ROTHERHAM ARE WINNERS
Millers boss hails season a success, whatever happens in play-off final
IN this of all years, it is quite fitting that the dulcet tones of the man who staged one of the most spectacular comebacks in showbusiness history in Frank Sinatra are regularly heard ringing out at Rotherham United. Ol’ Blue Eyes’ iconic New York,
New York hit may be the song of choice in homage to the Millers’ splendid home, but an airing of It
Was A Very Good Year is perhaps just as appropriate given the events of 2018.
The icing on the cake, as chairman Tony Stewart puts it, will arrive if the Millers guild his eventful 10-year tenure in charge with an instant return to the Championship in Sunday’s League One play-off final against Shrewsbury Town at Wembley.
But even if that does not transpire in North-West London, Stewart is emphatic in his belief that they are a club transformed and in rude health compared to the sorry state that they were in just 12 months ago.
A fractured team drained of belief, morale, togetherness and hope endured one of the most torrid seasons not just in club history but second-tier history in 2016-17.
Rotherham set the lowest points total at that level since the three points system was introduced in 1981 after registering a pitiful 23 points.
What has happened since has been the stuff of legion. A side top-heavy on journeymen has been purged, recruitment failings addressed and the team galvanised by a human dynamo in Paul Warne – with a winning mentality rediscovered.
Off the pitch at the New York Stadium, the club has a pride and positive identity again. A club fit for purpose, complete with spruced-up training headquarters at Roundwood. A club going places.
Stewart told The Yorkshire Post: “Would it be a successful season whatever happened on Sunday? It has got to be, whether we are in the Championship or League One, we are moving forward.
“We have a young side who are capable of playing well in the Championship and I think they would compete. They would be tested. But if we stay in League One, we will have a better side and one which is still developing. Where we get to on that front, we are very optimistic.
“What a comeback this season; whether we win or not on Sunday. It has been success that has been derived over the learning of the mistakes that happened in the year before – and it has happened so quickly.
“We have a manager who had to put up with the disappointment and troubled waters that we had last season. But I remember saying to him it will never get worse than this and the transformation has been incredible.
“For me, I have to say if I was an outsider looking in that it is a tremendous transformation from where we were last season. To experience the changes of philosophies, it has been a massive achievement, I would be telling lies if I did not say that.”
Loathe to make predictions about Sunday’s final scoreline he may be, but Stewart is happy enough to make one observation, should the Millers be promoted at Wembley for the second time in the space of four years.
Namely, that Rotherham are better prepared for Championship life than they were in 2014-15 – after learning some hard lessons along the way and now being wary of some nasty pitfalls to avoid.
Stewart said: “The template is more right that it has ever been and I think we are in a better place than we have ever been. We are still developing; whether that is good enough to get us into the Championship on Sunday? I would hope so. We have got a good chance, at least a 50-50 one.
“If we got promotion, it would be interesting to see the side tested. Do not forget we were in the Championship for three seasons and I am saying we are a better team, an emerging team now. We are more ready now than when we first entered the Championship.
“With the extra money we have got, it would be more wisely spent than last time.
“We have recruited better and coached better and the players have been handled better. The culture is there because the guy (Warne) is staunch Rotherham United with no bad habits. The honesty and integrity is all there and there are no bad apples.
“It is a happy, family club at the moment and has a template that you would not change.”