There's lots of talk around at the moment about our chances of surviving in the Championship should we be promoted through the play offs this season. Many people place the responsibility for our survival firmly at the door of Tony Stewart - perhaps understandably. But isn't there a wider, more collective responsibility that we all share?
From my rather ill-informed position, I see Tony Stewart as a successful local businessman who has chosen to invest some of his not overly massive wealth in our football club and in effect he saved us from the knackers yard. He is, by his own admission, not a football guru and in the past he has been carried away by the heady successes of two successive promotions - but how many of us weren't? Having now experienced the highs and lows of Rotherham United, the incessant managerial merri-go-round, the endless bureaucracy of English Heritage and the unscrupulous footballers and their agents who seek out the most generous benefactor, he is perhaps a bit more composed, reasoned and level-headed in his ambitions and expectations for our club. He is, in fact, becoming a Millers realist.
The requirements expected of him, if we are to establish a Championship standard club, are enormous. From infrastructure improvements, to youth academy, to ground extension, not to mention eye watering transfer fees and wage bills, it must seem like an incredibly high risk proposition, particularly because he hasn't got the bottomless pockets of some of his Chairmen contemporaries. The alternative of bringing in additional investment carries its own risks and he will have seen the damage that some investors have done to well established clubs.
So to the collective responsibility. How many of us buy our tickets and, on the basis of that investment, expect to be entertained and feel the right to suggest/dictate/demand the way the club should be run? How many have tried to boost the success of the club by persuading others to come along and watch, or purchased a season ticket, or purchased something from the Red and White shop, or done anything remotely similar to that which we expect of TS but perhaps on a much lesser scale? Until we can put our hands on our hearts and unashamedly admit that we have just as much risk riding on the success of Rotherham United that TS has, I think we should all give him the benefit of our support and attempt to understand his dilemma.
All this means is that we're in this thing together - some with much more to lose than others. If TS decides that he is willing to invest X amount in new players for the Championship campaign, then that should be respected. Whether his decisions result in us going up, staying up or going down, until we are prepared to put our own wealth on the line for the success of RUFC, we should be grateful that at least one of us is. For us bit-part-players in the Millers, we should do what we can in terms of supporting the club, enjoying the highs and forgetting but learning from the lows. If we go up and come straight back down, look upon it as a roller coaster ride with some great highs but also some inevitable lows. Unless someone out there as a few mill in the bank which they don't mind risking on an outside bet?!
By the way, this is not a TS love-in, I'm just putting an opinion forward which might not have been considered previously.
The first point I’d make is that, as a Business, being in the Championship presents an opportunity for better revenue, like any promotion up the leagues. That’s why I always say no team ‘doesn’t want promotion’, it doesn’t make any business sense to say otherwise.
There are some things though that we should reasonably expect from TS based on him being a successful businessman regardless of his football knowledge. Firstly, learning from mistakes is a business management skill, not confined to football. In this respect, myself and many have been disappointed with the repeated issues in the few seasons we were in the Championship last time.
We could point at many issues, but not making enough risk versus reward choices on playing staff was one (this applies to any business), and not recognising that some of the staff he had, in particular around contracts and signings, were not up to the task, was another. Over promising and not backing those promises up was another.
That’s not to say that now he hasn’t learned some of those lessons – he has been unusually quiet this season. I’m taking that as a good sign in that he is thinking through what comes next rather than knee jerk reaction.
I actually think, that if we are lucky enough to go up, we might well do better this time, on the basis that (assuming Warne stays) the manager has based his success so far on making small changes to the squad and getting the team to play for the shirt. I would not see us signing any major ‘expensive’ signings if we go up, just enough to build on the core squad to give us a chance of winning enough in our first season to stay up, then build from there….
Also, we have not ‘bought’ our way out of league 1. Warney needs to take some credit in this – so I would assume we would be in a better starting position if we go up, with modest funds available, not having to ‘pay off’ what we’ve used to get up.
The points you make about joint responsibility work both ways… if the team is successful, more fans will support the club financially. Therefore the Chairman, in the end, has to create a successful club/business model to get the support he needs.
So, I’m optimistic, but think the success this time needs to be down to common business sense rather than anything else, so in the end that’s where the responsibility in my view, does still sit with TS.
Obviously these are just my views, in the end, I’m a lifelong fan that just wants our club to be as successful as possible.
-- Edited by Davidedin on Thursday 22nd of March 2018 09:33:35 PM
Two cracking good letters from proper Millers fans.Once a Miller always a Miller and I can proudly say that, along the years that have gone by, I have not regretted it at all.Yes we have had bad times but walking up to the stadium now makes you feel so good.I am sure TS will have learned a lot from the last time we went up.That team was a lot older than the squad of players we have now and whereas a lot of those players under Evans were on the downward slope,these youngsters under Warney are still improving and more to come.Doubts were expressed on the appointment of PW,a little similar to the unpopular SE appointment but he did take us up twice.However he could not take us any further but PW seems to have a very refreshing way of management, that is getting the best out of a young and hungry squad.There are a lot of parallels with what SUFC did last year and also to what Millwall have done.There is no reason why we cannot win the play-offs and emulate what these two clubs have done.UTM.
