Off on loan to Coventry for the rest of the season - until the end of his contract with us.
We gave him an opportunity with the one year deal in the summer but he clearly hasn't shown Warne enough. The lad has everything going for him to have a good career if he really wants it but a goal every seventh game isn't going to do it. I really hope he can make a go of it at Coventry and get his career back on track.
JCH has had a lot of managers in a fairly short career. A couple of them have made a living out of being 'motivational' but not one has been able to get consistently good performances out of him, and he has not been able to persuade any of them that he was worth a regular starting spot. Most people agree that he has the physical attributes to be a nightmare for defenders. Good luck to him. He still has time on his side, and hopefully (if he wants it) he can still learn and carve a good career out for himself.
Yates I think is a different story. He doesn't have exceptional pace, size or strength. If he is going to make it, it will have to be for another reason. His strengths are his willingness to work, his movement in the box and the fact that he is a good instinctive finisher. The jury is still out on him for me but he hasn't yet had the same opportunities as JCH. He got thrown into the Championship playing as a lone striker in one of the worst teams ever to play in it, and this season has filled in as a target man and asked to win headers and knock defenders about which is never going to be his game. I just don't think he can be fairly judged yet because he hasn't had a run of matches playing as a second striker, which is his natural game.
Open letter to Jonson Clarke Harris. Please take this last chance that Mark Robins has offered to you at Coventry. I would hate to see you throw away your career in football due to a lack of application. While at Rotherham you have promised so much but failed to deliver. You have the attributes to become a successful striker but apparently you do not have the desire. Maybe it's stubbornness on your part as you seem unable or are unwilling to take advice from managers who have tried to make you a better player. You could have benefited from studying Richie Barkers career he did not have half the attributes that you possess as a footballer but he always worked hard at his game and was willing to take advice. The result a long and successful career in the game which he is still enjoying. Jono you have the chance at Coventry to learn from a man who was a top class striker who always worked hard at his game. Please listen to Mark Robins and get your head straight. Many of us would have loved to have been professional footballers but never had the talent, please don't throw your career away. I wish you all the best for the future so please apply yourself listen to Mark Robins and you can still enjoy a bright future in the game. All the very best lad.
Open letter to Jonson Clarke Harris. Please take this last chance that Mark Robins has offered to you at Coventry. I would hate to see you throw away your career in football due to a lack of application. While at Rotherham you have promised so much but failed to deliver. You have the attributes to become a successful striker but apparently you do not have the desire. Maybe it's stubbornness on your part as you seem unable or are unwilling to take advice from managers who have tried to make you a better player. You could have benefited from studying Richie Barkers career he did not have half the attributes that you possess as a footballer but he always worked hard at his game and was willing to take advice. The result a long and successful career in the game which he is still enjoying. Jono you have the chance at Coventry to learn from a man who was a top class striker who always worked hard at his game. Please listen to Mark Robins and get your head straight. Many of us would have loved to have been professional footballers but never had the talent, please don't throw your career away. I wish you all the best for the future so please apply yourself listen to Mark Robins and you can still enjoy a bright future in the game. All the very best lad.
I'm quite pleased JCH has gone out on loan. It saves me wondering if his next game is the one in which he will come good - because I've been wondering that for far too long. When you consider that he started his professional career at age 16 and has had 3.5 years at RUFC scoring only 9 goals in his 71 appearances (admittedly he had a year out), there comes a time when you have to accept that he is never going to be what we want - a consistent target man who bangs in 15 or so goals a season. You can blame all the coaches in the world for not getting the best out of him, but when it comes down to it, he is in charge of his own destiny and unfortunately, it wouldn't appear to be at Rotherham. Best of luck to him at Coventry. I hope he scores a hat full and that we get a fee for him come the summer.
I think we could only get a fee if we offered him a new contract as an under 24 year old on terms no worse than his last one, and he turned the offer down. If he goes to Coventry and has a Kieffer Moore style goalscoring run then perhaps his stock will rise, but barring that I doubt we will offer him a new deal and I doubt that we will realise any fee. I suspect that he will be out of contract in the summer and looking for a deal as a free agent. He is playing at Coventry in a side on the up in a poor division where you would think a forward should be getting lots of chances to score. If he can't motivate himself to have a strong three months and earn himself a good deal somewhere, then he is in the wrong job.