Rotherham United: Millers loyal to survival players as they hunt for new boss

The process of identifying Neil Warnock’s successor has already begun after the 67-year-old parted company with the Millers on Wednesday.

But the club are also finalising their retained list, and chairman Tony Stewart believes the players who kept them in the Championship against all odds this season have earned the right to new deals.

“The players have proved under Neil that they’re competent enough to compete at this level,” Stewart said. “Of all the top teams in the division, Burnley are the only one we haven’t taken points from this season. That tells you something.

“Our players showed how good they can be with the right man leading them. The ones who performed under Neil will be retained. Then it’s a case of tweaking the squad, with probably four or five new players coming in.”

That means out-of-contract players like Kirk Broadfoot, Matt Derbyshire, Richard Wood, Stephen Kelly and Leon Best can expect offers from the Millers.

The hunt for a new boss is likely to gather pace next week after Stewart and his board have assessed the applications which are already flooding in.

Former Sheffield Wednesday head coach Stuart Gray and ex-Blackburn Rovers boss Gary Bowyer have emerged as potential front-runners.

Gray, now a coach at Fulham, was in the frame when Warnock accepted a short-term Rotherham deal in February, although the Cottagers weren’t prepared to release him, while Bowyer, a former Millers players who hasn’t worked since being sacked by Rovers in November, was also under consideration.

Both fit Stewart’s criteria of having experience in the second tier.

Warnock engineered an 11-match unbeaten run which saw Rotherham, once six points adrift of a safety place, finish nine points clear of the drop zone.