Rotherham United struck gold with Huddersfield Town transfer coup - Cardiff City & Neil Warnock ensured sweet profit | OneFootball

Danny Ward was a relatively cheap buy for Rotherham United in 2015, and the profit they made on him was incredibly healthy

Midway through the 2014/15 Championship season, Rotherham were embroiled in a relegation battle, sitting three points above the bottom three.

The Millers had scored just 21 goals through their opening 25 games, the second lowest in the division, and were in desperate need of a boost to their frontline ahead of the second half of the campaign.

Danny Ward had netted 10 and assisted six for Huddersfield Town the term prior, but had started just two league games for the Terriers in 2014/15, so a loan deal was initially agreed to send him from West to South Yorkshire to link up with Steve Evans’ side.

That deal was turned into a permanent one two days later, for an undisclosed fee which reportedly totalled just £375,000.

Ward only spent a couple of seasons at the AESSEAL New York Stadium before he moved on to promotion-challenging Cardiff City who were managed by Neil Warnock at the time, and the eventual sale saw Rotherham earn a decent profit on the Bradford-born front-man.

Danny Ward’s time at Rotherham United was a big success despite not being prolific

Danny Ward didn’t exactly set the world on fire in front of goal during his time at Rotherham, but he was never a striker to explode with 20+ goalscoring seasons during his career.

Instead, he was always someone who could do a bit of everything, and that was shown at the AESSEAL New York Stadium.

He would make 10 Championship starts in his first half-season at Rotherham, scoring three and assisting two as the Millers would show an improvement in front of goal in the second half of the 2014/15 campaign, scoring 25 in their final 21 league games.

Ward’s first full season for the club only resulted in a four-goal haul, but his nine assists helped make up for it.

He played a major part in the club’s great escape under Championship specialist Neil Warnock as Rotherham went on an 11-game unbeaten run between February and April en-route to survival after spending the majority of the season stuck in the bottom three.

The season after was one to forget for the Millers, winning just five times and finishing rock bottom, 29 points adrift from safety.

Ward recorded his best scoring season that campaign, netting 11 of Rotherham’s 40 league goals, proving to the rest of the division that he was indeed Championship quality.

Veteran manager Neil Warnock recognised that, and moved to sign the then-26-year-old for Cardiff City in the summer of 2017.

Rotherham United earned a good profit for Danny Ward

As a League One club, not many were expecting Rotherham to receive as good a deal as they did from Cardiff to bring the striker to Wales, but the Bluebirds paid £1.6 million plus add-ons to take him away from the AESSEAL New York Stadium.

The money was worth it at the time, though, as Ward played his part in Cardiff’s promotion to the Premier League in his first season at the club, despite having to watch the majority of it from the sidelines due to a season-ending injury picked up in December.

The striker played in the Premier League for Cardiff before showing his worth once more in a couple of Championship play-off sides in Southeast Wales and back at Huddersfield, proving how integral to a side he was as a striker, even if he only averaged a goal every three or four games.

Those types of strikers often go under the radar, and Rotherham were able to capitalise on that with a nominal fee. Luckily enough, their value of Danny Ward was met, and the club will be happy they were able to make a healthy profit on the important frontman.