School’s out as the Hamshaws welcome back former pupil Ben Wiles
ROTHERHAM United manager Matt Hamshaw and Ben Wiles will find themselves on opposite sides of the footballing divide today.
But while Hamshaw’s role in bringing the Huddersfield Town midfielder through the ranks has been documented, the links between the two and their families don’t end there.
Hamshaw’s wife, Kerry, taught Wiles and his brothers and sisters at Rawmarsh Comprehensive School.
"They're a great family,” said Hamshaw, speaking ahead of the Yorkshire derby at AESSEAL New York Stadium. "His mum and dad have always been supportive of Ben, as they have all the kids.
"My wife taught Ben, his older brothers (Alex and Aaron) and his twin sisters (Molly and Maisie). Those two were also part of the netball team at Rawmarsh with her.
"As well as that, Aaron was in my college team a number of years ago and obviously I also had Ben in the Academy at Rotherham.”
Wiles went from boy to man with the Millers, winning two promotions and the Papa John’s Trophy at Wembley, also scoring in the final before the Terriers came in for him two years ago.
He has since had plenty of game time for the Terriers but not the amount of Championship football he wanted.
Town went down from the second tier in his first season and have been trying to plot a way back.
"I’m really pleased he’s doing well and although I wish that was in a Rotherham shirt, he isn't,” said Hamshaw.
"Times change and things move on. He has gone to Huddersfield and even though I hope he loses on Saturday, I wish him all the best after that.”
At the age of 26, Wiles is coming into his prime and Hamshaw, naturally, keeps an eye on his progress.
"Ben has capabilities of moving on again. I think he has everything that you need to move on,” he said.
"I don’t think he has consistently been playing this year, which I’m sure he’ll be disappointed with, but that’s down to him and the manager (Lee Grant). We’ll just see what happens there.”
Wiles and Huddersfield arrive at the New York six places and four points better off than Rotherham, who are smarting from back-to-back losses to Blackpool and Plymouth without scoring.
"We just need a Lincoln performance,” added Hamshaw, referring back to the season’s-best 3-0 win over the high-flying Imps last month.
"If we get on the front foot and are aggressive then we have a really good chance of beating them.
“We just need a bit of luck at the minute because I don't think we’ve had much of it in the last couple of games with hitting the post and the bar and the keepers making saves and the odd decision here and there. You can’t blame all that. We’ve just have to better with our quality in the final third.”