New boss Steve Evans on potential surprise player-contract developments at Rotherham United

The new manager says that this summer will be a busy one on the recruitment front and hasn't ruled out hanging on to some of the players who were set to leave if former boss Leam Richardson had remained in the hot-seat.

“Will every player stay? No,” Evans said. “One or two who no-one expects to stay might stay, though,” he said.

He and number two Paul Raynor took training for the first time yesterday and were today officially unveiled at a press conference in the boardroom at New York.

The 61-year-old, who has returned for a second spell as boss, added: “We have to judge players on how we think they can play for us, not on how they've played for Matt (Taylor) or Leam in the past.

“We've spoken to five or six - maybe more - of the senior boys already. From what they thought to what they now understand after the last couple of days ... I think a lot of them are going to end up wanting to stay here.”

Players whose deals expire in the summer include Sean Morrison, Lee Peltier, Shane Ferguson, Grant Hall, Tyler Blackett, Jamie Lindsay, Cafu, Sam Clucas, Ollie Rathbone and Hakeem Odoffin, although in the case of the latter two the Millers hold 12-month extension options.

Evans has inherited a squad that has been relegated from the Championship and he said: "The expectation is to build a promotion-contending team so we have to take everything into consideration.

“The way the game is these days, you make your recommendations to the board and you get approval to do some things and not approval to do others.”

He believes Rotherham are getting a more effective version of the volatile figure who famously led them to promotion from League Two to the second tier in 2013 and 2014 and then kept them there for a year before his departure.

“There’s more maturity in how I conduct myself and in how I analyse things when they are not so right,” he said.

“As I said to the chairman when it came back together, I am still as passionate and I still want to win.

“I'll still fall out with people sometimes on the grass, but I believe I come back as a more rounded and better manager.”