FM2009: Rotherham United F.C Thread

Some Info

Rotherham United Football Club (also known as 'The Millers') are an English professional football club temporarily based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, who currently compete in Football League's fourth tier, League Two.

The club's colours have traditionally been red and white, although these have evolved through history. Their current home strip is red and white, their away kit is yellow with black trim.

The Millers played all their home games at Millmoor from 1907-2008, but have moved to the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield for the start of the 2008–09 season, whilst a community stadium in Rotherham is built.

The club have spent the majority of their history in the Football League's third tier, though their most recent success came in the early 2000s when they found themselves competing in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. Since that time, Rotherham has struggled with finances, entering into administration twice in as many years. Rotherham United are therefore one of three teams to start the 2008/09 League Two season on negative points, being deducted 17 points by the Football League.

History

The club traces its roots back to 1870. The club was formed as Thornhill United. For many years the leading team in the area was Rotherham Town F.C., who spent three seasons in the Football League while Thornhill United were still playing in the Sheffield & Hallamshire League. By the turn of the century, however, Rotherham Town had resigned from the Football League and briefly gone out of business before joining the Midland League. Meanwhile, Thornhill's fortunes were on the rise to the extent that in 1905 they laid claim to being the pre-eminent club in the town and changed their name to Rotherham County For a period both clubs competed in the Midland League, finishing first and second in 1911-12. When the Great War ended, it was decided to extend The Football League by creating four new places in Division Two. Rotherham County, who had been champions of the Midland League in 1915 before the competition was suspended, were elected to one of the vacancies.

The Second Division was rather too tough for the Yorkshire side and in 1923 they were relegated to Division Three (North). In 1925 the club finished bottom and had to apply for re-election. Rotherham Town were themselves struggling and it was clear that to have two professional clubs in the town was not sustainable. Talks had begun in February 1925 and in early May the two clubs merged to form Rotherham United. Days later the reformed club was formally re-elected under its new name.

In a new amber and black strip, United may have begun with optimism but the new club fared little better than the old one. The now familiar red and white was adopted around 1928 but there was no improvement in the club's fortunes: in 1931 they again had to apply for re-election. Immediately after the Second World War things looked up. After adopting Arsenal-style white sleeved shirts, United finished as runners-up three time in succession between 1947 and 1949 and then were champions of Division Three (North) in 1951.

Rotherham reached their highest ever league position of third in the Football League Second Division in 1955, when only goal average denied them a place in the top flight after they finished level on points with champions Birmingham City and runners-up Luton Town.

The club held on to its place in Division Two until 1968 and then went into a decline that took them down to Division Four in 1973. In 1975 they were promoted back to the Third Division winning the championship.

The Millers won the division three title in 1981. Not only did the Millers pip one of their neighbours, Barnsley, to the championship but the double they recorded over Sheffield United helped send them tumbling into the fourth division.

In 1981-82, Rotherham were once again in contention for promotion to the top flight but eventually finished 7th, some 4 points off 3rd place. After a poor start the club had occupied a relegation place at the end of January before embarking on a club record winning spree of nine games which saw them rapidly climb the table.

The highlights of this campaign were undoubtedly their two meetings with Chelsea. Firstly the Millers thrashed the Londoners 6-0 at Millmoor before triumphing 4-1 at Stamford Bridge in the return in front of just 11,900 fans.

This exciting but ageing team, which included the attacking talents of John Seasman, Tony Towner, Rodney Fern and Ronnie Moore could not maintain this level of performance, however, although it was something of a surprise to see them relegated again the very next year.

By 1988, United were again in Division Four but won the Division title at the first attempt. During the 1990s Rotherham were promoted and relegated between the lowest two divisions with some regularity, winning the Football League Trophy final at Wembley in 1996.

The Championship years

The most successful manager to take charge of Rotherham United in recent years is Ronnie Moore, a former player of the club. His first season ended in a mid table finish and his second in a playoff defeat, but it was third time lucky in 1999-2000 when Rotherham finished as Division Three runners-up and gained promotion to Division Two. They were favourites to be relegated in 2000-01, but surprised all the observers by finishing runners-up in Division Two and gaining a second successive promotion. During this highly successful campaign, Rotherham also surprised critics by comfortably beating Premiership side Southampton in the FA Cup.

