Rotherham United: Boss-hunt Millers working on next move

There has been a flood of interest in the post vacated by Kenny Jackett eight days ago, with more than 40 candidates having made contact with the club by the end of last week.

“What we are doing is taking our time to sift through them and hopefully something will come out of the canvas that we can work on,” chairman Tony Stewart said.

Stewart likes the idea of a boss with a big personalty after the success of previous encumbents in the hot-seat Steve Evans, who led the Millers to two promotions, and Neil Warnock, who kept them in the Championship last season with an 11-match unbeaten run.

“I have stated that, if we look back, the people who have been successful in my journey have been characters,” Stewart said. “You look at the likes of Steve, with his characteristics. He is very strong and animated and had lots of buzz. Neil came in and he was animated with lots of buzz and was enthusiastic.

“You have to look at a CV and an interview and see if everything ticks all the boxes. Mentality and psychology are things that come into play, but they are not easy to recognise.

“We will probably go to a second or even third interview to make sure we have got that person with the characteristics to suit this club.”

Paul Warne has been placed in temporary charge and is one of the bookmakers’ favourites to be the next boss, but the fitness coach doesn’t want the post on a permanant basis.

Former Millers manager Ronnie Moore, who has just left non-league Eastleigh, is also high on the bookies’ list along with Southend’s Phil Brown and former Sheffield United boss Nigel Adkins.

Warne has added ex-Millers player and assistant manager John Breckin to his backroom staff until he hands over to the new man.

Stewart revealed he is still intends to upgrade the Millers’ training facilities at Roundwood which have been blamed in some quarters, in part, for Jackett’s shock resignation after just five matches at the helm.

“At the end of the day, we have a nice stadium and the training ground is under review,” Stewart said. “But because we lease it and it is not ours, there are certain obstacles we have to get over to be able to do up those premises.

“We have had the architect in and are doing some planning and moving forward on that. Yes, I would have liked it to be quicker, but, at the end of the day, Steve Evans never used to murmur about it.

“The groundsman makes sure the pitches are superb. We have spent £250,000 down there already and we only lease the place. I don’t think a guy has left because the training ground wasn’t right.”

Meanwhile, Rotherham, who were last night drawn against Oxford or Macclesfield in the third round of the FA Cup, have confirmed the appointment of a new head of recruitment but aren’t naming him while he works his notice at another club.

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