Rotherham United: Millers mates cool over captaincy

The issue of the armband is causing no unrest in the Rotherham United camp, skipper Kirk Broadfoot has revealed.
Kirk BroadfootKirk Broadfoot
Kirk Broadfoot

The 31-year-old centre-half was leading the side because Lee Frecklington was injured when new management duo Neil Warnock and Kevin Blackwell arrived eight games ago and has remained as team captain as a remarkable run of results has transformed the club’s survival fight.

“Everyone has got to be a captain on the day,” Broadfoot said. “Lee is the club captain. He does all the things that entails. Lee is a good people’s person. I’ve been at places before where there has been a team captain and a club captain.

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Frecklington’s return five games ago has coincided with Rotherham picking up 13 points from a possible 15 to climb out of the Championship drop zone.

Broadfoot added: “I think the manager likes a defender as his captain. Lee is a good friend of mine and it doesn’t bother us who has the armband.”

Assistant boss Blackwell has said he and Warnock weren’t aware midfield man Frecks, 30, was the skipper when they joined the club in mid February.

Meanwhile, Rotherham’s players have been granted a long weekend to rest their battered bodies after their heroics over the last month.

Lee FrecklingtonLee Frecklington
Lee Frecklington
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Blackwell took training as usual earlier this week but now the squad have been told not to report for duty for a few days as the club take advantage of the international break which sees them without a game on Saturday.

They signed off with a 1-0 win at Ipswich Town last weekend, having also beaten Brentford, Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough and drawn with Derby County since February 27.

“Has the break come at a good time? Yeah and no,” said Broadfoot. “I think with the run we are on, we’d rather keep the games coming. But it’s nice to get a wee break.

“It’s been a hard few weeks, to be fair, and I’ve got a couple of knocks that maybe need a couple of days’ rest. We’ll take the break, and we are just delighted we got the win before the break because its a long break if you get a defeat.”

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The Millers’ amazing recent sequence, with four of their five results coming against teams chasing promotion, has seen them overhaul MK Dons and Fulham to sit two places above the bottom three.

Blackwell said: “It’s in our hands now. If we do the job right, there’s nothing Fulham or Milton Keynes can do about it.

“With the amount of work these lads have put in, there’s no doubt a rest was required at some point. It was great to go into the break with a positive result. To go into it with a set of positive results was even better.”

Today is loan transfer deadline day, with clubs having until 5pm to bring in new faces. The Millers aren’t expecting any incomings, but a departure hasn’t been ruled out.