You know you will receive more money playing at anfield as in the cup they give you half the gate receipts?

Walter:Liverpool had been the team I was hoping for and I can't have any complaints as to how we went out of the competition. I was more surprised that we got as far as we did.

milan05:We should get a fair amount of revenue from playing at Anfield but it still would have been nice for us to have a Premier League team at our home ground instead.

Unlucky loss against Liverpool. It's a brilliant story so far mate, I can't wait for the next update keep it up

2013-09-12 20:52#134699 Radders2109 : Unlucky loss against Liverpool. It's a brilliant story so far mate, I can't wait for the next update keep it up

I never expected to win so can't be disappointed. Thank you for the compliment and I will try and get the updates coming to you more frequently.

How we lost to Hartlepool United I will never know and is certainly a match I will look back on at the end of the season and wonder how they actually beat us. The rest of the month went how the majority of the prior ones went with us winning and winning well, well, at least in the league. We were never going to get past Liverpool even if they played their under 18 team so it was important that we bounced back from that inevitable defeat with two wins to the end the month and we did.

We are still managing to score the goals but I am getting more concerned that we are having a substantial more shots on goal and failing to convert them, which would mean that I would spend less time on the edge of my seat nervously waiting for the final whistle. In order to get back to winning ways after the Liverpool game I stuck with the 5-4-1 formation with the focus on playing on the counter attack. This appeared to work a treat and I am starting to be described as a tinkering genius as teams just cannot predict which formation I will have my side use. I think it is important to have players who are adaptable and can slot into a formation that isn’t there preferred one and I know I have a lot of players who can do this and they are showing their ability in the results they have produced.

Having the lone striker as placed a lot of responsibility on our attacking players, especially as I have felt that Alex Revell is not suited to this lone striker position as he is a target man which I feel works better in our 4-4-2 formation. Instead Nardiello and Obika have been battling it for the first team place with Nardiello claiming the spot and putting in a number of excellent performances. He has done so well I have extended his contract by a year at which point I will let him leave the club.

Player of the Month – Daniel Nardiello

A slight blip in form but still cruising it on top of the league, with only ten games to go you could seal the title soon

2013-09-13 22:54#134786 Walter : A slight blip in form but still cruising it on top of the league, with only ten games to go you could seal the title soon

I think I am going to let them have that one slip up against Hartlepool....as long as it doesn't happen again!

I knew it.. all along I knew you were going to be champions Well done on the title and good luck in League One. What happens if a new job offer comes around? Will you be sticking to the journeyman theme or sticking with Rotheram?

WE'RE GOING UP! WE'RE GOING UP! Great work James, the champions league awaits!!!








Oh sorry league 1...:P

Walter:Only time will tell. I haven't made my decision yet. My thinking at the minute is to stick with Rotherham for another season in order to boost my reputation. I think if I manage to have another good season then I will have a greater chance of getting a job at a higher reputation club.

AaronHJFT96:It is great we are promoted but I am a long way off getting a club into the Champions League.

The title given to this post, “A Disappointing End!” has got to be one of the biggest understatements ever! I just couldn’t believe what I was watching. It was like the team was just falling apart and was quite happy to call themselves champions and not bother for the rest of the season and it has shown in the results. Every single match was so frustrating with the players not stringing passes together, not taking shots on goal and giving the ball away time after time near our own goal.

I am not going to make excuses for the players as they were crap but they were fatigued after what has been a very long season. It was great for us to make it so far in the FA Cup but I do think it hampered our fitness as we were playing more games than any other team in the league. I had to resort at the end of the season to using some of the under 18 players because the first team were so tired. Playing such inexperienced players has shown in the result which has meant the fans had to endure a very disappointing to what has turned out to be a very successful season with Rotherham United.

I have since been offered a new contract from the board of directors to extend my current deal. I didn’t even look at it before deciding to delay my decision until the end of the season. I am sure there will be a lot of managerial casualties and some at higher clubs than my Rotherham side so I will wait just a little bit longer before making my decision.

Player of the Season – Alex Revell: Statistics: Games: 31 Goals: 32

I have since been offered a new contract from the board of directors to extend my current deal. I didn’t even look at it before deciding to delay my decision until the end of the season. I am sure there will be a lot of managerial casualties and some at higher clubs than my Rotherham side so I will wait just a little bit longer before making my decision.

I think you should stay on if you think next year or the year after you could potentially reach the playoffs. I try to stay at a club for a few years until I have maxed there potentially before looking to move on so that I can say I have took them as far as I can.

2013-09-15 19:43#135019 milan05 :

I have since been offered a new contract from the board of directors to extend my current deal. I didn’t even look at it before deciding to delay my decision until the end of the season. I am sure there will be a lot of managerial casualties and some at higher clubs than my Rotherham side so I will wait just a little bit longer before making my decision.

