Rotherham United turn to one of their own in Matt Hamshaw to resurrect their fortunes

With the greatest of respect to Matt Taylor and Leam Richardson who both tried under difficult circumstances, and that elephant in the room Steve Evans, whose resurgent first term was sullied by his recent second, these men cannot hold a candle to the likes of Ronnie Moore and Paul Warne, who gave blood for the cause as players and got fans through the turnstiles as managers.

And so it is that the Millers have once again turned to someone for whom Rotherham United is more than just a job, but a calling.

Matt Hamshaw was born in the town, was a mascot at Millmoor and stood on the terraces there before making his way in the footballing world. His coaching career began here and it is also at the New York Stadium where he has been given a first chance to make his name as a manager. For on Tuesday, after a four-game interim tenure in which he has transformed the gloom of the latter days under Evans into rays of hope, Hamshaw has been entrusted with carrying the club forward with a three-year contract as manager.

“It feels right,” he said from the boardroom overlooking the playing surface at the New York Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.

“The chairman (Tony Stewart) has a saying about a comfy pair of slippers, and it kind of feels like that, even walking into the training ground it felt the same.

“The DNA of the club runs through the football team but also every department.

“It feels like I want to get down to the hard work even more so, if that’s possible. It just feels like a good opportunity for both sides.”

Stewart was absent on Tuesday but in his stead, chief operating officer Paul Douglas said: “I think at our club, that DNA is very important to us. Our owner is a local chap, our owners have always been local people, I’m from Rotherham.

“Many of the managers who have been successful have either been from the town or had a long association with the club.

“That’s a trend that isn’t that common any more, but for us this is still the model and I think it adds something to our club: we do recognise what supporters are looking for.”

Hamshaw has been given the job because of his “innovative football mind”, says Douglas, not to mention the galvanising effect he has had on and off the pitch.

Three wins out of four against “teams with a lot more to play for than us”, as Douglas put it, helped as well.

At 43 Hamshaw has been biding his time for an opportunity like this. “I wouldn’t say I’ve been working towards it, but I’ve had every job there is at an academy or a first team,” said Hamshaw who played over 60 times for each of Sheffield Wednesday, Mansfield Town, Notts County and Macclesfield and was a coach at Rotherham and Derby under Warne.

“I’ve had opportunities in my career where I could have been a No 1 but I’ve turned them down because I felt I needed a little bit more experience or a bit more know-how or education. When you tell people that they think you’re mad because you might not get that opportunity again, but now is the time for me to do it.”

His Millers DNA will help get the fans onside quickly and stay with him for longer, while a three-year deal has been awarded to him because he says Stewart is allowing him time to build. He wants to create memories for Rotherham fans and for them to be part of the “long-term journey” but Hamshaw is under no illusions as to what really matters at a football club - results.

“We’re aligned in our thinking moving forward and for me that’s really important,” said Hamshaw. “I’m not just here for two minutes to turn results round and make everybody buy a season ticket, I want to be here to make sure that this club moves forward and we all move forward together.

“In three years’ time I’d want it to be a team that’s got assets on the pitch, play the Rotherham United way and in a perfect scenario that would be Championship football.

“But there’s a lot of clubs in League One that feel they should be in the Championship.

“The chairman is giving me time to build, but he’s ambitious, I’m ambitious. Any time you go into a league campaign the aim is to get promoted out of it, no matter what your situation.”

By bringing forward the appointment, Rotherham are giving Hamshaw a head start in preparing for next season and that aim to be in the promotion race.

Recruitment talks can begin now with clarity over the management position, as can retention, with Hakeem Odoffin and Cameron Humphreys at the top of the list after “excellent seasons” from the pair.

He will also start bringing in his own backroom team in the summer, preferring to trust in his ability to handle the job on his own over the closing four games of a season that for a long time has felt lost for Rotherham United fans, but now has some purpose, however belated.

For one of their own is back in charge again. “It feels amazing,” Hamshaw smiled.

“I said when I came back here two weeks ago I’d die a happy man knowing I'd been Rotherham manager, and that feeling is even stronger now.”