TS has he learned from past mistakes? Paul Douglas? Head of recruitment to me next to useless. I like the idea but somebody who isn't just sat in front of a computer. I lv our Tone but be same next season whatever league we're in. Before anybody says anything I'm a lifelong supporter. I'll be in for my season ticket as soon as they come out. Counting weeks in the summer till the new season starts.
if we do go up i expect 4 signings gk defender midfielder and a striker as a minimum and that just to replace the loans
I would like to think Tony has learned from his mistakes, he must do as he has a successful business portfolio
Today a lot of football scouting is now done by checking a players game time statistics which is obviously going to be computer based. this has the bonus of reducing the number scouts needed and unnecessary travelling as previously required.As we are a medium to small club i would say that using a head of recruitment utilizing this system is the best use of resources.So what if he lives in Salisbury.
With today's technology you can have meetings online with people all over the UK and beyond from the luxury of your own home if you wanted. This means that more time can then be focused on the targets that have been identified for the scout to go and watch and get the human perspective on that player that could be missed by stats.
i think this time we will be better prepared if we get promoted but it will be harder to compete with the teams relegated from the prem with the totally unfair parachute payments
I discussed this on another thread, but football is a commercial product and you have the responsibility of offering a product people want to consume. Get the product right and the people will buy it. We don't see the books so can't have speculative conversations about how much TS does or doesn't spend on the club. We do know he doesn't let it own it's own stadium.
There is a lot of nonsense that does the rounds about Tony Stewart. He is smart enough to use the best ownership structures to maximise his investment in the stadium and he gets accused of being up to no good, and some people seriously suggest that he doesn't want us to go up. I don't believe a word of it. One thing that is for sure is that there are plenty of other ways that the bloke could have chosen to invest or spend his money. I get suspicious about the motives of absentee foreign owners, but as far as Tony Stewart is concerned I buy into him 100%. I think with him what you see is what you get.
If I am critical of him at all it is that he has over-promised, probably through his own sense of ambition and as someone who in business sees that hard work over the years has delivered results. Unfortunately football isn't like other businesses. Our supporters are no different to supporters at other clubs. They look no further back than the last result and no further forward than the next game. They are not patient. Witness the Rochdale game when there were actually people heckling Warne and the players as a fourteen match unbeaten run came to an end. What I am saying is that supporters already have unrealistic ambitions, and fuelling them with talk of Premiership, top half of Championship, top five budget etc is just fuel on a fire.
Be in no doubt though, I really do pinch myself every time I go through the gangway and into the arena. Where we are and what we have compared to where we have come from is a world apart, and pretty much down to Tony Stewart alone and his vision and courage. Of course mistakes have been made along the way. That is inevitable. But we are not in a bad place at all. If we don't go up this season I would very much fancy us to be stronger next season, which might not be a bad thing although if we can do it this season of course we should take the opportunity.
I agree with much of what Glenn and Davidedin say in their excellent posts. I agree that when a Chairman is willing to back the club it is in***bent on supporters to get behind and support that effort if they can. I am a bit wary of taking that too far though. It doesn't extend as far as blind loyalty. The Chairman is still only the temporary custodian of a club with a long history, and he is still accountable to the supporters, He deserves support but accountability is still important. Beware the SWFC situation where the Chairman expects to be able to hike the price of everything and almost demand that supporters go along with it, accusing them of disloyalty if they don't. There has to be good governance and stewardship for the benefit of all the supporters and for the long term.
Personally I think that so far Tony Stewart has been an excellent Chairman. He has always been mindful of the history of the club and the town. He has tried to take the supporters with him and on the whole the supporters have backed him. The crowds we get may not be comparable to those of many Championship clubs but they are pretty decent, particularly when you look back at the final days at Millmoor and the sad times at DVS. My hope is that we can build that base slowly and steadily and plan longer term, which means incremental development of the stadium and surround, building the fan base, sticking with a manager next time we have a tough time, building the infrastructure (training ground and development set up) and not actually worrying too much about whether we are top of league one or bottom of the Championship in the short term as we go about it.
Tony Stewart: best chairman we've had by a country mile in my getting on for 53 years watching the club. He's not a football man though so he's relying on supposedly other people with that football knowledge. But I've yet to see the fruits of our head of recruitment. Last player we signed with any scope was Vaulks. I'm talking about actual signings, not loan signings.
-- Edited by T71 on Friday 23rd of March 2018 11:41:01 AM
Depends what you mean by scope T71. But if you're referring to players who will contribute positively to a winning side and get us promoted out of this league, how about Smith, Proctor, Williams, Palmer, Ball........the list goes on!
Depends what you mean by scope T71. But if you're referring to players who will contribute positively to a winning side and get us promoted out of this league, how about Smith, Proctor, Williams, Palmer, Ball........the list goes on!
By scope I mean on the upgrade. Can only see Vaulks of our own actual players in that category. Though would say Ajayi Mattock Taylor Williams Palmer Proctor Newell could be at our level championship players. Purrington JCH Wiles & Bailey-King unexposed, yet to see the best of them. Of the loan players Rodak & Towell would be an asset to us in the championship.
-- Edited by T71 on Friday 23rd of March 2018 05:38:20 PM
Paul Warne has openly admitted that he would like to keep Emmanuel, Rodak and Towell. However, it's totally out of his hands and nothing will be decided until Summer.
PS. Is the thought of a place in a Wembley play-off final now a fanciful dream beyond our reach?