Rotherham remained in Division One (later renamed the Football League Championship) for four seasons, their most successful of which was the 2002/03 campaign. The Millers were in contention for a play-off place, however a last minute blip in form led them to finish 15th in the league, their lowest position all season. The following season, the Millers sold danger man Alan Lee to Cardiff City, and struggled without the Irish international's goals, finishing a disappointing 17th. However, the Millers once again surprised all critics by drawing 1-1 with Arsenal in the League Cup. A disastrous 2004-05 season, finally saw Rotherham relegated from the Championship. Ronnie Moore resigned during the relegation campaign, which saw Rotherham rooted to the foot of the division virtually all season long.

2006 financial troubles

Mick Harford took over as Millers manager and made a promising start to their first season in League One. However, after a run of 17 games without a win, Harford was relieved of his managerial duties, replaced by former Wales international Alan Knill. Early in 2006 it was announced that the club faced an uncertain future unless a funding gap in the region of £140,000 per month could be plugged. The problem was compounded as Rotherham did not own their ground (Ken Booth took ownership of Millmoor in return for clearing £3m of debt), and had no tangible assets - as a result administration would not be a viable option for them, as it has been for other clubs. This led to the launch of a "Save Our Millers" campaign, aiming to raise the £1m needed to complete the season. It was also estimated that another £1m was required to complete work on the new stand.

Rotherham's South Yorkshire neighbours offered their support. Sheffield United paid the wages of Stephen Quinn and Jonathan Forte during their successful loan spells at Millmoor, and also donated profits from the beam-back of the Sheffield derby on 18 February to Save The Millers. Many local clubs also held collections.

An eleventh hour intervention by a consortium of local businessmen offering substantial investment and a new business plan averted a possible dissolution of the club. Dennis Coleman took over as Rotherham United chairman, and made an immediate positive impact.[1]

The final match of the 2005-06 season, home to MK Dons, was a winner-take-all relegation showdown. A scoreless draw, combined with a Hartlepool United draw with Port Vale, kept Rotherham up and consigned both MK Dons and Hartlepool to the drop. However, Rotherham were to start the following season with a penalty of minus 10 points as a result of their financial troubles.

The Manager

Mark Robins

After a spell of three wins in six games while in charge as caretaker manager, and moving the club off the bottom of League One, Robins position was made permanent on 6 April 2007. Despite good results against league high-flyers Blackpool, and Nottingham Forest, Rotherham were ultimately relegated from League One at the hands of play-off hopefuls Carlisle United. After a rather disappointing end to the season, which saw four consecutive defeats for the millers, Mark Robins began a major overhaul of his playing staff.

The millers spent the majority of the 2007/08 season in the automatic promotion places, winning eight consecutive league matches towards the end of the year. However, in mid-March 2008 it was revealed that Rotherham had again entered administration and would be deducted 10 points. This clearly dented the players' morale, and Rotherham's form dipped considerably. Despite returning to their earlier table-topping form towards the end of the season, this was not enough to overcome the 10 point deduction and the poor run of form which coincided. This resulted in the millers finishing a rather disappointing ninth place in the league.

At the start of May, it was revealed that local businessman Tony Stewart was to take over as Chairman and Club Owner, but was advised not to exit administration via a CVA, meaning a possible points deduction for the following season. On 6 August, just three days before the start of the season, the Football League threatened to block Rotherham (as well as Bournemouth) from participating in League Two for the 2008-09 season, because the club had not yet exited administration or completed the process of transferring ownership. Complicating matters was the league's demand for a £750,000 bond for them to play at Don Valley instead of Millmoor. The Football League ruled that accepting the 17-point deduction would be a condition the team must obey to be eligible to play, which was accepted.

Rotherham made a very impressive start to the League Two football season, winning seven games in eleven by the start of October. If that were not enough to raise the spirits, three Carling Cup wins over Championship opposition (one over local rivals Sheffield Wednesday) have served to slice through the despond that has settled over the club for so long.

"We've suffered together," explains the Millers' Supporters Trust chairman Mark Thomas. "There's a great camaraderie between the fans and the players. A real buzz." An us-against-the-world mentality prevails.

Club Staff

Board members

Chairman: Tony Stewart.

Directors:Terry Stewart, Julie Hunt, Karen Thomas.

Chief Operating Officer: Paul Douglas.

