LEE Clark is still refusing to say with any degree of certainty whether he will remain with Rotherham United following the expiry of his short-term contract.

But the manager is speaking more and more in a manner that suggests he will be the man in charge when the relegated Millers begin life in League Two next term.

The Geordie who last month agreed a nine-match deal taking him to the end of this campaign, talked about the late-June return for pre-season training in the wake of last Saturday's 1-1 home draw with Reading.

When the Advertiser asked him if he would at Roundwood to greet the players, he replied: “If I am, I won't be doing the fitness tests that day! I'm 53. Those years are well and truly gone.

Rotherham United boss Lee Clark. Picture: Jim Brailsford

placeholder image — Rotherham United boss Lee Clark. Picture: Jim Brailsford

“Listen, as I've said to you all along, I've got to prepare as if I'm going to be here. That's the way I am, I'm a professional. I want everything at ease in my mind. If I didn't go about it like that and then I was to stay, I'd be right behind the black ball straight away.

“It would mean I haven't put things in place - i.e. a pre-season programme, some ideas on recruitment and all those type of things. I've got to do it because it means that, if that decision is made, we can hit the ground running and get really stuck into it.”

The last of the boss's scheduled nine games comes with Saturday's away clash at Wycombe Wanderers and he has been in regular contact with the figure who will make the decision on the offer of an extended stay, chairman Tony Stewart.

As we'll as giving his views on the club's terrible record with injuries, Clark has also been involved in all of the planning for Rotherham's future since his arrival.

“There have been discussions on most days,” he said. “That's included pre-season programmes, start dates, return dates for players, off-season programmes - what going to be required of them while they're off, because I expect them to be at a certain fitness level when they come back in late June.

“I'm going to be demanding a high-tempo, high-intensity group of players on the pitch - players who can be robust and last for the full duration. I have fitness plans that I know work, plans that make my teams as fit as they cane possibly can to play a high-intensity, high-pressing, high-tempo-with-the-ball type of game.

“We need to give the players a basis so we don't have a repeat of this season. We can't have a repeat of the injury situation at this club. The players who are going to be part of the squad going into the new season have to have that basis of high fitness levels so that they don't fatigue and they don't get soft-tissue injuries.”