OPINION: Millers push the panic button?

ROTHERHAM United today announced their decision to part company with head coach Neil Redfearn after less than four months in the hot seat and just 21 games in charge.

ROTHERHAM United today announced their decision to part company with head coach Neil Redfearn after less than four months in the hotseat and just 21 games in charge.

But have the Millers’ new technical board hit the panic button following Saturday’s last-gasp 2-1 defeat at bottom club Bolton, or have they moved swiftly in an attempt to halt a worrying slide back into the Championship relegation zone?

Was it a case of a last minute goal at the Macron forced the club’s hand, or has this been brewing in the background for a while?

Well, if chairman Tony Stewart’s comments to this newspaper over the last few weeks are anything to go by, then it does appear to be a slightly rash decision.

The message from Stewart was loud and clear, the club are heading in the right direction and are building for the future.

In fact, this week’s sports pages were well on their way to being completed before the news of Redfearn departing broke and they included quotes from Mr Stewart such as: “We judge managers, like we do anyone employed by the company, to do a job of work,” and “We picked a guy in Neil Redfearn who has a philosophy that we buy into and that philosophy is that it’s not about surviving, it’s thriving.”

Big words that were spoken to our man David Beddows just weeks before the decision was made to cut ties with the former Leeds United manager.

Some fans may think that Stewart has acted decisively, realised the mistake he made in appointing Redfearn and moved swiftly to repair the damage.

The quotes above throw that notion straight out of the window.

Whether you sit in the camp of good call or bad call, one thing is for certain, the technical board need to have another manager lined up and ready to go, straight away.

If not and there is a two or three week wait before we hear of an appointment, then the new man would have very little time to get his points across to a squad that was recently tweaked by Redfearn in the January transfer window.

With a raft of new players and a new assistant manager appointed just last week, the Millers now seem like a club without a leader in the dressing room.

Step forward Paul Warne? The fitness coach did take temporary charge before Andy Scott’s appointment along with Andy Liddle and is by far the most experienced member of the backroom staff when it comes to Rotherham United.

Whatever happens next at the New York Stadium, the managerial merry-go-round continues to turn and the next appointment could decide whether Rotherham are a Championship or League One club next season.

Mr Stewart also told this newspaper just a couple of weeks ago that he hasn’t contemplated relegation from the Championship.

Well, this decision seems to say that he has thought about it, and didn’t like the way the Millers were heading under Redfearn’s stewardship.

No one will doubt Redfearn’s honestly or integrity and during chats at the training ground and stadium, I never heard a bad word said against him as a person or a coach.

Unfortunately, sometimes nice guys finish last.

You can vote on whether you think the club has made the right call by filling in our poll, here.