Team management

Manager: Mark Robins

Assistant Manager: John Breckin

Other Staff

GK Coach - Simon Tracey

Fitness Coach - Nick Daws

Youth Coach - Steve Thornber

Physios - Ian Bailey & Dennie Circuit

Scouts - Alan Crawford & Tim Henderson

Players

1 Andy Warrington - Goalkeeper *

2 Dale Tonge - Midfielder

3 Mark Lynch - Defender

5 Ian Sharps - Defender *

6 Nick Fenton - Defender

7 Michael Cummins - Midfielder

8 Peter Holmes - Midfielder

9 Mark Burchill - Striker

10 Mark Hudson - Midfielder *

11 Stephen Brogan - Defender/Midfielder *

12 Marc Joseph - Defender

14 Andy Todd - Midfielder (Loan to Eastwood Town)

15 Alex Rhodes - Striker

16 Jamie Yates - Striker

17 Marc Newsham - Striker (Loan to Ilkeston Town)

18 David Haggerty - Defender (Loan to Ilkeston Town)

19 Jamie Green - Defender

20 Ryan Taylor - Striker

21 Tom Cahill - Striker (Loan to Ilkeston Town)

22 Drewe Broughton - Striker

23 Reuben Reid - Striker *

24 Andrew Nicholas - Defender

25 Pablo Mills - Defender *

26 Omar Garcia - Striker

27 Jamie Clarke - Striker

28 Jason Taylor - Midfielder

29 Richard Barker - Striker *

30 Steven Cann - Goalkeeper

* = top players on the game.

Finances

Estimated Value: £1.6M

Loan Debt: £0

Balance: 386k

Transfer Budget: £10,000

Remaining Wage Budget: £1-1.5k

Stadium and Training

Ground: Don Valley

Capacity: 25000

Season Ticket Holders: 2500

Average Ticket Price: £16

Average Season Ticket Price: £280

Training Facilities: Good Training Facilities

Youth Facilities: Good Youth Facilities + Youth Academy

Need some help?

Well here i can give you a few tips on who to sell, sign and what formation to use ect.

Transfers

This time on the new patch(9.3) a few players are improved such as Brogan, Fenton, Reid, Cummins, Harrison & Sharps so i would keep an hold of those, Aswell as keeping hold of Hudson, Warrington, Mills, Barker and Jason Taylor. Keep an eye on Jamie Green he can become a brilliant Left back in the future.

All of the other players you have should be considered to be sold as they are not good enough for league 2. I'll look to bring in a new keeper, RB, LB, RW, LW, ST.

You can usually get Manchester united as a parent club on this update now or any other premier league team will do good. Bringing in loans is vital as i'd suggest you doing that to save some wages. Loading up players from France, Reuinion, Holland, Poland, Sweden, Bolivia, Peru is a suggestion don't need to load all of them but thats where most of the gems are from and most come on a free.

It should not be a problem staying up this season and next season you can look to be going for the automatic promotions right away.

Team to play

This is the team i'd play using a 4-4-2:

Warrington

Tonge -- Mills -- Sharps -- Nicholas

Yates -- Hudson -- J.Taylor -- Rhodes(replace when brogan is back)

Reid -- Barker.

I hope this is enough information for you and i hope i have persuaded you to start as the mighty millers to take us back to where we belong.

Good luck!

just out of interest how good is garcia as he looked quality on saturday

Great Starter of the thread well done

He aint as good as i ''would'' have put him. As some of the players which we signed in the summer wasn't on the list for me to update so they couldn't be made better.

But overall it's still a good team.

Is anyone considering starting as the mighty millers on the full version?

So far so good in my season with the millers.

Managed to sign top players for this division with ease and filled the places i needed easy.

Ins:

Peter sweeney signed on loan from leeds and will be cover for Brogan when he is back from injury.

Jack Collison signs on loan from West ham to help out with the midfield problem.

Marvin Andrews signs to pair up with Mills at the back, Hadji signs on a free aswell to take over Todd's place at RW & Stuart fleetwood adds more attacking force at upfront along side Richie Barker.

I also have 2 Peruvians coming on the 1st Jan: Rebosio(will adapt to a RB and be used instead of Tonge) Cevasco(In the midfield but don't know where to put him as of yet)

Outs:

Reuben Reid, Ryan Taylor & Jamie Yates loaned out to my feeder Burton Albion.

Steven Cann & Tom Cahill to my other feeder Matlock town.

Omar Garcia out on loan to Wrexham & Pater Holmes was sold for 5k to Chester.

Doing well in the season so far I've just entered September and i am still in the Carling cup. Won Norwich 1-0 away and suprisingly won Birmingham away 1-0 aswell which has me to play Fulham at home in the next round.

