Steve McClaren sets the bar high in crucial Rotherham United recruitment mission

The former England chief has come in as Head of Football with a brief to get the club pointing in the right direction again after several barren seasons.

He has a big job overseeing a hefty squad re-build and finding a head coach who can organise, inspire and then put out a team that can get disenchanted supporters believing again.

The appointment of McClaren is a bold one and he is determined to reward the faith of chairman Tony Stewart by bringing in the characters won can get things moving.

“Recruitment is huge,” said McClaren. “Everything in a football club is about people. This is why Tony and I are together – because we do get on as people. We have to make sure that we recruit the best staff that we can – including coach, assistants, whatever that is – and the best players who will play for Rotherham.

"We need to give the public, the fans, what they've been craving. They've had that in the past, we just need to get back to that. So, my job is to set the philosophy, recruit the right people and make sure that standards are high.

“As Head of Football, that standard has to be the number-one thing for me. We can't fall below that standard. And that's from me, all the way down to the staff, to the front office, to the coaches, to the players, to the academy.

"I'm not being a policeman, but part of my job is making sure that everybody adheres to the standards. We want everything organised and professional. That's what I'm used to. And I want to bring that professionalism here. I want to recruit the right people and get everybody aligned. If you don't get that, you don't get anything."

Rotherham are on the lookout for their sixth team boss in four years after ending the brief tenure of Lee Clark last month in the wake of relegation to League Two.

Matt Hamshaw, Steve Evans, Leam Richardson and Matt Taylor have all been hired and fired since Paul Warne’s six-year spell.

The club is crying out for some stability and McClaren wants to bring it back by re-discovering “the Rotherham way” that brought success in the past.

"Recruitment is going to be key in terms of coaching staff and in terms of players. So is our philosophy of play. It's the Rotherham way, and we need to build on that to be successful,” he said.

“I think what needs to be set from the beginning is, what is Rotherham? What is the Rotherham way? Profiling players and profiling what is required, we've already done that. I have my ideas on that. I spoke to the coaches who are here. Rob Scott (head of recruitment) has been a great help in terms of the profiling. What do the fans want to see? What does Tony want to see when he watches his team? That's the key thing.

"They want to be entertained but they want to win. Myself and Tony, we set the structure, we set the parameters together: this is the way that we want to play, these are the kind of characters we want to bring in.

"We want to bring energy into the club. We want to make sure we get back to what Rotherham are good at – working hard, being really honest on the field and being resilient.”

Speaking last week, McClaren said he had “two or three candidates” in mind for the head coach role.

Ian Burchnall, his former assistant with the Jamaican national side, has been heavily linked.