I'm Happy to stay - Hursty.

Hursty who is the Millers longest serving player on the books has had a bit of stick over the length of time it took him to accept the offer of a new contract, but in his interview with the official site, he explains the reason why.

"Im happy to stay, I said that at the end of last season. I think that some people were getting funny about how long it was taking but that was just the fact becasue we didnt get our offer - money wise until the end of may, then being on Holiday both myself and the Manager, there was no problems with it at all." Hursty said.

"Its something that I would be very proud to get, its a really good achievement. I'm certainly look at getting 500 appearances, I've got my eye on that. The extra 2 years have given me the chance to do that and its hopefully something I can achieve."

At only 5'4", Hursty is one of the smaller players in the league, however his 100% effort has endeared him to the fans. "The small players are usually your tricky skillful really quick ones, I'm a bit different to that i suppose."

Looking forward to the coming season and recent signings, Hursty said. "Its taken a lot of hard work from the Manager, obviously the 10 point deduction will have put some people off but I said beforehand that I'm sure that he'll get the people in that won't mind that and want a challenge and fight for the cause, theyre the type of people we want and hopefully we can overturn that defecit."

"I think we still need to add a few players, which I'm sure we will be doing. Last year there was many games where we either got a draw or got beat towards the end of the game. I don't think there was that much in the league at all, that was proved by the points from where we were to the play-offs, there wasnt that much. So we can definately get out of it."

Meanwhile Manager Alan Knill sang Hursty's praises this morning.

Speaking to Radio Sheffield he said, "Of all the player who were out of contract who we made offers to, Hursty was one who I really wanted to stay. He is Rotherham United through and through."

"When you put him on the pitch you know exactly what your getting and when you put him on the training pitch you know exactly what your getting. He is a major influence on the squad."

"People write him off, and he comes back to be usually the most consistant player so I'm delighted that Hursty has decided to stay as he will be a big influence on the team thats for sure." he added.