Ben Pringle has revealed that concerns over whether Rotherham could build on beating the drop in their first season in the Championship were behind his decision to leave the Yorkshire club on a free transfer.
The midfielder ended a successful four-year spell with the Millers after turning down their offer of a new contract and will instead sign for their divisional rivals Fulham on July 1st. The 26 year-old was a key performer as Rotherham won back-to-back promotions, scoring a crucial spot-kick in their League One play-off final success at Wembley, and starred as Steve Evans’ side managed to avoid relegation despite a three-point points deduction being imposed by the Football League.
The 26 year-old told the Press Association:
When I was thinking about leaving that was one of the things I was looking at – where do they go next? Without being funny if they are not breaking their backs to keep myself or Craig Morgan then they need a plan to go out and get the players they want.
You look at Wolves and Brentford, the two clubs who came up with us, both finished near the play-offs because they had a plan and knew what players they wanted. The start of last season, the amount of players that came in was unbelievable.
But I think towards the end he [Evans] started to get a settled side and knew what he wanted and hopefully it will be different this time around. Unless they invest heavily or they have a plan I don’t know, I really don’t know (if they can improve). I hope they stay up and stay in the division and do well but I don’t really know to be honest. I will always look out for the result and I’ll talk to the lads regularly.
Pringle says he needed little persuading to pick Fulham once he knew Kit Symons’ side were interested in signing him.
I’m buzzing. As soon as I knew there was interest from Fulham I wanted to come here straight away. You just have to look at the size of the club and where they’ve been in the past – hopefully we can get there again before too long. I like to think I’ll bring energy to the team. I try to make things happen, I can cross a ball okay and try to get in little pockets.
After the publication of the Championship fixture list, Pringle now knows that he’ll make his return to Rotherham with his new side on Saturday 29 August.