I think you should stay on if you think next year or the year after you could potentially reach the playoffs. I try to stay at a club for a few years until I have maxed there potentially before looking to move on so that I can say I have took them as far as I can.

There are going to be a lot pros and cons to consider. The pros about staying is that if I do well it will boost my reputation which will help me in the future. However, if I stay and do poorly in League One it won't do me any favors in the future. I already have a good understanding with the team, fans and board of directors, who do want me to stay, and that can take a long time to form at a new club.

The main con is that staying could potentially stutter the journeyman element...I guess it would depend on how I do in my second season.

Changes at the Club

The first change that I have enforced is for the pitch to be relayed. I feel that it is important that when the club makes the step up to League One that we go up for a decent pitch for teams to come play on. A fresh surface will help our passing game and allow us to dictate the play how we want it to be played. It is a minor thing but it could end up being an important one.

When I joined Rotherham we weren’t exactly blessed with expert backroom staff and this is something that hasn’t changed. There have been two hindrances that still remain at the end of this League Two season. The first being that Rotherham aren’t exactly the biggest club in world football so can find it hard to attract decent calibre of staff that I feel will contribute anything of significance to the club. Even if I managed to find someone that I wanted to join the club the wage budget is stretched thin so I can’t be offering lucrative deals. Despite this I have managed to add Kenny Black to the backroom staff.


Kenny will bring some average ability ratings to the backroom team but they are much needed ones. It will also allow us to share out the responsibilities in terms of training so that the ratings can be increased in terms of provision. It is very frustrating that we won’t be able to bring anyone else in which means Kenny will be the only addition for the coming season.

There is further frustration that the board of directors cannot provide cash to attract high calibre staff members but they can pay out the money to improve the youth facilities. The facilities will take a few months to improve and it is a good signal of intent from the board that they do want to improve the club. The aim of the facilities is of course is to bring in young talented players who can push for a first team place in seasons to come. It is however going to be a useless investment if we don’t have good enough staff to man the facilities.

Changes to the Team

A lot of players have been allowed to leave the club by the means of not renewing their contracts. The players were just not good enough to play in League One and we would have gone into games and struggled. I don’t intend to go into League One and be pushed over. In order to avoid this happening it was important to bring in new players who want first team action and that is something that I can provide them.

There will be a couple of names that you will notice and you will be aware of their ability. In my first season at Rotherham I had managed to bring in Nacho Huertas from Liverpool last season but due to the mismanagement of the previous manager I could only sign him for three months. The lad scored on his debut but then just didn’t have enough time to make an impact. This time round he has been brought in on loan and the loan will last until the end of the season without him being able to be recalled. He will bring a lot of Spanish flair to the team and he will be desperate to show the Liverpool manager what is capable of on the pitch. I am confident he will be a big player for us this coming season despite his young age.


The Armstrong deal has been one in the pipe line for a long team with us having managed to tie him down on a free transfer from Dundee United a few months ago. He is a great young player who I am sure can do well in League One. He has youth on his side and many years of development ahead of him. The decent amount of game time he will be given will surely increase his already decent ability ratings. With a number of wingers leaving the club it was important to bring someone who could fill the vacant position and I am sure he will do this successfully.

I can’t quite believe that we have managed to sign John Bostock on a free transfer from Spurs. He is a brilliant young English player who has a very bright future ahead of him. He was never going to break into the Spurs first team anytime soon so he was seeking a club that would give him first team football and Rotherham can do that. I am looking forward to him pairing up with Dean Parrett who he played with in the Spurs reserves before Dean signed for us last season. They could be an exciting partnership that could create a lot of goals this coming season.

I do think we have managed to get ourselves a bargain with Souttar joining the club for the reasonable fee of £275k. He is going to have to be patient at the beginning of his time at the club as he is still a young lad who needs to be brought into the team gradually. He has a lot of potential and if he is determined then there is no reason why he can’t grow into a commanding defender and make the right back position his for many years to come. The transfer has taken a big chunk out of the transfer budget but we still had enough to bring in Liam Noble and Elliott Parish.

The loan deals that you see are season long, with the teams not able to recall their players, with us paying no more than 10% for any of the players’ wages. Despite this we have brought in a lot of other players whose contracts we do have to pay for. This has resulted in the club having a negative budget of just over £1k at the moment. I am hoping that the board of directors will bail us out with a cash injection, if not, then the club will continue to lose money on a monthly basis.

Authors Note: I have only shared with you a snippet of the players brought in and if there are any others you want to see the statistics for then please do ask.