Rotherham United boss Steve Evans on timescale for return of key duo plus his determination to turn around an embarrassing season

A PROUD Scot who is well versed on the achievements of some of the most legendary names in the game from north of the border, Steve Evans has often name-dropped several of those figures in his entertaining dealings with the media over the years.

Sunday was no exception from the Rotherham United manager, although his reference to Ayrshire’s finest in the shape of the late, great Bill Shankly did not particularly paint his Millers side in the most flattering of terms.

Evans has used gallows humour at times to convey his frustration and hurt at events in a season which has remained stuck in the slow lane, despite summer hope that the Millers could secure a third successive instant return to the Championship following relegation.

As it stands, that looks a fanciful pipe dream.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad
Rotherham United manager Steve Evans. Picture: Tony Johnson.Rotherham United manager Steve Evans. Picture: Tony Johnson.
Rotherham United manager Steve Evans. Picture: Tony Johnson.

Evans’s side showed defensive resolve in their final game of 2024 on Sunday, a 1-1 draw with an upwardly-mobile Stockport County side whom the Millers would love to swap places with.

But going forward, there are more questions than answers, as it stands. Wins and goals provide momentum and Evans’s side have been short of both this term.

He said: "You have an inner determination, don’t you…

"Bill Shankly once said that if Everton were playing at the bottom of the garden, he’d shut the curtains.

"I’m in a run of form where I’m shutting the curtains to neighbours because they know I’m the manager of Rotherham and they are Posh (Peterborough) fans where I live.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"So I am sneaking out of the curtains and running to the car when normally I’d get there with my chest out as we normally win games.

"We have to work hard on the training ground. Listen, if we show the same determination and guts and spirit as we did against Stockport and we get some quality, we’ll be more than all right and will quickly climb the table, I’m sure."

A critical January begins on the pitch at Lincoln City on New Year’s Day with some transfer manoeuvrings - both outward and incoming - also likely to be essential if the 17th-placed Millers are to inject some badly-needed impetus into an unsatisfactory 2024-25 and stop it petering out or worse.

The Millers chief added: "We have to improve, there’s no doubt about that.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We have to get who we bring into the club right. Christ Tiehi was in wonderful form when he went out (injured) and he’ll be a week to ten days away.

"Sean Raggett’s timescale is a week of ten days and Raggy is a man-mountain, but I’ve got no complaints with that back two because Haks (Hakeem Odoffin) and Zak (Jules) have been strong and to go toe to toe with Kyle Wootton, the coaches at Stockport will know he has had a battle.

The Millers’ central defenders may have donned their combat fatigues, but across the pitch, Evans’s side require so much more to change the narrative of events and it is not down to battling qualities alone.

News you can trust since 1754
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice