Cam can reign just like King Kari did ... the Steve Evans Column

We were watching videos of our Rotherham United teams of the past and Kari Arnason was operating as a CDM.

That's a role made for Cam, we decided, and we put him in there against Lincoln City on New Year's Day.

The kid has done well there since, hasn't he!

Anyone who has watched Cam, even when I thought he was sloppy in his defending earlier in the season, won't dispute how talented he is on the ball for a central defender.

Kari was the same, a wonderful footballer who played a major part in a rise from League Two to the Championship.

We pushed him forward because he was costing us goals and he became stunning in that position for a period of time. Then we put him back in as a centre-half.

When he went back there, he realised he had to do things a little bit crisper, a little bit sharper, that little bit more concentrated, and was all the better for it.

Cam has been a huge asset for us as a midfielder in the last three League One matches that have brought two wins and a draw.

The 4-1-3-2 formation suits us. It give us a good balance. Bolton Wanderers were everyone's tip for a promotion spot at the start of the campaign but we overran them at AESSEAL New York Stadium last Saturday.

Their manager, Ian Evatt, is an honest man and he said the same.

Our two centre-halves, Haks Odoffin and Zak Jules, were excellent. They've formed a very strong partnership.

We had a little worry with Zak at half-time because he said he'd been feeling his hamstring a little bit in the first half. We think it was just a little bit of fatigue because he didn't feel it after the interval.

When you've got centre-halves performing like that and a good goalkeeper in Dillon Phillips behind them, you've got a platform.

And Cam gives them protection. That allows the likes of Alex MacDonald, Shaun McWilliams and Joe Powell to show their energy and go and squeeze the game.

Those three midfield individuals have all got different attributes. Shaun runs with the ball and he's got big strides, Alex is good technically and Joe can be a wizard with that left foot of his when he wants to be.

A last word on Cam ... if he stays here and continues to play as well as he is, he could end up as revered at this club as King Kari.

​*************

ONLY one League One match survived the weather last weekend and it was ours.

The chairman put his hand in his pocket to the tune of around £30,000 to make sure the game at New York went ahead.

He paid for specialist equipment to be brought in to beat the snow and the cold and the pitch was in fine fettle when we kicked off against Bolton Wanderers.

We've got brilliant grounds staff here. We never forget that we're a team at this club, from the tea ladies to the star players.

We had a big balloon on the pitch and heating facilities. The chairman sanctioned it within seconds.

The referee, Alan Young, and Bolton boss Ian Evatt, said at the team-sheet exchange around an hour and half before kick-off that it was incredible to turn up and see the pitch look like that.

We informed the lads on Wednesday that the game would be on and they were delighted. They played their part by giving a display that was above and beyond third-tier level.

Full credit to our grounds staff. And full credit to our chairman. He'd seen our recent good form and wanted to give us the chance to extend it.

Had it had been four weeks ago, he'd have probably been hoping the match was off!

​​*************

NO-ONE knows better than me that the first half of our season didn't pan out as well as we all wanted to do.

There were reasons for that: there were many, many things that needed sorting out when I returned in April and that kind of turnaround takes time.

Last week, I had the pleasure of a call with a Millers legend, Howard Webb.

He said he felt that when it was announced that I was coming back to the club for a second spell the people of the town, the supporters, just thought: ‘Evans is back, here we go, promotion.’ It doesn't work like that. There were a lot of situations within the club that we had to grind away at.

We had to make sure that every player who walks into our training base wants to play for us. That wasn't the case with every member of the squad we inherited.

The boys are giving everything and I'm pleased with recent events, but none of us are getting carried away. The work to take this great club back to where it belongs goes on.

​​*************

CHRIST Tiehi didn't leave us for financial reasons, he left us because he missed his loved ones.

He was paid significant wages by the Millers and I'm sure he's being well recompensed by his new employers, Hungarian side Diosgyori VTK.

There's a perception that people in football think only of money. That's simply not the case.

Christ is a wonderful player and I'd have liked to have kept him, but I was still pleased to see him go because I know the effect it will have on his personal happiness.

His family can now leave France and live with him in Hungary. They couldn't move permanently to England for visa reasons.

I 100 per cent understand why he wanted to go to Europe. Family is everything.

There have been several occasions in my career where I've had the opportunity to move back to Scotland and manage a club in the SPL.

I said ‘no’ every time because my wife and daughters come first.

​*************

WELL done to the Tivoli End choir who raised their voices and raised money for a great cause after the Bolton Wanderers game.

They headed to Millmoor to sing on a Millers record that is generating thousands of pounds for Rotherham Hospice.

I did them a favour by staying away because, trust me, no-one wants to hear my less-than-dulcet tones. Just because I'm partial to a bit of Rod Stewart doesn't mean I sound like him! I'd have been thrown off the kop if I'd piped up.

I've watched the videos and seen the pictures and it looks like it was a brilliant event. So many supporters have told me of the pride and nostalgia they felt at being back at our old home.

My Saturday night after our victory was a quiet one. I phoned my old pal, David Moyes, to congratulate him on getting the Everton job, then had a session on WhatsApp with my staff sharing our thoughts on what the team should be for the following match against Chesterfield.

In the back of my mind, though, a song was playing ...

‘Millermen, Millermen

In red and white we'll stand and fight

Because we're Millermen.’

Thank you for the brilliant support last Saturday, by the way. I love to send you home happy.