"I wouldn’t go back" - Pundit urges Paul Warne to avoid Rotherham Utd return amid Steve Evans talk | OneFootball

Carlton Palmer has urged the axed Derby County boss against a return to Yorkshire

Former Sheffield Wednesday man Carlton Palmer believes Paul Warne should avoid heading back to Rotherham United if the opportunity arises, and aim for a return to management in the Championship.

The former Millers boss is currently without a club after being axed by second tier strugglers Derby County earlier this month, with the Rams currently in the bottom three after a wretched run of results.

Since then, the 51-year-old has been linked to a return to the New York Stadium by Alan Nixon, with the pressure mounting on Steve Evans after a troubled season with the Yorkshire side.

But Palmer is of the mind that a return to familiar territory would be a major backwards step for Warne, who should be considering his options before jumping back into the dugout.

Steve Evans pressure intensifies as Rotherham United season flops

There was plenty expected of Rotherham after dropping down from the Championship last season, with Evans taking over in the final few weeks of the previous campaign to kickstart what was expected to be a promotion challenge in the third tier.

In reality, the Millers have been in the bottom-half of the division for much of the campaign, with just one win in their last six league outings leaving any distant play-off dreams eviscerating since the start of the month.

With the relegation spots closer than the play-off pack, Evans has come under pressure of late, and with a tough run of fixtures coming up, Palmer only expects things to get worse before they get better.

He said of the current situation at the club: “It has been a poor season at Rotherham, their position in the league is not a good one and they would have wanted to have been higher up in the league.

“They started the season with just one win in their first eight league games, and are currently 12 points off of a play-off position.

“I never advocate for a manager to get the sack, but it depends what your remit was. I am sure when Steve Evans was brought to the football club, his remit was to get the club promoted.

“He has been backed in the transfer window and has been backed with the players that he has added to the football club. In the second half of the season they are going to have to go on some run to get into the play-offs.

“It is a poor season and he is definitely under pressure. They have a run of difficult fixtures coming up; Leyton Orient, Wrexham and Bolton, and I would think that Steve has got to be under enormous pressure.”

Paul Warne urged to reject Rotherham United advances if Steve Evans is dismissed

No sooner had Warne departed Derby County than he had already been linked with a return to the New York Stadium, with Nixon revealing the news over the weekend on his Patreon account.

With the Millers’ hierarchy reportedly running out of patience with Evans, the availability of a man who gave the club so much success over recent seasons will likely have turned the chiefs’ heads.

With three promotions from the third tier to his name during his time with United, a return to Yorkshire would see him welcomed like a hero, but Palmer believes it will do nothing for his reputation in the game, where many see him as a League One promotion cheat code.

Having regularly been in charge of sides that cannot compete financially in the Championship, Warne has often struggled with sides in the second tier, but not for the want of trying, and the ex-England international believes he deserves the chance to prove what he can do with another club in the league above, rather than return to the Millers.

Palmer continued: “If I was Paul Warne I wouldn’t go back to Rotherham, because I think the stigma has gone against him a little bit that he has not done well with clubs in the Championship: he has not had the money.

“This season was a difficult season for him in the Championship with Derby County, and if he kept them up it would have been a fantastic season. They haven’t had the money that other clubs are blessed with, it was always going to be a difficult season, and I don’t believe they should have changed the manager as early as they did.

“Now the problem comes with Paul if he goes back to Rotherham, everyone is going to say that his level is League One and he has gone back to a safe place for him.

“I think he needs to wait and look for another opportunity, and it is how soon he wants to get back into football.

“He is a cult hero at Rotherham, he might look at it and see if they have enough players to make an assault on the play-offs, and he might look at that and want another promotion on his CV, but then people are going to say his level is League One.

“I think he should wait and see if he could get another job at Championship level, which I think he deserves. The owner at Derby speaks very highly of Paul and he seems like a very decent bloke, but I think he pulled the trigger a bit too early.”