The white lie that got me inside New York Stadium ahead of schedule ... Rotherham United boss Steve Evans writes for the Advertiser

She captivated me from the first time I saw her and still does today.

My initial encounter came back in March 2012 when building work was nearing completion.

Paul Raynor and I were doing very well with Crawley Town and heading for promotion from League Two when the owner there told me there'd been an approach from a really good club.

I must admit, I was thinking something like QPR or another of the big boys in London because Crawley is so close to the capital.

He told me it was Rotherham United and, to be honest, at the time I didn't know much about them. I knew they'd been playing at Don Valley.

I said I wanted to speak to them, but, in the meantime, Crawley had a game at Burton Albion. Normally, I never take my car to games – I'm always on the team bus – but on that particular day I drove.

I said to Paul: ‘Let's nip up to Rotherham and see what this talk of a new stadium is.’

I thought it might be a load of nonsense because you hear so much talk in football about new stadiums and very often they never see the light of day.

This happened before I'd even met Tony Stewart. I wanted to see with my own eyes what the talk was all about.

I met the chairman and board a few days later, then had a further meeting with the chairman before my appointment as manager was confirmed.

I can remember driving into Rotherham with Paul after the Burton game and Paul suddenly burst out: ‘Hey, there's Millmoor on the right.’

Then, a few seconds later, he just said: ‘Bloody hell!’

There in front us was a three-quarters-built New York. It wasn't finished but it was still a magnificent sight.

I said to Paul: ‘Come on, let's go and try to get in.’

As far as I was aware, no-one in Rotherham knew who I was at the time and I was keen to keep it that way as I was still employed elsewhere.

I went up to the security guy, who came out of his portable cabin, and said: ‘Excuse me, mate, we're painting contractors and I own the firm. My guys have done the job and I just want to make sure everything is all right.’

He said: ‘Yeah, I'll get you in, mate, but I can't leave you on your own.’ Paul and I were given helmets, hi-vis jackets and a pair of wellies each and we went in at the kop end.

We're climbing up and I turned to him and said: ‘Look at this, Rayns, we can set this place alight.’

We came back down and I thought I'd give the security guy something for his trouble. ‘Thanks for showing us around, mate,’ I said. ‘Here's 20 quid.’

I was quietly congratulating myself on pulling off such an incognito visit.

Then, as he opened the gate to let us leave, the security guy said: ‘For what it's worth, Steve, I hope you get the job!’