Knill – The Reluctant Manager

Manager, Alan Knill told The Star that he felt he had been at the helm for five years and not just the 12 months it has actually been. He took over a team that hadn`t won in 17 games and were staring relegation in the face.

Within weeks of him taking over, the top scorer failed to show up for a local derby game and consequently fled, it was announced the club would close and there were doubts over the players being paid.

But with the club teetering on the edge of obscurity Knill managed to pull the team together and win the relegation battle on the last day of last season.

To us Millers the rest, as they say, is history. The club was saved albeit with a penalty of starting this season on -10 points. The wage bill had to be cut by nearly a million pounds and nine players took their leave. It was getting towards the start of the season and fans were getting a little jumpy as there didn`t seem to be any movement in the transfer market at Millmoor. Then players started to arrive namely Ian Sharps, Richie Partridge, Pablo Mills, Delroy Facey and Justin Cochrane followed just after the start of the season by Martin Woods and along with loanees Scott Wiseman, Dave Hibbert and Eugen Bopp (who has since signed a deal with the Millers), Knill began to build his team.

It`s been a rocky year for Knill who says ‘I am a reluctant manager. I like the coaching bit. I never grumbled about the situation, what`s the point in moaning – I just got on with it and did my best – you`ve got to accept there will be losses.`

In his first year of management Alan Knill has had to deal with problems that most managers will never have to deal with and he has dealt with them quietly and confidently. He has won many battles but he will know there are still many ahead.

All at Vital want to thank Alan for what he`s done this year and wish him good luck for the rest of the season.