We have no need to cash in on Le Fondre – Stewart

Stewart is refusing to accept anything less than £500,000 for the striker who has bagged over 100 goals in League Two during the past five seasons.

He has rejected two offers from Sheffield Wednesday – who are desperate to boost their firepower – and another from Scunthorpe United.

Coventry City have also joined the race for Le Fondre’s signature in the last 48 hours.

Stewart last night stressed that the Millers are not standing in the way of Le Fondre’s progress but, equally importantly, spoke of a determination to ensure his club get a fair price.

Le Fondre may wish to leave but there are 11 months to serve on his existing contract at the Don Valley Stadium. With only two days to go before the start of the season, the clock is ticking for interested parties to raise their bids.

Thanks to Stewart’s support, the Millers are debt free and under no financial pressure to sell.

If Le Fondre sticks around without signing a new deal, he will be a free agent and entitled to walk away for nothing next summer. However, that would benefit both parties if he scores the goals that fire the club to promotion. Only two seasons ago, a similar move worked a treat for Leeds United and Jermaine Beckford.

“If people want to contact us and talk about signing Adam Le Fondre, I am happy to do that,” Stewart said. “But we are in no rush to push him out of the door.

“He is ambitious and is yearning to play for a higher club – you can’t take that away from him and we don’t want to stand in his way but we don’t have to sell.

“In fact, I would like to see him stay, score 20 goals before Christmas, and put us on the path to promotion. If he did that, he could play in League One for us next season and in a brand new stadium.”

Stewart’s stance on Le Fondre is yet another reflection of his ambition for the Millers.

Now three years on from his arrival at the club, he remains firmly focused on a vision of bringing Championship football back to his adopted hometown.

Planning for the club’s new 12,000 capacity stadium has not always gone smoothly but work is now underway at the site on Don Street and July 2012 remains the scheduled date for completion.

Apart from bringing the Millers back ‘home’ after four years lodging in an athletics stadium, it will also boost the town’s economy.

The Millers are also close to completing a deal to buy the Outokumpu sports complex at Brinsworth which will be transformed into a new training Academy.

Originally from Sheffield, Stewart, 65, has pumped over £2m of his own money into the club to revive their fortunes and is justifiably proud of the progress so far.

“This is the most incredible thing that has happened to Rotherham football for yonks and we are making it happen,” he says. “Are we putting our money where our mouth is? Yes. Something like this only hits Rotherham every 100 years. It is as glorious as that.”

The Millers lost at Wembley to Dagenham & Redbridge in the 2010 play-off final and under-achieved last season which led to the departure of manager Ronnie Moore.

Stewart is now pinning his faith in former Brentford manager Andy Scott to bring the promotion he craves and says the early signs are promising.

“I don’t want this season to end in failure and I know we have a manager who will do what needs to be done,” he says.

“Over the last few seasons, I think we may have taken our eyes off the ball. We had sides that should have beaten anything else in League Two but, although we felt we were good enough, we did not prove it on the pitch and we have fallen away after Christmas time which has been disappointing.

“Now I think the team spirit will be better. I have been up to the training ground and been impressed with the work ethic. The players are starting earlier and finishing later and they are enjoying it. The new manager has also introduced a training methodology that is totally different to anything before at the club.

“We have brought in really good players from clubs such as Millwall and Ipswich Town who are passionate about getting Rotherham United into the next division. It’s going to be exciting and interesting this season and if a club could be rewarded for preparation, it would have to be us.”

Stewart’s running of the club was given another seal of approval this week when a survey compiled by the BBC showed that the Millers offer supporters the ‘best value for money’ in League Two.

Season ticket sales have risen by 12 per cent this summer to around 2,000 – representing over half last season’s average of 3,677.

“We strive to give value for money and it is nice that this has been highlighted,” he sys. “We employ commercial staff that do a good professional job. The fact that we have a new stadium on the horizon should also help us this season.

“Players will want to be part of that and the fans who buy season tickets will get the first opportunity to pick where they sit in the new stadium. You only have to look at the impetus Chesterfield got from moving to a new stadium to take real encouragement.”

The Millers open the season at home to Oxford United on Saturday.