Ex-Leeds United manager swiftly joins Whites' Championship rivals after 'unexpected approach'

Former Leeds United manager Steve Evans has joined Rotherham United following the sacking of Leam Richardson on Wednesday. The ex-Whites boss has left his role at Stevenage to make his return to South Yorkshire, having managed the Millers between April 2012 and September 2015.

He took the club from League Two to the Championship after securing a second place finish in the fourth tier to earn automatic promotion in 2013 and 12 months later he won the League One play-offs with the Millers. In their first season in the Championship, Rotherham clinched survival with a game to spare.

To celebrate, Evans turned up at Elland Road on the final day of the season wearing a sombrero, shorts and sandals in a fixture between Leeds and Rotherham. He left the Millers in September 2015 but was not out of work for long as he joined Leeds a few weeks later following Uwe Rosler's sacking. He left the Whites at the end of the season, having managed 38 games, winning 14, drawing 12 and losing the other 12.

Evans will not be in the Elland Road dugout with Rotherham next term with the Millers already relegated to League One, while Leeds will hope to put another division between themselves and their Yorkshire rivals as they eye promotion to the Premier League.

Confirming Evans’ move to Rotherham, Stevenage chairman Phil Wallace said: “It’s not what we wanted, but compensation clauses are in place for a reason and these things happen in football. 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.

“We are a totally different club from two years ago and we will start the recruitment process immediately for next season to give us the best chance of continuing to improve on and off the pitch. Steve will always be welcome at The Lamex as far as I’m concerned and it’s been a privilege to work with him for the last two years”.