Steve Evans sold Matt Tubbs whilst at Crawley Town, and now at his new club, Rotherham United, Evans has gone on record (again) with his desire to re-sign Tubbs: "Matt Tubbs is a fantastic player, first and foremost, and a great goalscorer for the levels where we ply our trade. He is a top-class young man. Would I see myself working with Matthew Tubbs in the future? Yes, we would love to. First and foremost, he is an AFC Bournemouth player and I think the truth is that he is in AFC Bournemouth’s plans. From a distance, I have seen Paul Groves sign a number of strikers, but he may be in the privileged position that he can have six or seven strikers. In the words of better managers than me, you can never have too many good strikers. We like Matthew. Whether we could get him here remains to be seen".
From the Cherries, Eddie Mitchell has been bullish in his response to any attempt to prize the Clubs record signing, being quoted in the Bournemouth Evening Echo as saying: "They wouldn’t get him anyway because he looks lean and mean, he is fit, he has looked after himself in the close season and we can’t wait to get him on the pitch".