How the Roundwood pitches are standing up after Rotherham United upgrade

The Millers spent well over £250,000 to give their League One squad playing surfaces fit for purpose at their Roundwood complex and are now reaping the rewards of their investment.

“They are like carpets,” the boss said. “They're incredible.”

Evans says he joined forces with the club's award-winning groundsman, Dave Fellowes, earlier in the season to make sure the project was a success.

That meant using the pitches sparingly in the initial stages following the completion of the project by West-Yorkshire-based contractors Chappelow Sports Turf Ltd.

“We had to protect them,” Evans said. “I worked with the grounds staff on that and we stayed off them at times when the weather was really bad.

"If you take your kids on to your back garden and it's been raining for three days, the grass isn't going to look too good once they've finished running about on it.

“It's taken a while, longer than we thought, but we're seeing the benefits now.”

Matt Taylor was the first Rotherham boss to publicly flag up the water-logged surfaces as a cause for concern and successor Leam Richardson also highlighted the need for action.

The latter said last March as Rotherham were slipping out of the Championship: “We've not been able to get on the training ground as much as we'd like.

“We've got small-ish areas where we can get a little bit of work done. We've been trying to get by with it ever since I came here. Hopefully, going forward it will become a lot better.

“The last few months have been challenging. When you're playing the likes of Leeds United and Southampton, you've got to get the work done.

“When you can't get on the training ground it becomes an even bigger task. We need to never be in this position again.”

Evans is delighted with the facilities and is expecting no issues as winter progresses.

“The pitches will still be like they are now in April and May,” he said.