Comment: Steve Evans brought in to work the town of Rotherham again as luckless Leam Richardson departs Millers

But across the club’s fanbase, compassion was getting thinner on the ground. And more pertinently, it was in the boardroom, too.

The larger-than-life figure of Steve Evans - the irrepressible Scot who provided the Millers with such a joyride just over a decade ago - was looming large.

For Richardson, the numbers game - two wins in 24 games - pinned him against the wall, regardless of everything he had to put up with since December.

For those in the corridors of power - and more especially chairman Tony Stewart - he was clearly becoming part of the ‘problem’ at a time of the year when hierarchies start to fret about season-ticket sales. Especially given what has happened this season.

The cost of relegation to the Millers is likely to be in the region of £6m to £7m and they have turned to someone to work the town again and provide bang for their buck.

Given Richardson’s own tough numbers, a poor start to the 2024-25 season would have left him open to the elements and made his position untenable.

It explains why the decision was made to dispense with his services before things potentially got toxic, and why the lure of Evans was irresistible.

Evans will not be tainted by the events of one of the club’s most lamentable seasons ever. He is lucky in that regard, Richardson less so.

Richardson is someone who has shown his wherewithal in a high-pressure situation far more serious than the outcome of a football match.

In late 2021, he performed CPR on Wigan striker Charlie Wyke - ironically now in the colours of Rotherham - after he had a cardiac arrest in training.

The calm response of the Yorkshireman - who hails from Leeds - at a time of crisis shone through. Wyke would credit him with saving his life.

Professionally, Richardson also showed his ability to cope with crisis situations amid an off-the-field maelstrom at Wigan.

Tackling tough circumstances runs in the family; one of his brothers works with an air ambulance team.

The combined weight of issues that Richardson had to face in his 129 days at Rotherham was surely something else on a football level at least.

Every which way he turned, he was being forced to put out fires.

Amid the Millers’ sorry and embarrassing campaign, where the rot had set in before he arrived, he was never able to field a side truly in his own image and ‘be myself’ as he put it.

That would only arrive if he was given the time to overhaul the squad in the way he wanted in the summer - with the number of players out of contract stretching into double figures.

An imbalanced squad where availability was a major problem - check out the number of times that the club have failed to field a full bench in 2023-24 - was a significant bugbear for him.

As was not having anywhere to consistently train throughout an exceedingly wet winter which ensured that pitches at the club’s Roundwood training base were out of bounds for long spells due to drainage issues.

It represented the ‘number one’ priority to rectify, according to Richardson. Work has started in that regard and Evans will reap the benefit of that.

Richardson also touched upon recruitment and staffing issues and hinted at the dysfunction at a club needing to reconnect itself across departments.

On the pitch, there was also the calibre of opponent the Millers come up against at this level to factor in. It has proved too much for a group whose confidence has tanked after a desperate season. It is a squad who have long since forgotten what it feels like to win away from the NYS. Home form hasn’t been much better.

The squad is to be stripped apart, with many senior players having also seen the writing on the wall regarding their own futures at the club for a good while. Given the sort of season Rotherham have endured, the casualty count will be high, with Evans being the one able to benefit and build his own side and provide the ‘reset’ that Richardson was desperately waiting for, but ultimately couldn’t survive to oversee.

The nadir for Richardson arrived in March when the Millers suffered pitiful 5-0 losses at Coventry and Norwich in the space of five wretched days.

Luck didn’t help Richardson either. A defeat in the sixth minute of stoppage time in his first Saturday match in charge at Plymouth set the tone. The best generals are lucky, as Napoleon once said.

Or as formerUSA president Dwight D.Eisenhower put it: “I'd rather have a lucky general than a smart general. They win battles.”