Richie relishing Championship challenge

The 42-year-old's coaching career has taken him to Bury, Crawley, Portsmouth, Charlton and MK Dons, where he had his one and only year in the Championship.

Preparation and tactics are going to be even more important in the second tier, where mistakes will be more readily punished, and it's a challenge that can sharpen the skills and thinking of even the most well qualified coaches like Barker.

"I want to work at the highest level I can,"said  the Millers' assitant manager. "I've had one season in the Championship as a coach and I want to do that again. I want to pit my wits against better coaches and clubs with bigger and better budgets and against better players and find ways of winning games when you don't have the best players. That's no offence to the players, we won't have the best players next year.

"It is all part of me progressing in my career to work at the highest level I can."

The closeness of Rotherham's four-pronged managerial team of Barker, Paul Warne, Matt Hamshaw and Mike Pollitt, all assisted by the experienced John Breckin, has been well documented, and they will need to pool all their knowledge if progress is to be made next season.

"What is important with our group is that everybody recognises their own strengths and weaknesses," added Barker. "Everybody is left to get on with what they're good at.

"Obviously Paul is a good man manager, I enjoy coaching and Matt is excellent with the younger players. It is important we all have a recognition of what we are but as a group of people, and I include Mike in that as goalkeeper coach, the players enjoy working for us."