Rotherham United are getting a smarter Reece James despite his Sheffield Wednesday inactivity

Rohl led Wednesday to Championship safety last season despite inheriting a team with only three points from their first 11 games, and when the Owls persuaded him to sign a new contract in May it was a massive coup for them.

But he largely did it without James, handed his only two league starts by Rohl in his first month in the job. After that he was restricted to very occasional substitute appearances and an FA Cup run-out in a fourth-round replay at Coventry City where the Owls sent out a virtual reserve team.

At the end of the campaign, and his contract, the Lancastrian made the short move from Hillsborough to Rotherham United.

Despite that, James felt he was treated with respect, and admired Rohl's methods. “I was training hard and there was never a point where the club weren't letting you train, you were constantly being pushed hard by the training staff because they never know when they might need you,” he said.

“I learnt a lot under the previous manager, everything he does tactically has helped my game because I now see football in a different way, a better way sometimes.

“That's massively helped my game and if I ever wanted to go into management I'd take a lot from the previous manager at Sheffield Wednesday because the job he's done is incredible.”

James sounds like the classic case of a player nearing the end of their career starting to study the managers they work under in preparation for going into the job themselves but at 30 years-old he insists he is not ready to commit to it just yet.

“It's something I've started to look at,” admitted James, pictured. “You're always looking at your coaching badges and different things. I'm currently studying.

“They're things you look at as you prepare for life after football but I'm not looking at slowing down or thinking about that too early. I still think I've got a lot to give and hopefully I can do that next season.”

James spent 2022-23 on loan at Wednesday from Blackpool and was a key part of the team which won the League One play-offs that season.

At the end of it, manager Darren Moore – who had previously worked with him at Doncaster Rovers – tried to make the deal permanent, only to leave the club before it had gone through.

Given that Moore's immediate successor Xisco Munoz largely ignored James too – he made just one Championship start under the Spaniard – you might conclude that the versatile defender would have been better off had the move been cancelled but he does not see it that way.

“I'd been in discussion with the club but once the news broke of the manager (Moore) leaving I thought it might not happen but the club still wanted to sign me and that was something I really wanted to go ahead with,” he said. “I'd thoroughly enjoyed my time there, that's why I took the opportunity.”