Billy Jones says Rotherham United’s players are all behind Zak Vyner over abuse by ‘fans’

Vyner was an unused substitute in the Millers’ home game with Leeds United last weekend with manager Paul Warne taking the decision to rest him after he was targeted for criticism by supporters in the previous weekend’s game with Brentford.

The loanee received some ironic applause after coming off in the 4-2 defeat, with Warne labelling the actions of a minority of fans as “disgusting”.

Jones, promoted to the side after the decision to take Vyner out of the firing line, said: “I have had it before and it is not nice. But you know with Zak and every Rotherham player that they are going to give 100 per cent.

“Zak must have heard the stuff when he came off. But like I said to him – and all the lads have said – we are all behind him and it is a great group here. With every one of the lads they are giving everything on the pitch for the club.”

On his experiences at Sunderland, he added: “It was a time when I was playing in the team and maybe should not have been on the pitch.

“I was not right and instead of taking a seat and saying, ‘no, listen, I cannot function properly’, I tried to play through it thinking I would be okay and I would get to half-time and it would improve. It just did not and I learned my lesson from that.

“Obviously if you are not 100 per cent crossing that white line you usually get found out and it was literally my worst performance for Sunderland. That is why I got the boos coming off and the ironic cheers.

“Even though it was my worst performance I was giving everything I had that day and it just let me down and a lesson learned. It was a really dark place and memory.”