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04:46:00

Neil Redfearn's in-tray at Rotherham

Neil Redfearn begins his reign as Rotherham United manager this week following his appointment on Friday.

The former Leeds boss, who has been out of work since July, is the man charged with replacing Steve Evans and will lead the Millers in the Sky Bet Championship for the first time against Brentford on Saturday.

Here's a few issues which may be waiting in Redfearn's in-tray when he gets to work at New York Stadium.




Devise a plan to keep them in the division

Redfearn's number one brief when being given the job by Tony Stewart will have been to ensure Rotherham retain their Championship status this season. It won't be an easy task, but one that is not unrealistic. Redfearn, who steered Leeds away from relegation danger last season, must quickly assess his squad and work out how he wants the team to go forward. Although the Millers are only out of the bottom three on goal difference, they are amid their best run of form of the season - not usually the case when a new manager comes in, so restoring confidence is one job he does not have to worry about. Having watched two of the last three Millers games he should be in a position where he already knows a little bit about the players and may already have formed ideas about how he wants to proceed. He needs to get it right quickly because, with a sobering run of fixtures coming up, Redfearn's men could do with getting something at Brentford.

Develop Jonson Clarke-Harris, Tom Thorpe, Farrend Rawson and Grant Ward and club's other young players

Redfearn earned a fine reputation for the work he did at Leeds with the academy, which he was manager of when he wasn't fighting fires with the first team. He is widely credited as being responsibility for the likes of Lewis Cook, Alex Mottram and Sam Byram coming through the ranks at Elland Road and those credentials of developing players were a big attraction for Stewart. Former boss Steve Evans will probably admit that coaching players was not his strength and as a result the younger players in the first-team squad could benefit from Redfearn's presence on the training ground. Clarke-Harris is already showing his potential this season, and the thought of even more development is mouth-watering, while impressive pre-seasons for both Thorpe and Ward showcased their ability. Redfearn is also likely to be heavily involved with improving the productivity of the club's academy, which has been barren in recent years, with Ryan Taylor the last player to come through the system and make more than five appearances for the first team.


Sort the Greg Halford issue out

The 2-1 defeat to Burnley last week was overshadowed by the antics of Greg Halford on Twitter. Having already lost the captaincy and dropped from the starting XI by Evans after a poor start to the campaign, Halford found himself out of the matchday squad entirely for the visit of the Clarets and he took to Twitter to vent his frustrations. The cryptic tweets were quickly deleted, but not before they were made known to the Millers' caretaker Eric Black, who said he would deal with Halford. His current situation is unknown - though he has removed any reference to Rotherham on his Twitter bio, which bizarrely still has Portsmouth's official website linked to it - and Redfearn must make addressing his future one of his first jobs. He must either try and reintegrate the former Nottingham Forest man into the squad once he has made an assessment of his playing ability or look to move him on. One of Evans' greatest qualities was a zero tolerance of players who did not want to be at the club and Redfearn should not be afraid to adopt a similar approach.

Put together a backroom staff

This is one of the first things that Redfearn has been working on following Friday's appointment and it's understood he turned his attention to it over the weekend, so there may be information that comes out of Monday's press conference at New York Stadium. Any manager usually likes his own staff, and Eric Winstanley has been a trusted companion for Redfearn for many years with the pair working together at Leeds, York and Scarborough, so there is potential he could follow to New York. There has inevitably been speculation about Redfearn's former assistant at Leeds Steve Thompson following his links to Rotherham - he played for the Millers between 1997-2000 - though he is in a job at Preston. Paul Warne and Andy Dibble are likely to retain their positions as they have survived three different managerial reigns and are popular at the club. Eric Black's position could depend on whether Redfearn does want to bring anyone with him. The Scot, who has acted with dignity and grace throughout his spell as caretaker manager, has only been at the club since July but has proved popular with the players and is highly respected. 

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