Rotherham United will feel they have put themselves in with a major chance of ensuring their survival in the Championship but they will face a very nervy end to the season.

Paul Warne’s side have been consistently plugging away throughout the campaign and have been having to battle with various setbacks such as player injuries and also games being called off for various reasons. As a result of games being called off, the Millers are going to have a number of games in hand over the teams above them in the table to come that will be season-defining.

The Millers will be somewhat frustrated that they have not been able to build on their sensational win against Sheffield Wednesday in their last match. That comes with the following three fixtures having been postponed. Warne will need to keep his players going and them get them back fully ready for when they next take to the field.

Rotherham do not have the biggest budget in the division but what they do have is a real team spirit and also a group of players who will give their all. The Millers always have to work hard to sign the right players, but it is also always vital they find some good prospects from their academy.

Here, we rank the top ten best players to have ever come through the club’s academy. Click ‘next’ to start the list…

The first player on this list of former Millers’ academy players is Andy Monkhouse, who managed to have a lengthy and successful career as a professional making well over 600 appearances.

Monkhouse started his career with Rotherham coming through the club’s academy and he was an important player for them for a number of seasons between making his debut for the club in 1998/99 and leaving the Millers in 2006. The most notable campaign in a Rotherham shirt for him was when he scored three goals in 30 appearances in the 2003/04 campaign.

Following his release by the Millers in 2006, the attacker went on to sign for Swindon Town. However, he would last just half a season there and moved to Hartlepool United in January 2007. At Hartlepool he enjoyed the best spell of his career making 325 appearances and scoring 44 goals in ten seasons.

He moved to Bristol Rovers in 2014 and helped the club earn promotion from the Conference back to the Football League, before moving to Grimsby Town the following year and also helping them earn promotion to League Two.

Coming in at number nine on this list is former Rotherham goalkeeper Phil Barnes, who managed to enjoy a lengthy career making well over 500 first-team appearances for various clubs.

Barnes started his career with the Millers and managed to make his debut for the club in the 1996/97 campaign. However, he would never really manage to make much of an impact for Rotherham and would instead have to move on the following season and start to forge a name for himself elsewhere.

That came during his time with Blackpool who he joined after leaving the Millers. There he made over 140 appearances in a seven-year spell which eventually earned him a move to Sheffield United in 2004. However, he was seen as more of a backup option by the Blades and after two different loan spells left the club for Grimsby Town.

Barnes’ time at Grimsby saw him make 120 appearances in a three-year spell. He would spend the last decade of his career playing in lower league football for the likes of Harrogate Town and Matlock Town.

At number eight on this list is forward Jerry Yates, who never really managed to full establish himself in the first-team for the Millers despite showing a few signs of promise in some early appearances.

Yates managed to make his professional Football League debut with the Millers in 2015 coming off the bench for Richard Smallwood in a 2-1 defeat against Birmingham City. The following summer saw him sent out to Harrogate Town to go and get some first-team experience and that is where he would score his first-ever senior goal. However, after just eight games he was recalled by the Millers.

He made his real first-team breakthrough with the Millers during what was a very difficult 2016/17 season for the club that ended with them being relegated from the Championship with one of the worst points tallies in the league’s history. The forward though did score his first goal for the club that term coming against Morecambe in a League Cup tie.

The following season, Yates made 20 appearances in total as the Millers earned promotion back to the Championship at the first time of asking. However, the following two campaigns saw him loaned out to both Carlisle United and Swindon Town, before Blackpool signed him permanently last summer.

Coming in at number seven on this list is midfielder Ben Wiles, who is currently building his reputation with the Millers and in a few years’ time might very well qualify for a much higher place in this ranking of their academy graduates.

Wiles had a loan spell with Frickley Athletic during the 2017/18 season and he also managed to make his debut for the Millers in that campaign in a defeat against Chesterfield in the EFL Trophy. The 21-year-old was handed the chance to become more of a regular in the side in the league during the 2018/19 campaign as he made 20 appearances as the Millers suffered relegation to League One.

The midfielder though was one of the Millers’ best performing and most crucial players throughout last season as Warne’s side bounced back to the Championship at the first time of asking. He managed to score three goals in his 40 appearances in all competitions.

So far this term, Wiles has continued to play a key role for the Millers and he has scored twice in 31 Championship appearances so far. He will hope he can have a major role to play in the club surviving this time around.

At number six on this list is forward Ryan Taylor, who started his career with the Millers and has gone on to enjoy some successful and some less successful spells with certain clubs in his career to date.

The forward came through the Millers’ academy and made his first-team bow in 2005 coming on for them in a defeat against Swindon Town. Taylor went on to make 152 appearances for the Millers between 2005 and his departure in 2011 and managed to score 24 goals during that time. He was also sent out on loan to both Exeter City and Burton Albion.

