Evans up 
for fight to restore glory days

Favourites for the title? Yes. But the heart-on-sleeve boss circles the wagons when it comes to any suggestions the Millers, backed by a go-ahead chairman in Tony Stewart, have blown rivals out of the water by wafting the cheque book with abandon this summer.

It was the exact same charge levelled with some justification by jealous rivals when Evans’s former club Crawley Town steamrollered opponents on their way to the Conference title in 2010-11.

Yet while the Millers’ summer recruitment has been considerable with 11 players coming in, Evans, in trademark fashion, has a defiant retort to League Two counterparts suggesting it is all down to money – get real.

What is beyond dispute and something Evans cedes is that his squad – boosted by a number of eye-catching signings such as Daniel Nardiello, David Noble, Lionel Ainsworth, Kari Arnason and Kayode Odejayi – are the team most others will want to beat. Especially at their new £20m New York Stadium.

But the Millers are ready for the fight.

Evans said: “I think we are the club to be shot at, yes.

“But listen, it doesn’t worry me about being favourites. We had that for two years at Crawley when we were expected to beat Championship clubs in the cup such as Derby, Hull and Bristol City. We even expected to get a result at Old Trafford in the Cup; those were the standards we placed on ourselves.

“So expectations don’t bother me. But when I read other managers come out and say: ‘Big-spending Rotherham’ when clubs like Bradford are spending good money and it’s hinted they got (Alan) Connell on a free, then do me a favour!

“Look at the money that Fleetwood have spent... One of my best friends in the game is Micky Mellon and chairman Andy Pilley is also a guy I’ve got to know particularly well over the last couple of years and, my God, they have spent some dough during the summer.

“So all this ‘big-spending Rotherham’ stuff does annoy me a little bit. But at the end of the day, we’ll treat it with the contempt it deserves.

“As the chairman says, up to today, we’ve not spent a penny. We’ve tried to and are happy to spend decent money on transfer fees. But as I told the chairman when I first met him, I’ve never spent money on a player that I didn’t think was worth that. I’ve never overspent and won’t start now.”

The Millers may be starting the season back where they belong in Rotherham in a state-of-the-art ground, but the footballing surroundings of League Two remain the same.

Depressingly so for many who savoured the glory days under Ronnie Moore – in 1981-82, the Millers finished above Newcastle United and Chelsea in the old Second Division table.

The new season is the club’s sixth in the Football League basement – their longest stint at this level since 1958.

But that did not stop Evans swapping a likely promotion at Crawley last Spring for a move to Rotherham, with the 49-year-old stating he could not take the Sussex outfit further than League One.

Despite their position in the bottom rung, there are great expectations, with the feel-good factor generated by a much-heralded arrival of a new ground, allied to the ambition of Stewart, an intoxicating mix.

It is something Evans has bought into as the Millers seek a return to the Championship landscape they vacated in 2004-05, yet he insists the hard work starts now.

He said: “I’ve come to Rotherham because I genunely believe I can take the club not just to League One, but beyond that. As I tell supporters and my chairman, this is a bigger club than Blackpool for me and Blackpool went into the Premiership.

“But we cannot talk about the Championship or Premiership because we are in League Two.”

Of Evans’s new recruits, the signings of former Exeter City captain David Noble, who rebuffed plenty of League 
One interest to join the Millers, and Icelandic international midfielder Arnason have set pulses racing the most, with the capture of former Barnsley striker Nardiello and another former Oakwell frontman in Odejayi, bringing the promise of goals.