Rotherham United midfielder Ben Wiles on goals, growing up and maybe moving on

Ben Wiles is discussing his favourite goal in a season which has seen him reach double figures for the first time.

It came on a cold Tuesday night at Portman Road in November: a run, deft control then a beautiful curling finish into the far corner.

Ipswich Town come up against the young midfielder again this weekend at AESSEAL New York Stadium. They have been warned.

A product of Rotherham United’s youth set-up, Wiles is in the form of his life and one of the stand-out performers in League One.

“My game has improved because I’m starting to add goals and assists,” he says. “I’m still a young kid who runs around the pitch for 90 minutes as well.

“I’ve scored more because I’m finding myself in positions higher up the pitch. I’m more direct as well and being a little more selfish than before.

“The knock-downs have come to me on the edge of the box and I’ve put some of them away. My goal tally should be much higher. I’ve missed a lot of chances.”

We’re talking a few days before the Papa John’s Trophy Final that Rotherham will go on to win on April 3.

Sporting a blue hoodie and a welcoming grin, he’s in good spirits. He reckons he prefers to avoid media duties when he can but he’s happily put up his hand for the pre-Wembley stint and sticks around for nearly an hour.

The microphones and voice recorders and questions that are coming at him from all directions — me, Radio Sheffield, Calendar, The Athletic, the Yorkshire Post — don’t faze him. Already the veteran of more than 150 games, he’s seen and done this kind of thing a few times before.

“One-hundred-and-fifty,” he reflects. “It kind of blows my mind a little bit. I’ve enjoyed every moment. I’m living such a dream

“A goal I always set myself when I was coming through was to play as many games as possible. I want to go on and keep doing that.”

The chat is taking place in the players’ lounge, a smart space tucked away in a corner of the first floor at New York.

Pictures of past triumphs adorn the room while one wall is a red backdrop with the word ‘MILLERS’ writ large in white standing out against it.

Rotherham are a family club and the partners and children of Paul Warne’s squad are encouraged to come to games. In the corner is a highchair for the use of those with particularly young kids.

Wiles has been with the Millers since he was nine but he isn’t a baby anymore. He turns 23 the day after the Ipswich match and may not be in South Yorkshire when he’s 24.

Those flashing runs, that non-stop engine, those clever passes, that turn of pace, those ten goals, that ability to beat a man haven’t gone unnoticed and there will be interest in him in the summer.

“Things change all the time in football,” he says. “Hopefully my performances have put me in the shop window. I love every minute of playing for Rotherham but in life opportunities come around that you can’t say ‘no’ to.

“It’s an ambition of mine to play at the highest level I can, wherever that may be. If it turns out that it’s with Rotherham then I will continue to give my all week in, week out.

“I enjoy being here. We don’t have loads of people. It’s a close-knit club and I respect it massively.”

Home for a long time was in Rawmarsh with his parents, two older brothers and two younger sisters but he’s just moved into a place of his own with girlfriend Libby in Wickersley.

“Being a Rotherham lad playing for Rotherham is massive,” he says. “As a young boy, I used to go down to Millmoor to watch them. I was a ball boy at Don Valley Stadium and then at New York. I’m very grateful to be in the position I’m in now.”

He may have left Rawmarsh, Rawmarsh hasn’t left him. “Any pre-match superstitions?” he’s asked. “Naow,” he replies in his broadest Yorkshire accent.

“I just sit there, talk to people, have a wander about. Then I’ll get changed — in no particular way — and just go out there and give it all I’ve got.”

Manager Paul Warne jokes that Wiles is a “Radio Two, slippers kind of guy” and the midfielder smiles acceptingly at the description.

He rarely drinks, doesn’t go out much and gravitates towards the older figures in the dressing room. “A young Richie Barker,” his boss adds.

“Being a footballer isn’t an easy job,” the player says. “It’s a great one, but not an easy one. You have to make a lot of sacrifices. You have to say ‘no’ to plans and base your life around football if you want to be the best you can be.

“The mature head, I owe it Richard Wood and Joe Mattock, the people I hang around with the most. I’m like a sponge when I’m with them, soaking up everything they say. They’ve moulded me into the person I am.”

So, on to Saturday when Wiles will be going for strike number 11 against the Tractor Boys on his last day as a 22-year-old.

Of course, we all remember what happened at Wembley less than a fortnight ago.

I suspect he has a new favourite goal now.

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BEN KEEPS THE FAITH

BEN Wiles surveys Rotherham United’s promotion run-in and declares: “We can’t crumble now.”

Having led League One for much of the campaign, the Millers have slipped to third spot and have five matches left to clinch a top-two place that would guarantee a return to the Championship next year

“We’ve got to be confident,” he says. “We haven’t been at our best recently but that shouldn’t detract from our form and all our victories before then. We can’t crumble now.

“This season has been ‘mint’ for us. We’ve shown people and teams that we’re a force and that we’re going to come at you. I’m very confident we can get that back. Every player believes in the player standing next to him. We’re in it together. Team willingness and togetherness can take you a long way.”