Rother’s still relishing time with the Rams
RA M S B O T TOM United’s Jamie Rother is a rarity when it comes to nonleague football with regards to his longevity at one club.
He has been with the Rams since signing in 2015 having notched well over 100 appearances in that time, proving to be a stalwart in the midfield.
Rother is now in his seventh season with Rammy and although not much has changed in that time off the pitch, he has been happy with the club’s progression on it.
“It’s been a bit different, when I first came from Salford, we were in the league above at the time and with the changeover of players it was a completely new group to walk into.” Rother explained.
“I’ve always enjoyed my time here because I’ve always had good lads around us, the fans have been great and it’s a nice club for me as it’s local.
“It’s different in the fact that we were rubbish for a couple of years to be honest with you and now over the last few years we’re challenging and basically, we’re trying to get to the league above which is where we need to be. That’s the only difference really, I’ve enjoyed it all the way through but the last few years we’ve been up there challenging.”
Rother puts a great deal of the improvement in results down to current manager Chris Willcock who was appointed manager back in October 2018.
He looks back on this moment as a crucial turning point for both himself and the club.
“He’s great, since he come in three seasons ago, we’d never been challenging for anything,” Rother admitted.
“Since he’s come in we had the trophy run and then finished in the playoffs and got beat in the play-off semi-final first year.
“Last year we thought we would have won it we were second until it got null and voided and we’re top of the league now.
“He knows what he’s doing and he gets everyone working together towards the same goals and it’s good to play under him!”
The success in recent years has shown this with the Rams up in second last season when the league was declared void and they started where they left off as they currently sit top of the NPL North West Division albeit only having played eight games due to the current suspension of ‘non-elite’ football.
Despite this, it has not all been plain sailing at the Greater Manchester club for Rother who had a nightmare start to his
Rams career snapping his Achilles in a pre-season game which saw him miss the majority of the 2016/17 season which was understandably a really challenging period.
The midfielder admitted: “It was really tough to be honest with you, it got to a point where it was demoralising.
“It was basically the best part of twelve months because I did it the first pre-season game and then I did nothing but rehab.
“I was in a boot for three months and I think I played the last game of that season, so it was a long time out and it’s difficult because it was just rehab all the time.”