Rotherham United point players towards exit door

SEVERAL under-contract players have been told they will be allowed to leave Rotherham United as they aren’t part of manager Matt Taylor’s first-team thinking.

The boss has kept the Millers in the Championship this term and knows he must assemble a stronger squad for next season to keep the club moving forward.

After some meetings last week, he held further ones yesterday and today to inform the players of his plans.

This summer will witness a major overhaul of the club’s football set-up and a number of backroom staff will also be departing.

“Naturally, there will be some players who we don’t see maintaining the level required,” Taylor said. “They will be made available.”

Those surplus to requirements are likely to include strikers Tom Eaves and Conor Washington, right-back Peter Kioso, left-back Tolaji Bola and centre-halves Jamie McCart and Jake Hull.

Players at the end of their deals like attacker Chiedozie Ogbene, defender Wes Harding, winger Shane Ferguson and goalkeepers Josh Vickers and Robbie Hemfrey may also go.

The manager is due to have a family holiday in Boston, USA, and will then focus on new signings and the work being done to improve the club’s Roundwood base before the June 26 start of the pre-season regime.

“The players know there are processes going on behind the scenes, whether that’s better training pitches and facilities and the staffing structure,” he said. “Then we have to get the recruitment right on top of it. We have learned so, so much from this season.

“We will be looking to get bodies in and we will move bits and pieces around. I am already excited about what is to come.”

The Millers finished six points and three places clear of the relegation reckoning as they survived in the second tier at the fourth time of asking.

Taylor, who took the hot-seat in October, said: “One of the reasons I came here was to achieve something and we have done that by staying in the Championship and getting 50 points. Now we have time to build again.”