Alan Knill made a valiant attempt to keep Rotherham in the Championship but lost the battle recently with a gallant 4-3 defeat at promotion-chasing Ipswich.

But I'm pleased to see his efforts have been rewarded with a contract to be assistant manager to the newly-appointed Mick Harford.

For a lot of Saints supporters who might be asking 'Alan who?' he was a tall, gangling red-headed central defender, who served his apprenticeship with us but didn't quite make the grade.

After giving him the bad news that he was being released (the worst day in a manager's season) he stopped at my office door and said: "I'll prove you wrong, boss," to which I replied: " I hope you do, son." Not much was heard of him for a while as he trawled around trying to get fixed up, but we gave him a good reference and he eventually got a contract at Huddersfield.

One day I read that he'd been drafted into the Welsh national team because of injuries and he turned out in front of a packed house against the mighty Germany.

It was his only cap, but I heard him interviewed once when he said that one of the things he kept was a telegram he'd received from me before that big game saying "you certainly proved me wrong, good luck."

His career on the field took him around the lower divisions and now he's on the coaching side I'm sure that red-headed determination will help him along. Sooner or later I'll probably need to send him another telegram.