South Yorkshire Star
Millers: Rotherham give Arthur his big chancePublished Date: 21 December 2010
By Les Payne
THE next two months are going to be pretty important for young winger Chris Arthur.
It is the time scale that has been put on him as he aims to show what he can do and tries to earn an extended contract at Rotherham United.
He signed for the Millers last week on a short-term deal that will last two months and was able to do so, despite the transfer window being shut, because he was not on contract with anyone.
Released by Queens Park Rangers in the summer, his is the typical story of a player trying to earn another chance with a league club.
Clubs often have an idea about a player after they've got someone in to train with them but a reserve team outing offers an opportunity to strengthen your case - or weaken it!
Arthur, 20 and with his 21st birthday at the end of January, turned out twice for the Millers reserves and played on the left flank,
In the first game he helped them to a 3-0 win over a youthful Sheffield Wednesday side and showed enough in that game to warrant another look.
He then played in a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest reserves and on both occasions Millers manager Ronnie Moore had run the rule over him.
He'd seen enough to want to take a further look hence the extended opportunity.
"It's now up to the lad to work hard over the next couple of months and try to earn an extended deal with the club," says Moore.
Arthur, who was playing on a non-contract basis with Bishops Stortford, had previously been with Rushden and Diamonds and Kettering Town on loan. He did not make a first team appearance at QPR.
One of his teammates at Kettering was former Millers defender Guy Branston who would have been facing the Millers on Saturday for Torquay but for the postponement.
In common with a number of other clubs across the country on Saturday, Rotherham endured a lengthy journey home due to snow and traffic problems in the Midlands and they arrived back at 10.30pm, some 11 hours after setting off from Torquay.
One of the Supporters Club's coaches, having turned back below Birmingham, travelled three miles in seven hours when the chaos was at its worst.
They heard the "match off" news around 10.45am in the Midlands and so turned straight round but didn't get back to Rotherham until 25 minutes after midnight.
"Considering we'd set off around 7am, it made it a heck of a long day for everybody, you're looking at around 18 hours in all," said one Millers fan.
Even if the freeze relents and Rotherham get back into action, Arthur is unlikely to be pushing for a first team spot on the left flank unless something significant happens.
The position is currently occupied by Will Atkinson, on loan from Hull City, and he took over - in his only appearance so far - from Kevin Ellison who had been the regular in that role.
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