After the first few games of the new season, it’s clear and obvious to most of us that something isn’t working. Having read many posts on here and various social networking sites, the feeling seems to be mutual with a lot of people. Of course there are those who may not agree. I just want to summarise a few peoples thoughts, and see what people think. It’s going to be quite long winded, but I would like to know your thoughts. (apologies in advance) if you can still be bothered to read this. The essay begins:
1. Our defence setup isn’t working.
Centre-Back - Danny Collins: is he lacking fitness/playing time,confidence or is he just not up to the quality of the championship anymore? (or something else?) - I personally feel it is the latter. - Greg Halford: the general consensus is that he seems disinterested, lacking leadership qualities, and doesn’t seem to provide the quality promised. - The alternatives: - Farrend Rawson: based on last season when fit, generally the opinion is that he will provide a bit more solidarity. - Richard Wood: Never really given a chance, seems that most would like to at least try him out. - Kirk Broadfoot: having been banned for 10 games, of which 5 have been served, although never seemed to be as solid as the Craig Morgan and Kári Árnason combination, may be a better option going forward? - Tom Thorpe: Once he gets a few more games to get used to the championship level, he has the potential to be the next Kári Árnason. His performances are too on and off at the moment. great potential though. - Do we need anyone else in ?
Left back - Joe Mattock: Seems to be an okay signing just needs to get fully fit, and then we can judge. We should at least give him a chance. -Joe Newell: While Mattock is injured, Newell seems to have done a pretty okay job, playing out of position. However he would appear to be much better going forward and would benefit from being in midfield. -The alternatives: Do we need somebody else in?
Right-back - Lewis Buxton: Seemed to be solid in all the games prior to Fulham, makes good use of the ball going forward, and can certainly put in a cross. -Frazer Richardson: really needs to stop playing left back for a start, has never looked comfortable there. Seems to be an adequate backup for Buxton in the rightback position, but i’m not sure how many would put him ahead of Buxton.
2. Captaincy
- Greg Halford: as mentioned earlier, he has his faults, but predominantly his lack of interest and leadership skills make it clearly obvious that he is not the captain that the club deserves or needs. - The Alternatives: Richard Smallwood: Seems to be very disappointed that he has not been named as captain, and his lack of great performances of late, seem to reflect this. Surely giving him a go as captain, would not only boost his confidence, but I think giving it to a player that the fans know (and most love), the prior players know (and respect), and has always shown qualities associated with a leader. Lee Frecklington: has the leadership skills and similar qualities to Smallwood, but doesn’t get a regular enough run in the team. Matt Derbyshire: displays fairly good leadership skills, but not sure he’d be the first choice for many? Collins: If he improves his form, then could be a potential contender, but he needs to up his game.
3. Players out of position
- Kirk Boadfoot: last season his right back spells, never ever worked. - Chris Maguire: Whilst he is okay on the wing, many people say that they would like to see him as a striker, is he past his best? that remains to be seen. - Bowery: Never looks very comfortable out on the wing, why does Evans keep trying? - Frazer Richardson: as previously mentioned at left back, it just never works.
4. Eric Black
- Lets be honest he doesn’t have great record, most lately Wigan and Blackpool. - I’m not sure any of our build-up play,tactics and technique have improved at all, which is what he was brought in to do. If anything I think many would agree it’s worse.
5. Hoofball
- We seem to be obsessed with route one, every attack seems to be centred around firing it up to whichever is the tallest man upfront, lately Jonson Clarke-Harris, and prior to that Matt Derbyshire, it leaves them an awful lot to do. - We seem to rarely use the wings and there is very little or no build-up play to create space and opportunities. Why? - As said above, this seems to be Eric Blacks doing. I may have worked in lower leagues, but the championship is a whole different story.
6. Comments from Steve Evans
- Evans says a lot of controversial things, we know that, but many of them seem so unprofessional. - Namely: “We couldn't afford Joey Barton's petrol, never mind Joey Barton” - we know we aren’t the richest club in the whole world, but comments like this don’t give us a good image. - We can’t always blame the officials every time we lose. Yes - there have been a few terrible decisions against us, but rarely were they the sole reason why we lost. - He needs to start taking responsibility, especially in front of the press, he has already landed himself in hot water, a few times with poorly worded comments.
