'Give me time and I’ll bring back the happiness for our great followers' ... Rotherham United boss Steve Evans writes for the Advertiser

I think a lot of fans will be thinking: 'If results don't change then the manager has to be changed.'

Some people wish for something and it ends up not being the right thing.

I've got the full support of the players and the staff, of the chairman and all the board.

I just have to keep my head down, keep working hard and keep doing my job. We all know what gets fans on side: winning matches.

I think they have been patient because they've watched a number of poor performances this season.

They've also seen some good performances that have brought victories.

The players are very well paid by League One standards and would accept that they have to show more on the pitch.

Given time, I will turn things round. Absolutely I will, there's no question about that. I genuinely believe that we will still be promotion contenders this term.

When you look at how packed the treatment room has been since the start of the season, you start to think: ‘Were the gods with me when I came back here in April? Are they going to be with me?’

But what do you do when you get adversity? You fight.

I could leave tomorrow but it wouldn't stop me loving the club and being a Rotherham United fan in the future.

I don't want to be a fan, I want to be helping the fans be happy.

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THE chairman might be seeing a bit more of me than he was expecting now that I've brought back the old Steve Evans.

It's not about being more aggressive, it's about being more fired up and getting the players more fired up.

The word I'd use to describe it is ‘assertive’. I need to be more assertive with the group, more assertive with the staff, more assertive with the squad, more assertive on matchdays.

That's why Tony Stewart could find me spending a couple of matches sitting next to him in the stand, because that assertiveness will extend to the technical area.

The chairman will live with that if we've got the fire and passion back in the team.

The change in me came about because of a conversation I had with him a week last Monday.

He said to me: ‘Pretend, Steve, that you're walking in here for the first time and I've told you that we're in a mess and you need to sort it. How would you act?’

I replied: ‘Differently to what I'm doing now.’

He said: ‘Go home and come back tomorrow as if you're walking in for the first time.’

That's what I've done every day since.

Before then, I'd been a bit soft at times, a bit more compassionate, because of the circumstances at the club in the two years before I came back in April.

The one thing you always get from Tony Stewart is the truth. He doesn't give you any guarantees in life but he's wholly supportive.

I'm already on record as saying that the phone conversation we had on a Saturday morning last month, the day after the defeat at Barnsley, was the toughest call I've had with him ever.

What people might not appreciate is that we didn't get into a row, there was no shouting, the chairman just talked from his heart.

His words were: ‘I'm standing shoulder to shoulder with you. We're together, how can I help?’

Pep Guardiola at Manchester City said he took a call from the club's owner, Sheikh Mansour, after he'd lost five games in a row and was told: ‘Keep to your principles, keep doing the same things and it will turn.’

That call could have been Tony Stewart to me.

His overall message is quite clear: ‘Get the performances right and results will be right.’

Everyone knows that when the Millers get momentum, the Millers are very difficult to stop.

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I SAW that Bradford City boss Graham Alexander was very complimentary about Joe Hungbo after our win at Valley Parade in the Vertu Trophy.

Our winger was very good that night as he set up Shaun McWilliams' goal and was a constant threat on the left flank.

What does he have to do to get more game-time? Perform like that in league games!

We know he's a very good player. If you give Joe enough service, he will cause problems. That's why we signed him on loan from German side FC Nurnberg.

He has to do it against third-tier teams and with a more consistent final product.

It frustrates me that we've not seen more of him. Mind you, there's a lot of them in that dressing room who frustrate me at the minute!

I know that the boys have got it in them. That's why I won't be overly-critical. They're young men saying to me: 'I know I've not been ‘at it’.’

You can put a player on the pitch for the right reasons and then he goes out and, by his standards, doesn't have a good day.

We're probably at 80 per cent of where we need to be in terms of the group.

I've done a lot of self-reflection. It's my responsibility, ultimately, along with the coaching staff, to get the boys' confidence high.

Where does confidence come from? Where does team spirit come from? From winning matches.

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YOU can feel the buzz in the crowd when Jack Holmes runs on to the pitch.

That speaks volumes about the impact being made by the kid we plucked from non-league football in the summer.

We have to be careful with him. He's still learning. The talent is there, but it's raw.

Some parts of his game are very good, some parts of his positional play aren't so good just yet.

Jack's a very good player to bring off the bench. He's a winger whose first instinct is to go forward.

Supporters are thinking: 'This is a young man who is going to come on and create something.'

We're really pleased with him and the league starts will come. He's in a good place.