Opposition Lowdown: Rotherham United’s Slow Return To League One

Reading play a second successive game at the Select Car Leasing Stadium this Saturday, with a home tie against Rotherham United. Join us as we take a look at the opposition.

Form

Rotherham United were relegated from the Championship last season, finishing bottom of the league, 18 points behind Huddersfield Town, who finished one place above them. Rotherham regularly yo-yo between the Championship and League One, but last season did mark their second straight campaign in the second tier.

They are having a disappointing season so far, sitting 14th in the league after 10 wins, eight draws and 12 losses. Their away form has been noticeably worse than their home form, with the Millers picking up 11 of their 38 points on the road.

Their recent form has been relatively poor, having seen three losses, one draw and one win in their last five games. They come into this weekend’s game off the back of a 0-0 draw with Blackpool.

The two sides faced each other at the New York Stadium back in October with Rotherham claiming a 2-1 win over Reading, after goals from Sam Nombe and Hakeem Odoffin.

The boss

Steve Evans: Evans was appointed as Rotherham manager in April this year, leaving Stevenage after just over two years in charge.

The Scotsman’s playing career was cut short at the age of 24 after a serious knee injury. He had a spell out of the game before his first managerial job at non-league Stamford, but it was Boston United where he first made a name for himself over two separate spells.

Evans went on to manage Crawley Town and Rotherham before a short spell at Leeds United. He has since gone on to manage Mansfield Town, Peterborough United and Gillingham, before taking up the reins at Stevenage in 2022.

He guided them to promotion in his first full season, after finishing runners-up in League Two, but left the side before the end of last season, joining Rotherham in April, with the club already relegated from the Championship.

Despite being a controversial figure in football, Evans does have a strong promotion record, with nine under his belt so far. He has won 17 of his 42 games since his return to the Millers, giving him a win percentage of 40%. The 62-year-old is known to have his teams play direct and intense football.

Squad

Defender Jamie McCart left Rotherham during the January transfer window, signing for Hearts for an undisclosed fee, while left-back Cohen Bramall also left for Championship Portsmouth.

They did however manage to bring three players in on loan with midfielders Louie Sibley (Oxford United), Dan Gore (Manchester United) and Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu (Luton Town) all signing for the remainder of the season.

Defender Sean Raggett and midfielders Alex MacDonald and Dan Gore are all out of this weekend’s game through injury. However, forwards Malik Wilks and Jonson Clarke-Harris may both be available post-injury.

Predicted lineup

Phillips, Rafferty, Odoffin, Jules, James, Kelly, Humphreys, Mpanzu, Powell, Hugill, Nombe

Key player

22. Hakeem Odoffin: Defender Odoffin signed for Rotherham in August 2021, joining from Hamilton Academical.

He started his youth career at Tottenham Hotspur but also had a spell at Reading before joining the Barnet academy. He made his professional debut at the Bees in 2015 before joining Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2016. He never made a first-team appearance for Wolves but did spend some time on loan at Eastleigh.

Odoffin moved to Northampton Town in 2018 and then signed for Scottish side Livingston six months later. He spent a year and a half at Livingston, making 20 appearances before joining Hamilton Academical in 2020.

A year later he joined Rotherham and has finally found himself a longer-term home, making 123 appearances for the Millers, scoring 15 goals. The 26-year-old predominantly plays as a centre-back but can also play in midfielder. He is strong at breaking up possession and is a good tackler.

One to watch

15. Louie Sibley: Midfielder Sibley joined Rotherham on loan from Oxford United during the January transfer window. He started his career in the youth setup at Derby County and made his professional debut at the Rams in 2019.

Sibley went on to make 173 appearances for Derby over the course of five seasons, scoring 20 goals. He left his boyhood club last summer, signing for Oxford on a free transfer following the expiry of his contract.

He has found appearances hard to come by this season and joined Rotherham looking for more minutes of football.

Sibley has represented England at under-17, under-18, under-19 and under-20 level, and has 11 Young Lions caps to his name. The 23-year-old is a centre midfielder who is strong ball carrier with great finishing skills.