Rotherham Utd v Bolton: Repairs seen as essential for ‘broken’ Millers

Rotherham United manager Steve Evans (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).

Evans has overseen successive promotions at the New York Stadium, and in each season has not been shy in swiftly moving people on if they do not fit the bill.

He has been as active as ever in the January transfer window, bringing in Conor Sammon, Jack Barmby, Zeki Fryers, Danny Ward and Adam Hammill, while players like Alex Revell, Michael Tidser and Joe Skarz – instrumental in the club’s rise through the divisions – have moved on.

Jonson Clarke-Harris, a club record signing in the last window, has also left on loan.

Rotherham have won just one of their last 15 games and are without a victory on home soil since mid-October. But Evans said: “If your car’s broke, what do you do? The team is broke, so we had to fix it.

“We think by signing the likes of Adam, Danny and Conor we have improved us.

“We’re a better squad now than we were in December – by miles.

“You cannot compare it with Tom Lawrence, Emmanuel Ledesma and Scott Wootton in your team; that was a carefully thought-out strategy as this one is. But we lose four of those players and then lose a couple of games when we had to go back to players that are probably seen as not good enough for this level.

“When you move up a level you have a duty to give players the opportunity to play at a level. After seven or eight games they’re doing well. After 14 you realise it’s not working, so it’s broken.

“Momentum carries you a long way, but it only carries you so far. It’s easy to say we’ve stepped up to an unprecedented level, one step away from the best league in world football. Some people say the Championship is the fifth best league in world football, so we have to pinch ourselves.

“We should embrace that, but we also need players who can play in it – consistently.”

Bolton have signed former Millers striker Adam Le Fondre on loan from Cardiff.

Last six games: Rotherham WDDLLL, Bolton WLWDLD.

Referee: D Drysdale (Lincolnshire).

Last time: Rotherham 2 Bolton 1; September 12, 1992, Division Two.