In the summer of 2011, Bristol City made a move to bring Taylor in from Rotherham for an undisclosed fee. He netted his first goal for the club during a 1-1 draw away at Burnley at the end of the 2011/12 campaign. Taylor was not a regular for the Robins for a lot of the time he was there and he left the club in 2014 moving to Portsmouth.

During his time with Portsmouth Taylor scored 15 goals in 55 appearances before moving to Oxford United. He moved to Plymouth Argyle in 2017 and managed to score 11 goals in 83 games for them before moving on to League Two Newport County last summer.

Coming in at number five on this list is forward Will Hoskins, who also started his career with the Millers and burst on to the scenes as a 17-year-old back in 2003 making an immediate impression for the club.

Hoskins managed to fire in two goals in a 2-1 win against Wigan Athletic in December 2003. However, he would have to bide his time to make a massive difference in the first-team on a regular basis. That chance arrived when Alan Knill took over as manager during the 2005/06 campaign and brought him into the side on a more regular basis.

The following campaign Hoskins would be an impressive performer for the Millers and he had scored 15 goals by mid-December 2006. That form prompted Watford to make a move for him and they secured his signature in January 2007. He would only score seven goals though for the Hornets during his three years with the club.

The forward went on to play for the likes Nottingham Forest, Brighton, Bristol Rovers and Oxford United and he is currently still playing for Kings Langley.

One player who made it through Rotherham’s academy but who maybe never managed to get the chance to fulfil his true potential due to a host of injury troubles was Shaun Barker.

Barker started his career with the Millers and managed to break into the first-team in March 2003 making his full professional debut against Brighton. The defender was named as the club’s Player of the Year for the 2002/03 campaign after making his first-team bow. He went on to make 132 appearances for Rotherham and scored eight goals in the process before leaving in 2006.

His next destination was Blackpool and he helped the Tangerines earn promotion to the Championship during the 2006/07 campaign. He was then a near ever-present for the club during their next two seasons in the Championship helping them to stabilise themselves back in the English second division. Following an offer of around £900,000 by Derby County in 2009 he left the club.

During his lengthy six-year spell with the Rams, he was blighted by injury problems and those issues limited him to just 98 appearances for the club. He eventually left in 2015 and finished his career with a two-year spell at Burton Albion.

One of the best players that Rotherham’s academy has ever produced is Chris Sedgwick. The attacker enjoyed a lengthy and successful career where he made 597 appearances in total and represented six different clubs.

Sedgwick burst onto the scenes with the Millers back in 1997 and he was one of the club’s brightest attacking talents during his lengthy seven-year spell in the first team. He was often credited as being a real talisman for the club during his spell with his hard-working attitude and passion for the club something that made him a popular figure amongst supporters.

The winger went on to make 273 appearances for the Millers in all competitions and scored 20 goals during that time. He eventually left for Preston North End back in November 2004 for a fee of around £400,000. Sedgwick was a key player for the Lilywhites and he managed to make 255 appearances for them scoring 14 goals during his six seasons at Deepdale.

A move to Sheffield Wednesday followed, and he made 58 appearances for the Owls and was a part of the side that earned promotion back to the Championship in 2011/12. He left that summer and enjoyed brief spells with Scunthorpe United, Hyde and Bury before his retirement.

Hurst remains a legendary figure around Rotherham and he played nearly the entirety of his professional career at the club barring a brief spell with Burton Albion before he retired from football.

The 46-year-old first broke through into the Millers’ first team in 1993 and he would go on to be a constant figure for the club usually down the left-hand side of their defence. Hurst was part of the side that managed to win the Football League Trophy back in 1996 with a 2-1 win in the final against Shrewsbury Town.

Overall, Hurst would go on to make 438 appearances for the Millers in which time he also scored 13 goals. He was almost an ever-present for Rotherham for the majority of his time there and he was not far from the record amount of appearances made for them. That though still stands with Danny Williams who made 461 appearances for the club.

Having finished his playing career at Burton, Hurst has since gone to manage the likes of Grimsby Town, Shrewsbury Town, Ipswich Town and Scunthorpe United. He is currently in his second spell in charge of League Two Grimsby.

Ranked first on this list is former Rotherham United defender Ian Breckin, who went on to enjoy an excellent career in the game making 647 career appearances after coming through the Millers’ youth academy.

Breckin started his career with the Millers coming through the club’s academy as a trainee and then eventually making it into their first-team squad after signing a professional contract in 1993. The defender would go on to make 132 appearances for Rotherham during a four-year spell with the club and he scored six goals during that time.

The defender was eventually sold on to Chesterfield in 1997, and he enjoyed a successful five-season spell with the club where he made over 200 appearances and managed to score eight goals. That earned him a move to Wigan Athletic in 2002. During his time with the Latics, he played a key role in helping them earn promotion to the Premier League in the 2004/05 campaign.

A move to Nottingham Forest followed and during his four years at the City Ground, the defender helped them earn promotion back to the Championship during the 2007/08 season. He eventually left to return to Chesterfield in June 2009 where he finished off his career with a further 64 appearances.