Steve Evans: Rotherham United reappoint Stevenage manager after sacking Leam Richardson

Rotherham United have reappointed Stevenage boss Steve Evans as manager after sacking Leam Richardson.

Evans led the South Yorkshire side from League Two up to the Championship in his first spell in charge between 2012 and 2015.

The Scot and assistant Paul Raynor have signed three-year deals.

"Leam's departure was not something we took lightly, but following extensive conversations at board level, it was unanimously agreed that a change of direction was needed to give us the best possible chance of bouncing back to the Championship at the first time of asking," chairman Tony Stewart told the club website.

"In Steve and Paul, we have two individuals that understand the Rotherham United 'DNA' and know what it takes to build a successful team. They have a proven track record of success at a plethora of clubs, including our own."

The 61-year-old becomes Rotherham's third manager of what has been a dismal campaign.

Matt Taylor was sacked in November and replaced by former Wigan boss Richardson the following month, by which time the team had slipped to the foot of the table, a position they remained in for the entirety of his tenure.

Relegation was confirmed with a 1-0 home defeat by Plymouth on 5 April and they lost their following two games at West Brom and Swansea, as Richardson won just two of 24 games in charge.

They host Birmingham City on Saturday in their penultimate home game of the season.

Evans makes Rotherham return after Stevenage success

Evans leaves Stevenage after two highly successful years in charge in Hertfordshire.

He kept Boro up in League Two at the end of 2021-22 and then, improbably, guided them to automatic promotion last season.

They spent much of this campaign battling for a play-off spot in the third tier but Saturday's home defeat by Burton all-but ended their top-six hopes.

Stevenage chairman Phil Wallace said Evans was leaving with the club "totally different" to how it had been two years ago.

"It's not what we wanted, but compensation clauses are in place for a reason and these things happen in football," he told the club website.

"The approach was unexpected but handled in the right manner by both clubs and we told Steve that, after all he'd done for our club, we would not stand in his way if the compensation terms were met and he wanted to leave."

Evans now returns to a club he led to back-to-back promotions from League Two to the Championship between 2012 and 2014.

He successfully kept the club up the following season but left in October 2015.

Spells with Leeds, Mansfield, Peterborough and Gillingham followed before he took over at Stevenage in March 2022.

As well as his three promotions in the EFL he also guided both Boston United and Crawley Town up to the Football League.

Evans can turn back the clock at Rotherham - Analysis

BBC Radio Sheffield Sports manager Rob Staton

Steve Evans' last spell at Rotherham was extremely successful. He led the Millers to back-to-back promotions, including a play-off final victory at Wembley, then took on the big boys — recording famous wins at the New York Stadium against Leeds, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday.

He signed several players who went on to become club favourites and it wasn't unusual to see Evans on the balcony in the directors area, celebrating a big win, often swinging his tie around his head.

He knows the club, the area and the chairman and he rejoins having done a superb job at Stevenage.

In a way that's what the Millers need now — someone who can come in and put a team on the pitch to get results. If he can do that with Stevenage, there's no doubt Evans will back himself to turn back the clock at Rotherham — where expectations will be to push for promotion next season.