Rotherham United season preview: Alex Bruce and the summer of transformation

It was the encounter at the traffic lights that made Alex Bruce truly realise the depth of feeling.

Still fresh to the role of head coach of Rotherham United, he was on the old B&Q roundabout close to AESSEAL New York Stadium when a white van pulled up alongside his stationary Range Rover.

It was a hot July day so the windows of both vehicles were already down.

'We've been through enough, this club is everything to us,' was the gist of the Millers fan's plea as he recognised who he suddenly had for company. 'We all want you to succeed.'

Bruce was buzzing. It told him how much the people care for their club. He couldn't stop talking about it the pre-season clash at Emley a few days later. He was even contemplating going for a drink at the Crown Inn at Greasbrough where his new supporter mate is one of the gang that fills a coach for every away game.

Much has changed in the short time since that chance meeting in early July.

Bruce has made a difference and, with the right backing, looks capable of continuing to make a difference.

"It been manic," he said. "Do you know what, I've loved it. It's been great. When I came here, one of the things I was most enthused about was that it wasn't the biggest of squads and it was a case of a rebuild. That excited me.

"My job and my staff's job has been to get the players as well organised as we possibly can. Can we give this place a team that mirrors what Rotherham United should be? That's something I've spoken about in previous interviews. I'm not going to keep going over it, but I've got to try to produce a team.

"Talk's cheap. I want the players to go and perform now and give everyone around the place a lift so people say: 'By God, that's better.' Then, when we get to that stage, it's a case of, can we build on it? Can build a team that can compete at this level?

"Can that team bounce back and stop the rot of what's happened in the last few of years? That's what we're all working towards. We have done that over the last six or so weeks, and that hard work won't stop."

Remember how we agitated when short-term boss Lee Clark left at the end of last season and no-one came in until a title was created for head of football Steve McClaren.

Remember how we worried when Ian Burchnall was going to be head coach but asked for too many things and then found a bigger gig somewhere else anyway.

Remember how we fretted when Mat Sadler was going to be head coach but asked for too many things and, between them, club and candidate changed their minds.

Remember how we yearned for additions to a threadbare squad but too few bodies were coming through the door.

Yet, suddenly, there's a whiff of optimism about the place rather than that too-familiar, depressing stench of a three-year decline.

With the League Two campaign about to begin, no-one appears to be fearing a third relegation in four years anymore. It's far, far too soon to contemplate the top 10, but stability looks to be an achievable goal.

Player arrivals, held up by budget and other considerations, have happened and Rob Scott's recruitment department appear to have played as big a blinder this summer as Bruce. Some of those new boys should go very well in the fourth tier.

Bruce was quickly paired with Steve Agnew and that may turn out to be an inspired decision. "Perfect together," reckons McClaren.

The head coach is delighted to be working with both Steves.

Of former England boss McClaren he said:  "It's been great. He's been a big help - him and Rob Scott. He's obviously someone who is hugely experienced on the coaching side of things. I would be naive and stupid not to try to tap into some of that."

Of Agnew, a coach of high repute, he added: "He's been huge. Again, it's about working together. We speak every day about planning sessions for the following day. One thing about me is,  I like to be organised. You have to get your ducks in a row in terms of training, team selection and knowing about the teams you're due to come up against."

The improvement through pre-season has been gradual but obvious, and another episode involving the head coach and his car gave him an indication of just how much development there has been.

Rotherham had just matched Championship Derby County in a 1-1 draw in the final friendly in late July and Bruce recalled: "When I drove away from the stadium, if you'd have said to me after the Parkgate game, the first one of pre-season, that we would shape up like that and we'd be looking the way we were, I'd have snatched your hands off, to be brutally honest.

"Does that mean that we are done and dusted and we're all happy? Absolutely not - we've still got a lot of work to do, I have to reiterate that - but in terms of the progress that we're making, considering it's such a new, fresh group as well, I've been relatively pleased."

The Millers have 27 players, including three first-year pros, around 20 of whom would appear to have a genuine chance of starting games.

Kian Spence is too good for the division, Jamie Jellis has matched him every step of the way in pre-season, Emmanuel Adegboyega has added some finesse to his physique, Fabio Tavares has twinkled here and there, Ethan Otoo looks a player and Tom Bradshaw surely has enough left in his legs to make an impact in the fourth tier.

And then there's Paul Mullin. If he catches fire in the way he has in the past, so might Rotherham.

Bruce knows what he wants. "It's an important to have the right characters and the right personalities coming into a group," he said. "It's about creating a good spirit and a good atmosphere. If you've got that, it gives you half a chance.

"Respectfully, in League Two you're not going to get the complete package. It's about getting as close to that as you possibly can. The thing that you should demand at this level, which is nothing to do with ability, is work rate and the appetite to come in every day and give your all. That's all I would ever ask.

"That's all I gave as a player. I wasn't the most technically gifted, but I had a go - and that can take you quite far. And It's not just about the players, it's about everyone around the place. I've wanted to create an environment where people are all on the same page and pulling in the same direction."

He has gone quietly about his job. Just like his dad, Steve, he is friendly and open, but there's some hardness underneath. He pushes hard for what he want and, in his first gig in the hot-seat, trusts in himself enough to do things his way.

Rotherham, in their last few matches, have looked a well-coached side.

Concerns are, a young backline, how the new goalkeeper will fare and too many of the signings playing catch-up with their fitness after spending most of pre-season training by themselves. Those wasted weeks after the close of last season may bite for a while at the start of the new one.

A few more players are to be added; a few, and we're talking here about the young ones, might go out on loan. Bruce doesn't want permanent exits. He'll be hoping Denzel Hall stays.

The boss has kept calm, kept saying the same things in his interviews, kept delivering the same messages to his players. He's said 'I sound like stuck record' so many times that he's sounded like a stuck record.

As far as a media presence goes, it's been just me at most of the friendlies. I've posed a lot of questions to a man whose job, in a footballing sense, is to come up with plenty of answers. He's impressed me.

When all is said and done, it boils down to this: he wants a Rotherham United team that represents the values of Rotherham United supporters.

No-one is seriously anticipating promotion - except the players because, well, that's what players do  - but a lot has been done in a short amount of time. It's to Bruce's credit, that the words, 'National League', are no longer being uttered by long-suffering supporters.

The big picture is, they've bought 5,000 season tickets, give them something to shout about, something they can get behind.

Several weeks after the day he was hijacked at the traffic lights, the head coach was still talking about it.

"That fan, he was great lad," he said. "He invited me to go and have a drink with him at the Crown."

Time, now, to change the Millers from red to green.