Rotherham United players told to learn from the best in lockdown

Like all clubs, the Millers have been looking to make the most of the coronavirus lockdown, and whilst it has prevented them training together, they have been making the most of modern analysis technology to improve their players and ramp up their recruitment work.

Assistant manager Richie Barker admits he was not the most tech-savy at the start of the lockdown, but he is now making good use of the tools at his disposal, which are helping with a different kind of coaching.

“As a team and individuals in their units they've been given individual learning plans and part of that is to go away and watch and study elite players who play in their positions,” Barker told his club's official website.

“We scrolled through the Premier League and tried to find the best players that are relevant to not only the way they play but where they play and the system we play in. They're given work to go away, study that player, bring that information back to us and try and work out what they can take from that player, because they are elite players.

“I'm not saying we're going to turn them into Premier League players overnight but if you're going to study somebody, why not study the best?”

The absence of training and matches has also allowed Rotherham's management to be more hands-on in the recruitment process.

“If I'm being totally honest, that's probably been one of the positives, that we've been more closely involved in watching players that are on the lists the recruitment lads have put to us,” said Barker.

“Usually the list is a little bit smaller and they come back and say, 'We've narrowed it down to three or four, what do you think?' and we have meetings, but we've had meetings between myself, Paul (Warne, the manager) and Hammy (Matt Hamshaw, first-team coach) last week and I think we watched 50 or 60 players.

“On a normal weekly basis, particularly when we have two games a week, recruitment is very difficult for us to get involved in apart from just fielding reports and sifting through them. To watch a player in one game can take anything between two and three hours by the time you've paused it, rewound it, and seen what he's done.

“Under normal circumstances, 50 to 60 players just wouldn't be able to be watched between the three of us.

“We get to the end of the week, cut those players down again and maybe start a new list.”

As Barker explained, solid plans are hard to make, even more so given that the Millers do not know what division they will be playing next season, sitting as they do second in League One.

“We don't know when the window will open or when it will close and finances are going to be totally different on the other side,” he acknowledged. “All we can do is be as organised as possible. Some things will be out of our hands.”

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor