BEN WAITS FOR HIS MILLER TIME
But loan moves give him chance to shine
ROTHERHAM full-back Ben Purrington has admitted he does not know whether he will play for the Millers again.
Signed from Plymouth Argyle for £300,000 in January 2017, the 22-year-old broke straight into Paul Warne’s firstteam.
But despite several solid displays as the Millers were relegated from the Championship, Purrington featured just 12 times last term and spent the first half of the current season on loan at AFC Wimbledon.
Now on loan at Charlton, the left-back has a year left on his deal at the New York Stadium but is unlikely to form part of Warne’s plans even if the struggling Millers return to League One.
“I don’t know what will happen at the end of the season,” admits the Devonian, who played 30 games for the Dons and is now a fixture in Lee Bowyer’s play-off chasing side.
“I don’t even know what league Rotherham will be in, though I obviously hope the lads there can stay up. They’re a good group.
Frustrating
“What I do know is that I don’t want to sit around and not play. Joe Mattock played ahead of me last season, which was frustrating because I knew I could do it in League One. I just needed an opportunity and I thought I should have played more games.
“When I came back in the summer, the manager didn’t say anything specific but you get an idea from pre-season how things are shaping up. I didn’t want to risk being stuck in a situation where I was barely playing again so I asked to get out.
“It was about playing games, showing what I could do and seeing if that opened up an opportunity. Will that be at Rotherham? Obviously it’s nice to have another year but it doesn’t really mean much in football.”
Purrington doesn’t regret a move that came just 64 games into his burgeoning career, but does admit the timing could have been better.
On the day he signed, Rotherham were already doomed to the drop and two matches in to what would eventually become a 17-game winless streak.
“It wasn’t easy to go in and perform,” he admitted. “When you’re losing every week, no player - new or not has much confidence.”
Having arrived at Millmoor just in time to suffer relegation, Purrington has now escaped Kingsmeadow just in time to avoid one.
The Dons, who replaced long-serving boss Neal Ardley with Wally Downes in November, are bottom of League One and were, pre-weekend, nine points from safety.
“It was tough at Wimbledon,” he admits. “We started well, then drifted off. We weren’t miles off it when I left in early January, but the situation obviously isn’t ideal now. Hopefully they can do it. “I really enjoyed it under Ardley. Results didn’t go his way but I thought he was a quality coach who was unfortunate to get the sack. “We actually played them away a couple of games ago, which was a weird situation. I played 30 games for them so I knew their players better than I knew my own. I had to think which changing room to go in!” Now the objective is a different one, with Purrington aiming to steer Bowyer’s Addicks into the League One play-offs. “The manager was a big part of why I signed here,” he says. “He’s a big name with a good reputation. Along with the size of the club, it was very attractive.
“Obviously he had that aggressive side to him as a player and you can see that. But as a manager he’s more about standards. He’s constantly pushing you to be better. In terms of learning and getting new experiences, it’s actually been a great season.” Apart from one thing. “The initiations,” groans Purrington. “I’ve done two this season. It was the standard singing at Charlton. I did ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’. It was very average but you’ve got to get people singing along, haven’t you? It’s not one of my favourite things in football but it has to be done. Hopefully I won’t be going on too many more loans!”