Steve Evans has cautioned League One that his Rotherham United team will be prepared to compete, even against financially strong Birmingham City, who are already the envy of the league.
Evans is assembling a Rotherham squad to challenge for promotion back to the Championship after finishing at the bottom last season. The Scot has already signed 10 new players, including prolific League One striker Jonson Clarke-Harris on a free transfer from Peterborough United. The Millers have been promoted to the Championship four times in the last decade and are early favorites for promotion. However, Birmingham City, with the financial backing of their American owners Knighthead, are the clear favorites to win League One.
In evaluating Rotherham’s competition, Evans first mentioned Birmingham City. He also noted fellow relegated club Huddersfield Town, who have appointed Michael Duff as manager and sold Jack Rudoni to Coventry City for around £5 million to bolster their finances.
Evans said, “I think it shows how tough it’s going to be. When you look at Birmingham with a £25 million budget to fund new players and you look at Huddersfield with new ownership, and Wrexham and Stockport and Mansfield, Bolton Wanderers, Charlton Athletic under new ownership and a great manager, every one of them is going to be tough in their own right.
“But we’ve built a group that we hope can deal with how tough League One is going to be. It’s the toughest for many years but we’ll be ready.”
Birmingham City will visit Rotherham to face Evans’ team on Saturday, September 21.