Boss Mick McCarthy believes Rotherham pair Paul Green and Frazer Richardson improved the Town squad when they joined the club during the second half of last season, but says he didn’t look to sign them on a permanent basis when they became free agents in the summer.
Green, 31, made six Town starts and eight sub appearances, scoring two goals, between February and May last season while on loan from Leeds, who released the Irish international at the end of the season.
Richardson (pictured), also 31, made three starts and four appearances from the bench during a loan spell from Middlesbrough between January and May and was also a free agent during the close season. Both will be back at Portman Road with the Millers this afternoon.
"What good pros they are,” he said. "We saw that when they came in and fitted into a squad and enhanced our team without any doubt, even if it was just in training they showed their quality.
"I’d signed them both on loan but I wasn’t going to sign them permanently. They both got a really good offer from Rotherham and the location does suit them.
"They’re both Yorkshire lads, I wasn’t going to get involved in that, I wasn’t going to even try. I think they were really top signings for them.
"At the end of the day, when it comes to Frazer I’ve got Elliott Hewitt, who was there, and with Greeny, it’s turned out we’ve got Teddy Bishop, Skusey and Luke Hyam.
"We’ve got bodies, so it ever really got that far. But they both got really good offers from [Millers boss] Steve [Evans].
"Rotherham have got good players. They’ve got Loachy, of course, whether he plays or not I don’t know, but he played last week.”
On-loan Town pair Paul Taylor and Anthony Wordsworth are ineligible against their parent club.
McCarthy says former Boston boss Evans has done a superb job, having taken the Millers from League Two to the Championship in two seasons: "You can’t do anything other than compliment him.
"I think back-to-back promotions is a remarkable achievement in the first place and having done it elsewhere I think he’s proven himself to be a very capable manager.”
He added: "I thought they made some good signings in the summer and they took quite a few in, I think they’ve got quite a big squad.
"They lost Kieran Agard [who joined Bristol City for £1 million] for a few quid but they’ve made a good few signings. They’re a competent team in this league, certainly. I’ve seen them before, they all work damn hard and make it extremely difficult.”
McCarthy has been impressed by all three sides promoted from League One: "I think they’ve improved the league.
"It’s not like teams who have come up in the past. I felt for Gary Johnson when Yeovil came up because he was working on an unbelievably tight budget and they ended up going back down. I think Donny did as well.
"Rotherham have come up and they’ve got a decent budget and Wolves have certainly paid wages, spent money, and I think Brentford have as well, they’ve spent a few quid.
"They’ve come up, they’re stronger. I think they’ve improved the league, I think they’ve made it harder.”