top, shortly before his death during the 2009
G-20 summit protests. Towards the end of the 2007–08 season, as the club were mired in a relegation battle, Millwall boss
Kenny Jackett told Harris that his contract would not be renewed in the summer as he was not in his first team plans for the following season; younger players such as
Lewis Grabban,
Gary Alexander,
Bas Savage and
Marc Laird had pushed him down the pecking order. Harris responded by stating that he had no intention of leaving the club he loved in its hour of need. Jackett brought Harris back into the first team squad on 15 March 2008, due to an injury to Gary Alexander that kept him out for the remainder of the season. Harris was instrumental in securing Millwall's League One status, scoring one goal and turning provider for the other two in Millwall's 3–0 home win over
Carlisle United on 26 April. After a strong set of performances, the 30-year-old striker had managed to change Kenny Jackett's mind and was offered a new one-year contract on 6 May. Harris stated: "The club have made me a new offer which has pleased me professionally, because it shows that I have done enough to change the manager's mind. That makes me very happy." Harris signed a new one-year contract with The Lions on 4 June 2008. On 13 January 2009, Harris broke Teddy Sheringham's all time goal scoring record for Millwall during the 3–2 away win against Crewe Alexandra with his 112th goal for the club. On 4 April, Harris signed a new one-year extension to his contract. On 9 May 2009, Harris scored a vital 71st-minute goal in the first leg of the play-off semi-final against Leeds United to put them 1–0 up going into the second leg at Elland Road. On 11 August 2009, Harris scored a hattrick in a first round
League Cup tie at home to
AFC Bournemouth. Neil also scored the opening goal in the 3–1 extra time defeat to
West Ham in the next round of the League Cup. Harris scored once in the 3–1 victory over
Huddersfield Town, and also netted a hat-trick in the 4–0 away win at
Stockport County. Harris suffered minor injuries during the latter part of the autumn 2009, but was in form again in January. On 28 January 2010, Harris prolonged his contract with Millwall until 2012.
Southend United On 9 June 2011, Harris agreed a three-year deal with
Southend United. He had a year to run on his deal with Millwall but manager, Kenny Jacket agreed to cancel the striker's contract by mutual consent allowing him to sign for his hometown club on a free transfer. He scored his first goal for the club in a 4–0 win at Rotherham United on 24 September 2011. Harris retired on 21 June 2013 after failing to recover from an injury. In the infancy of the
2014–15 season, Harris played four times for
Essex Olympian League side
Rayleigh Town. == Managerial career ==