No holding back from Lee Clark as Rotherham United's boss rounds on his players
FUMING boss Lee Clark branded his Rotherham United squad “practice-match players” as he launched a scathing attack in the wake of an embarrassing derby-day loss that leaves the Millers facing relegation next week.
He saw his side humbled 3-1 by South Yorkshire rivals Barnsley this afternoon and then said sorry to supporters for what they had to endure at AESSEAL New York Stadium.
“Before I say anything else about the quality of our performance, I've just got to give a whole-hearted, heartfelt message to the fans,” he said.
“I apologise for the performance. I felt some people gave up in the second half. That's unacceptable in any game, but especially in a derby. It gives you an indication why we are where we are.”
Clark, who has been in the hot-seat for less than a month, warned that some men coming to the end of their deals might struggle to find employment elsewhere, and accused them of hiding when the going gets tough in the now-doomed battle to stay up.
“What I'm going to say is what the fans don't want to hear,” he said. “I’ve told the players, they've turned into what's called practice-match players. So, Monday to Friday, they're brilliant on the training ground, they deliver everything I ask. The sessions are brilliant, they're positive, they score goals. We come onto a match pitch and we don't deliver.”
Rotherham are 13 points from League One safety with five matches remaining and will be relegated on Tuesday if they fail to win at Wigan Athletic.
Clark was notoriously competitive as a player. When it was put to him that today's display must have been hard to watch, he replied: “Absolutely. It's galling.
“Lots of these players are out of contract,. If they think that they'll just move on to pastures new and get a contract elsewhere, they might be in for a shock.
“It's getting harder to earn contracts now with the financial difficulties some clubs have. They can't just give contracts out willy-nilly. It'll be a tough reality check for some of the players, to be honest.”
The manager went on to say about his group: ”If there are people who think that that's the end and they don't want to try to contribute, no problem. But I'll not be looking after them. I'll be letting the fans know, I'll be letting the football world know.
“I'm not saying it has happened, but if people have that mentality that they're not ready to go anymore and that they want to throw the towel in, there will be repercussions, absolutely.”
The Millers were 1-0 down at the interval and then showed little character in the second half as the visitors added two more goals and could have scored more before a stoppage-time Sam Nombe consolation penalty strike.
Tykes boss Conor Hourihane, whose team hadn't won in six outings before today, said: “I thought we were really good. I thought we could have been winning by more in the first half if we'd tidied up the ball a little bit. I felt on the turnover, we were a little bit loose.
“We tidied up the ball in the second half and we created lots of chances.”