7. Goalkeeper
- Kelle Roos: We all know, he has had a few poor games, yes he has made a few great saves, but has conceded a lot of goals, some solely down to him, and some where poor defending is to blame. Whilst he is a nice guy and always tried his best, but Is he good enough for this level? Should we give him more chances or send him back to Derby? - Adam Collin: The Wembley hero, he does tend to be quite solid, but still is prone to conceding save-able goals. - The alternatives: - Should we instead be looking at a new permanent goalkeeper. Maybe one who could cost a fee, and will provide the solidarity we need in goal? There are many great goalkeepers in the league, and others that would be an improvement. - Loan: a young player like Emiliano Martínez from a top team.
8. League targets
- A midtable finish looks very silly now. We all knew it was unrealistic. I still have no idea why Steve Evans and Tony Stewart thought it was. - We all know we will be fighting relegation all season and unless something changes, it may come to be the case. - The debate is still ongoing as to where we will actually finish. - I personally really hope we can turn it around.
9. Facilities
As pointed out by “Millermaniac” there seems to be very little progress on the promises made on the facilities. - New training facility - no progress - Retails units at NYS - no progress - Guest and Chrimes - no progress - Stadium expansion - still waiting on the announcement which was promised weeks ago. - Do we really need to expand the stadium? I personally have never had any trouble buying tickets, its only the really big games where it becomes a big problem. Mainly the problem seems to be space in the away end. - The academy: We should invest more in the academy. yes it will take time to build up a decent academy that produces players good enough for a spot in the first team, years in fact. But we need to start sometime. Now on the more controversial bits.
10. The leavers
- Ben Pringle: there was much controversy surrounding his departure, it seemed to be very poorly handled, first we tried to ship him off to Millwall which frankly sewed the seeds of doubt in his mind, second, we offered him no contract until the very end of last season. He must have felt unappreciated and felt that moving on would be the best thing for him, and frankly by the sounds of it, I don’t really blame him. We lost a quality player and he proved that tonight against us playing for Fulham. - Craig Morgan: We haven’t really filled his shoes, both in terms of his defending and leadership skills. I have a small theory in that he probably wouldn’t have gone, had Pringle stayed; he was good friends with Pringle and must have seen how he was treated. - Kári Árnason: We really haven’t filled his shoes, his defending and partnership with Morgan were what kept us from conceding goal after goal. His delivery into the box from a throw has partially been filled by Halford, but realistically Halford cannot match what we once had. Whilst Champions League football and going to his place of birth (Sweden) most definitely played a part, but the departure of Morgan and most likely Pringle definitely sealed the deal. - Overall: We should have really handled the contract situation so much better, we may still have had some of these players still with us.
11. Finances
- Firstly Evan’s says we can’t compete with other clubs in financial terms (probably partially true), secondly he only recently commented that the club was in a good place and significant funds were available "to do what we want.” Now he's saying "I hope the supporters understand what we are up against but we will keep battling to bring the best to this football club.” - Tony Stewart never says he's looking for additional investors to help share the burden of taking the club forward. I wonder why this is? I also wonder what would happen if he put the club up for sale. Has Tony Stewart has decided he has taken the club as far as he can? - It doesn’t all quite add up: The promotion money from Wembley (significant amount), Sale of Kieran Agard (a fair amount), TV Deals and Rotherham’s share in the deal (significant amount), Stadium name sponsorship (probably a sizeable amount),other sponsorship deals (probably another sizeable amount),Ticket sales,merchandise sales, investment from Tony Stewart (unknown). I’m no accountant, but I don’t think we have spent more than 700k in the last two seasons on transfers and Surely we must have some left over after the running costs and wages. I’m not saying we can spend three million pounds on players, but surely we must have a few hundred thousand to spend on transfers. we can’t be this totally poor club that people make us out to be. - I understand the cautious approach to over-spending on wages and transfers. I certainly want the books to balance, and not end up like the club we were 5 years ago, but we must have some money.