Leagues going well too. Unbeaten in 3 leagues games(thats all we played) and 2 wins a draw.

Could not have asked for a better start.. Bradford in the league next at home then we have leeds in the JPT Away.

So far so good in my season with the millers.

Managed to sign top players for this division with ease and filled the places i needed easy.

Ins:

Peter sweeney signed on loan from leeds and will be cover for Brogan when he is back from injury.

Jack Collison signs on loan from West ham to help out with the midfield problem.

Marvin Andrews signs to pair up with Mills at the back, Hadji signs on a free aswell to take over Todd's place at RW & Stuart fleetwood adds more attacking force at upfront along side Richie Barker.

I also have 2 Peruvians coming on the 1st Jan: Rebosio(will adapt to a RB and be used instead of Tonge) Cevasco(In the midfield but don't know where to put him as of yet)

Outs:

Reuben Reid, Ryan Taylor & Jamie Yates loaned out to my feeder Burton Albion.

Steven Cann & Tom Cahill to my other feeder Matlock town.

Omar Garcia out on loan to Wrexham & Pater Holmes was sold for 5k to Chester.

Doing well in the season so far I've just entered September and i am still in the Carling cup. Won Norwich 1-0 away and suprisingly won Birmingham away 1-0 aswell which has me to play Fulham at home in the next round.

Leagues going well too. Unbeaten in 3 leagues games(thats all we played) and 2 wins a draw.

Could not have asked for a better start.. Bradford in the league next at home then we have leeds in the JPT Away.

Sounds very similar to my start!

In

Fabio (Man UTd) - season loan

Henri Lansbury (Arsenal) - season loan

Jay Simpson (Arsenal ) - season loan

Sam Hewson (Man Utd) - season loan

Seyfo Soley (unattached) - free EXCELLENT DM

Brian Murphy (Bohemians) - 8k - AWESOME KEEPER

Freddy Sears (West Ham) - 3 months loan

Richard Eckersley (Man Utd) - 3 months loan

Rhys Murphy (Arsenal) - 3 months loan

Barry Bannan (Aston Villa) - 3 months loan

Miguel Cevasco - arriving on a free in Jan

Miguel Rebosio - arriving on a free in Jan

Out

Danny Harrison - 20k

Marc Joseph - 14k

Jamie Yates - 6k

Dale Tonge - 5k

Andy Warrington - 35k

Peter Holmes - Free

I have everyone apart from Pablo, Sharps, Hudson, Brogan and Burchill for sale but no-one wants any of them

Results so far

3 wins and 1 draw from 4 games in the league

Lost 2-0 to the Pikeys in the League cup

Am just starting Season 2 so here's an update:

Season 1

Won the league by a mile despite starting on -17.

1st place with 94 points. 34 wins, 9 losses, 3 defeats, GD of +60. 8 points clear of Bradford. Would have won by 25 points if not for the minus 17!!

There were 2 keys to this success:

(1) it is REALLY easy to get top youngsters on loans from top premiership sides. You dont need to offer any wage contribution. Get 4 top youngsters on season long loans and then get a few more on 3 month loans. When their loans run out, loan a few more to replace them (you can only have each player for 3 month if not on a long term loan). This means you can sell most of the players you start with to raise funds - there is no point having squad players - just fill the squad up with loanees. The best ones I loaned were Sears from West Ham and Waghorn from Sunderland - wished I'd had them all season rather than for 3 months.

(2) the Lower League Legends threads contains some real diamonds. Brian Murphy is as amazing goalie and Cevasco from Peru an excellent MC. These guys really anchored the team

Of teh original Rotherham squad, the best player by miles is Pablo Mills. The only other ones I would keep are Hudson, Lynch, Nicholas, Sharps and maybe Reid. All of th rest should be sols immediately IMO

