Rotherham United's retained list, plus a message to their supporters

One of the players leaving AESSEAL New York Stadium is the Millers' top earner, striker Jordan Hugill, and among the other departures are Cameron Dawson, Zak Jules and Reece James.

All are coming to the end of their deals and aren't being offered new ones.

Discussions are being held over the prospect of new deals with Joe Powell, Jack Holmes and Josh Ayres.

There are 11 exits in total and Josh Benson, Liam Kelly and Duncan Watmore also won't play for the Millers again.

Rotherham revealed that the thoughts of their former boss - who is waiting to hear if he will be reappointed following the end of his nine-game spell in charge last weekend - were taken into consideration when the list was drawn up.

“Those outcomes have been reached following numerous internal discussions and the careful consideration of a number of staff throughout the club and also account for the assessments made and feedback provided by Lee Clark,” they said.

Fans have been angered by the lack of news coming out of New York since the close of a campaign that brought relegation to League Two and saw the man who occupied the hot-seat for six weeks head back to his home in Newcastle wondering whether he still had a future in S60.

The club have made a move to address those concerns and have said they as well as holding talks about the manager's job they are also in the process of reviewing their football operation and the infrastructure underpinning it.

That will be a reference to their desire to bring in former England head coach Steve McClaren in an ‘upstairs’ role above managerial level.

The statement stressed that there will be no announcements on next year's season-ticket prices - which were among the highest in League One this term - until the boss's role has been filled.

Rotherham said: “Following the conclusion of the 2025/26 campaign and the subsequent ending of Lee Clark’s short-term contract, the club are keen to provide clarity to supporters regarding our immediate ‘next steps’ as we head into an important summer.

“We share our supporters’ desire to ensure that any and all key decisions related to football matters are concluded at the earliest possible opportunity to give players and staff the best opportunity to prepare for the upcoming campaign.

“We are fully respectful of the fact that our supporters will want to have a clear image in their minds of what next season looks like before committing their backing for the 2026/27 campaign and news on our season-ticket launch will be delayed until an update has been issued on our first-team manager’s position, as a minimum.

“In the same vein, we can confirm that our 2026/27 Hummel kit release has been completed and its reveal is set to take place next week.

“Once again, you have our assurance that making appointments to the aforementioned positions and communicating other club news in a timely fashion in the coming days is at the forefront of our priorities.”

The Millers have acted relatively swiftly on their retained and released list as they had until the third Saturday of this month - May 16 - to submit it to the EFL.

It had been expected they would wait until the next manager was in place before announcing it.

Full list:

Under contract:

Joe Rafferty – option activated

Kian Spence

Sam Nombe

Ar’Jany Martha

Ted Cann

Marvin Kaleta

Lenny Agbaire

Denzel Hall

Hamish Douglas

Brandon Cover

Emmanuel Adegboyega

James Clarke

Kane Richardson

Reece Wilson

Released:

Cameron Dawson

Zak Jules

Liam Kelly

Sean Raggett

Reece James

Jordan Hugill

Josh Benson

Duncan Watmore

Joshua Kayode

Ben Hatton

Ciaran McGuckin

Discussions being held:

Jack Holmes

Josh Ayres

Joe Powell

Pending decisions on options in contracts:

Dru Yearwood

Shaun McWilliams

Scholars offered professional deals:

Harrison Duncan

Dean Gardner

Cohen Lee

Players returning to parent clubs following loans:

Jamal Baptiste

Harry Gray

Gabe Biancheri

Dan Gore

Lino Sousa