Millers had 110 names on wishlist
ROTHERHAM head of recruitment Rob Scott and his team were monitoring more than 110 potential targets as last season neared the end.
Some had been earmarked as League One signings, should the Millers miss out on promotion.
Others were potential Championship recruits, while the rest were players Scott and Co felt could work for them in either division.
Incredibly, the club with League One’s lowest budget defied the odds to go up automatically and, since promotion was confirmed, the weeks have passed in a haze of phone calls and meetings for Scott and Rotherham boss Paul Warne.
“It feels like you’re spinning a lot of plates,” said Scott (below). “I have a database of players with over 110 that we’re looking at. I’d never put that many in front of the manager because it would blow his mind, but they are scored and that whittles them down to a top 20 in each position.
“Then you whittle them down to your top 10 and you really get down to your firm two or three targets.
“There are a lot of factors.
“One, do they want to come? Two, how much will they cost? And three, is anyone else interested? We have the resources to sign some players, but we’re not able to compete with a lot of teams in the Championship.”
Scott and Warne have been very shrewd with the signings they have made at Rotherham and this summer they are determined to cleverly strengthen again.
Scott added: “Our blueprint is to bring in younger players to develop, who we can perhaps move on down the line, but will give us value.
“The owner is keen to try to stay up this year, but there are huge clubs in the Championship.
“We’ll never be at the front of the queue, but we are a sustainable club.
“This year perhaps we do need a little bit more experience as that is not something we’ve had a lot of in the past.
“But we have such as Chiedozie Ogbene, who has broken into the Republic of Ireland side since joining us, and we’re proud of every signing we have made because they have all played their part.
“We’ll have to mix it up and hopefully there’ll be a few who come in and make us better down the line.”