Steve Evans said he always hoped he would return to Rotherham - and Phil Wallace was aware of the strength of the feelings he had for the Millers.

The now ex-Stevenage manager shocked many by jumping to his former club on Wednesday but he hinted there was always a feeling of unfinished business lurking deep within him. 

And the call the Boro chairman was dreading got the wheels in motion quickly.

"I'm delighted," said Evans. "It's almost happened a few times but the planets have never really lined up, either from the chairman or the board's point of view or mine.

"More recently it's come together in days, I'm talking a day or two, all very quickly.

"I've come home, those are the words of a few people I met in town and those are the words my family have used.

"Let me clarify Stevenage. Like the Millers, they have an absolutely fantastic chairman and board, a great infrastructure, a smaller football club but a really good football club [and one] that have ambitions to be in the Championship themselves.

"What I have left behind is a really good staff and really good players for the level.

"Everything I can say about Stevenage gets a huge tick but as Phil Wallace knew, when the call came from Rotherham a couple of days ago, it was always something I spoke so highly of and so fondly of that he knew if the opportunity came, I would say yes.

"I did and it was a two-minute chat [with Tony Stewart]. The rest took care of himself very quickly."

That relationship with the Rotherham chairman was crucial to the decision to move back to South Yorkshire.

Evans said: "My relationship with Tony Stewart is well known within football. We've kept in touch and it was mostly just generic things, family things.

"When I got the opportunity to sit in front of the chairman a couple of days ago and actually speak to him about the opportunity, a real opportunity, to come back, it was so exciting.

"It's fantastic to come here. My time here was unprecedented, in terms of me, and I will try and come here and win some football matches.

"I've still got the passion as Stevenage fans will tell you. We'll be competing for promotion next season, there are no doubts about that."