transfer in

Fabio (Man UTd) - season loan

Henri Lansbury (Arsenal) - season loan

Jay Simpson (Arsenal ) - season loan

Sam Hewson (Man Utd) - season loan

Seyfo Soley (unattached) - free

Brian Murphy (Bohemians) - 8k -

Freddy Sears (West Ham) - 3 months loan

Richard Eckersley (Man Utd) - 3 months loan

Rhys Murphy (Arsenal) - 3 months loan

Barry Bannan (Aston Villa) - 3 months loan

Harry Forester (Villa) - 3 months loan

Lee Sawyer (Chelsea) - 3 months loan

Andy Carroll (Newcastle) - 3 months loan

Martyn Waghron (Sunderland) - 3 month loan

Corry Evans (Man U) - 3 month loan

Tomasz Kupisz (Wigan) - 3 month loan

Fraser Forster (Newcastle) - 3 month loan

Tony Kane (Blackburn) - 3 month loan

Miguel Rebosio - free in Jan

Miguel Cevasco - free in Jan

Rhys Murphy (Arsenal) - 3 month loan

Jay emmanuel-Thomas (Arsenal) - 3 mont hloan

Tom Cleverley (Man U) - 3 month loan

Ronald Huth (Liverpool) - 3 month loan

Gilles Sunu (Arsenal) - 3 month loan

players out

Danny Harrison - 20k

Marc Joseph - 14k

Jamie Yates - 6k

Dale Tonge - 5k

Andy Warrington - 35k

Peter Holmes - Free

Andy Todd - Free

Ryan Taylor - 2k

Season 2

Had a very active close season. There are lots of quality players available on frees so you have to take the time to scout them properly to pick up the gems. Board gave me basically no money to spend but got some cash from selling Pablo to Barnsley. Again, I used teh loan market heavily

transfer in

Richard Duffy (portsmouth) - free SUPERB RB

Kevin Kyle (covenrty) - free

Scott Golbourne (Reading) - free

Arnau (sunderland) - free EXCELLENT MC

Jake Thomson (sounthampton) - free VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS KID

Ian Walker (Nantes) - free

Sadick Adams (At Madrid) - 30k

Vaclav Kadlec (Sparta Prague) - free LOOKS FANTASTIC

Umara Bangura (Ilkeborg) - 55K

Henri Lansbury (Arsenal) - season loan

Jay Simpson (Arsenal ) - season loan

Mikel San Jose (liverpool) - season loan

Rhys Murply (Arsenal) season loan

Keith Treacy (Blackburn) - 3 month loan)

Sam Hutchinson (Chelsea) - 3 month loan

Pedro (Arsenal) - 3 month loan

Jean Yves M'voto (Sunderland) - 3 month loan

transfer out

Jamie Green free

Steve Cann - 2k

Michael Cummins - free

Tom Cahill - 1k

Marc Newsham - free

Mark Lynch - 20k

Ian Sharps - 60k

Mark Burchill - free

Nick Fenton - free

Pablo Mills - 250k

Andrew Nicholas - 12k

Reuben Reid - 28k

Omar Garcia - free

Alex Rhodes - free

Also got rid of all the reserves and youth on free transfers

Best team is: Murphy, Duffy, Golbourne, San Jose, M'voto, Treacy, Arnau, Cevasco, Thomson, Kyle, Kadlec

After 7 games in League 1 I have won 5 and drawn 2 - am 2nd in the table to Coventry. Championship here we come...

Bump!

Thread is now updated to the 9.3 patch

Hey guys im a Hartlepool fan just wanted to know how is our old boy Richie Barker on the game? Hope he is banging in the goals to keep you guys up

On FM he is good, If you are on about in real life then no he is injured and don't think he will be playing again this season

HAHA, does he get plenty in the game?

I've just started a new save and played no games i am just sorting out the side.. But i've seen him score quite a few on previous saves.

Right taking on advice on everyone ive decided to test myself and take on the challange of Rotherham will keep updates if anyone is interrested ! im not use to the lower leagues so it should be fun.

im going to be playing a tweaked 442 version at home and a tweaked 451 away

anyone recommend any signings playing on english league only with a medium database and the retain pack.

lets hope i dont get them relageted

I'll be interested on how you go on.

Just try and get a parent club and loans. Maybe just look at the free transfer list and take a few on which you think will do the job. If you read the Transfers bit on the OP then it'll tell you what you need in what positions.

Hope that helps

Very Good guide Craig

Ive just started my first 9.3 career as Rotherham Utd and just discovered your guide...which is a big help as i assess my squad, first impressions are good and it has a good solid base to build on with the 2 centre backs.....most positions are covered and the quality seems decent for L2, its my first crack with a L2 side, usually manage in the championship.....so i am looking forward to the challenge, i will keep you posted on how things go.

Has anyone out there done well with the millers?

Has anyone out there done well with the millers?

Yes. Finished 4th season 1, went undefeated season 2. In 3rd season.