Rotherham’s Neil Redfearn fires one last shot before drawing line under spat with Leeds boss Steve Evans

After Rotherham’s 2-0 loss to Huddersfield on Tuesday, Redfearn bemoaned Evans’s summer recruitment with the club saying he had brought in “sub-standard” players that weren’t “good enough” for the Championship.

Evans – who departed Rotherham in October – duly retorted that Redfearn “sounds like a man as if he is under extreme pressure and wonders what happens if he loses the next one.”

Rotherham are second bottom, four points adrift of safety, but when told on Thursday of Evans’s reaction, Redfearn insisted: “ I don’t want to comment on Steve – he can say what he wants, that’s up to him.

“I am more interested in us. But what I am doing is laying out the bare facts.

“Sometimes it evokes a response and obviously it has brought a response from Steve.

“But I don’t want to comment on anything he has said.

“I am commenting on the facts; it might put people’s noses out, but if I am going to turn this around and make it work and make it right these are the facts.

“I’ve stated a fact and he’s made a comment.”

Rotherham, who visit Leeds in the FA Cup on January 9, face a difficult task in arresting their poor form given they host high-flying Hull Cityon Saturday.

Redfearn has said he will be looking to bring fresh talent in during the transfer window next month and has questioned whether his players are fit enough following a dismal first-half showing against Huddersfield.

“We didn’t have the energy and it’s difficult to put things into place,” he said.

“It might well be that we have had a run of games where we have had a good tempo and that might have been a first half too far. We have got to find it within ourselves.

“I know from what I have been told that pre-season training wasn’t great. We didn’t have a good enough pre-season in terms of fitness so it is something we need to catch up.

“It’s got to this stage of the season where we are maybe playing catch-up fitness wise but the lads have shown a real resilience in previous games and a good fitness level.

“It’s something that we are chipping away at and something we are improving.”