12. Transfers
- I personally feel like we need a new Centre Back, Left Back, Right Winger, Striker, and an attacking minded central midfielder. (I know some will disagree, but why?) - Wages: Surely slightly breaking the very rigid wage structure for that one or two quality players would be worth it, - I still haven’t forgiven them for not signing Dicko, he frankly would have been worth two players wages, he had everything you need Pace, Finishing,dribbling,heading ability, it was only our rigid wage structure that stopped us. Look at him now. I’m not saying go way overboard, but surely some players must be worth it. Wages should also be confidential, for all you worried about other players feeling aggrieved about players getting more than them. - Why don’t we ever look at foreign markets, there are so many great players in other countries that would add much to our team, and many would be cheaper than their equivalents in England or Scotland, other clubs do it, why can’t we?
13.Rumor-mill
leading on from transfers. - Callum McGregor: still no news about him, seems like the attacking minded midfielder we need going forward. - Elusive premier league loan signing ? no news on him either. Could it have been Tom Lawrence who has now gone to Blackburn ?
14. The manager
Whilst Steve Evans has done much for our club, we will never forget what we have achieved. Is it time to start lining up replacements? - Is he out of his depth? - I think possibly, his style of management and play seems to suit the lower leagues better. - Do we need a breath of fresh air? - I think a new manager could be so positive for the club, something new, gives the players motivation to try and impress, gives the fans someone new to cheer for, and allows us different tactics. - what would be the advantages of keeping him? - good question, anyone have any reply? - Tony Stewart seems to be reluctant to sanction pricey transfer deals, after last season’s ones mostly haven’t worked out. does he still trust Evans with Money? - Who would replace him? - good question also, I feel that there are a few managers around who would very much like the opportunity. We have a great stadium, great fans, mostly great players, a great atmosphere, and lets be honest Rotherham isn’t all that bad. Not to mention that some managers would be up for a fresh challenge.
15. The 12th man
- As we know Rotherham has great fans, who tend to be more loyal than most. We all have a good laugh whether we are at home or away, and even as one of the smaller teams, we can create a great atmosphere in most stadiums. - However there have been so many negative posts recently, about how the team is terrible and how we are going to get relagated. This is not the message we should be giving across to the players, other fans and people external to the club. Surely it would be better to accept that we need a few changes, and then try and be as positive about the new season as possible? We may as well try our best to help the team do the best they can, if we stay up then great, if not then is league one really the end of the world?
If you took the time to read this then thanks.
I'd appreciate any thoughts or comments, whether you agree or disagree.
It will have been worth it, if i get even 1 comment.
What a first post, well done!! Points excellently put & thought provoking. I personally think that if we persist with the current management structure we are certainties for the drop & the lift of having someone else in charge with their own way of doing things is possibly the only thing that will save us...................welcome mate!!!!
A very interesting post, well thought out and, more importantly, balanced. Can't disagree with anything you say, indeed we were talking on the way to yesterday's game about our current plight, if that's what this is.
I think that TS needs to decide which way the club goes from here on in. Having seen all the home games to date, it's very apparent that the current crop of players aren't good enough to keep us in this league, where money determines who shall have success and who will ultimately fail. Do we simply carry on as we are doing and accept that we shall, barring some miracle, be relegated back from whence we came?
I have no problem with this as I think that we would more than hold our own in League One. Of course attendances will dip but not as dramatically as some might imagine. We have steadily built up a solid hardcore support of over 6,000, which I believe will stick with the club no matter which division we are in. Numbers of travelling fans will certainly reduce, losing the likes of Wolves, Middlesbrough and Derby and replacing them with Rochdale, Crewe and Fleetwood will have an effect.
It seems to me that we are unable to attract the quality of players that would enable us to make a better fist of competing in the Championship given our current financial restrictions. We are told that the club is now on a sound financial footing and to push the boat out and spend what we haven't got would appear to jeopardise this. Nobody wants the return of those dark days of administration.
Recent revelations that our wages for last season amounted to £4.8 million demonstrates what a marvellous job SE did to keep us in the division. Compare this to Fulham who's wage bill was in excess of £60 million!
This season looks something of a bridge too far even for SE and without a major rethink on funds for players we are surely destined to be relegated.
