Why Tony Stewart decided Rotherham United didn't need a director of football

The Millers introduced the role as part of a restructure after sacked manager Matt Taylor was replaced in December by a head coach, Leam Richardson, and it went to the head of recruitment since 2019, Rob Scott, who took on the new responsibilities while also retaining his old talent-identification ones.

The revamp was meant to free up Richardson to focus solely on first-team playing matters, with Scott becoming the link man between the various departments at the club.

The former Millers defender officially stepped up in January but Stewart had a change of heart and the role was soon abandoned.

“When things aren’t going right, and this is an honest answer, you have to scrutinise what is what,” the chairman told the Advertiser. “I think that title was not right for Rob so we adjusted it.”

Rotherham were already heading for Championship relegation at the time of the restructure and the drop was duly confirmed in early April.

Scott is back focusing purely on recruitment and his new title is director of football recruitment.

He is working with Steve Evans – named manager, rather than head coach, when he succeeded Richardson last month – on summer signings as the Millers seek an instant return to the second tier.

“Rob has been with us for five years, he’s part of the family and a bright, intelligent guy,” Stewart said. “He’ll have to adapt and he will adapt with Steve.

“Rob will be there to make sure that he’s giving as much assistance to Steve as he can on the volume of players. If Steve wants a centre-half, I’d like Rob to come up with half a dozen centre-halves.”

When Taylor was manager last summer, the Millers gambled on signing a clutch of 30-something players and it failed to pay off as all of them spent time on the injured list and only a few made any impact on the first team.

“Was it players coming in who weren’t right, was it the manager who couldn’t work with the players coming in?” Stewart said. “All I do is give the money and, between them, recruitment and manager select who they are going to bring in with the money.”

The chairman has been at the helm for 16 years and has always stayed cleared of selection matters.

“I've never picked a player yet,” he said. “With Michael Smith, one of my favourite players, I had to be careful because if I'd said I liked Michael Smith the manager might have felt pressure to select him. I keep my powder dry on players.”