Is it better to compete in the top half of League One or to face season after season of struggle in the Championship? We are playing in, what is effectively Premiership 2, a league where money is the overriding factor in who is successful. Results are becoming predictable, pundits tell us otherwise, a league where any team can beat any team?
The next few months will be interesting to say the least.
Fantastic post, and closely mirrors my views on current Millers affairs.
1) It's making the best of what you've got after your stubbornness to not offer your Captain and one of the top performers from last term a 2 year deal. For me it should be Buxton Rawson Wood Mattock with Collin in the net. I believe we need a leftback as I don't think Mattock is good enough for this level.
2) No-one displays clear leadership other than Smallwood but it would have to be him. Though his performances have been dire so far so he'd have to up his game a lot to lead by example.
3) Agreed. Don't play them out of position, particularly when they're not good players anyway. For example, if Richardson has been abysmal at right back (his true position) what makes anyone think he'll be better out of position? If we'd invested in youth, we could've had youth to step in.
4) You can see what he does. Banks of 4 when defending. It just makes us rigid and predictable and nullifies any possible threat of a counter. So it leads to hoofball, it looks bad, we look a dire outfit and we lose. How he got a job after his two previous employment stint beggars belief and substantiates that Mr Stewart doesn't understand football whatsoever (despite being a very good Chairman).
5) I agree. See point 4. It's the cowards' way out.
6) He should have to incur the fines he incurs. Great for a quip in the press when we win, sounds a mardy cretin when we lose and it angers the fans when a lot of the time he'll blame the ref rather than shoulder the blame himself.
7) I actually think Collin is ok. Not the best at this level, but steady enough. Roos was a calamity. He lost confidence after a mistake against MK and got progressively worse. That's not what you want from a keeper, you need a safe pair of hands guarding your goal.
8) Agree they were silly, or just more soundbites for the fans. Survival now looks a struggle, but it's a long season and I wouldn't bet against Evans getting us out of it somehow, no matter how unlikely it looks right now.
9) My biggest bone of contention. How on earth can we ever expect to sustainably compete at this level without improving the infrastructure? Otherwise we'll only ever be firefighting.
10) Big losses, and Evans' extreme paranoia/falling out with players has hampered us. We need stability, not erratic decision making.
11) Mixed messages. When they need money pre-season via season ticket sales, they suggest we're ambitious and progressive, when we're into the season they tell us to get real once we've parted cash. It isn't good enough. A communications strategy should be a considered. But from memory, if it's the same individual, the person in charge of that is an idiotic buffoon who probably couldn't string a coherent sentence together if his life depended on it.
12) Our scouting consists of Evans' brother bringing dross back from Morton. Even the top players in Scotland are pretty dire. Pretty sure Conor Sammon was prolific for Kilmarnock. I think that testifies what it needs to. Again, not geared up to be at this level. Where did Brentford find Jota? Smaller club than us, though better backed.
13) It was Tom Lawrence, but there are plenty of good players in the Premiership wanting to make a name for themselves, it's about finding them and nourishing them. Grant Ward had a bad game and we dropped him. He came back against QPR and had a good game, and we dropped him. What message is that sending out?
14) Evans has a proven tactic. Spend the most in the division and shout to motivate players better than the level they're playing it and to perform to their ability and be better than the opposition. When the boot's on the other foot, we're devoid of any tactical nouse. One trick pony? This season is the acid test. So far failing, there's still time.
Alternatives? Loads. Young managers with good pedigree, experienced managers looking at getting back into work. Good Chairman, nice ground, supportive crowd. We need to stop being self deprecating. We're a decent prospect nowadays. For example, I'm sure we'd be able to entice Hasselbaink from Burton Albion.
15) Like all clubs, we have a few gobsh#tes that think their opinion (despite only seemingly being able to be expressed in expletives) is the be all and end all. And they're not afraid at publicly humiliating themselves loudly and aggressively from what I've seen (all ale-backed, no doubt). On the whole though, we're a fair bunch. We get behind them when they deserved it. They were clapped off for their comeback efforts vs QPR despite some horrendous decision-making and defending. Looking hapless and disinterested won't wash with an honest, working-class support group. The fans have tried, now it's the players' turn to give the fans something to get behind.
