Leon Wobschall: Respect due for Warne after restoring pride to '˜broken' Rotherham United

A similarly average player blessed with the same sharp intellect as Brearley, Rotherham United manager Paul Warne also seems to possess streetwise understanding and the precious quality of comprehending just what makes professional sportsmen tick.

That managing a group of footballers is akin to looking after a classroom full of schoolchildren is one of Warne’s most regular, but shrewdest observations.

As well as being in receipt of a degree in sports science, he is also a trained teacher, after all.

And Warne clearly knows only too well that all successful teachers must first command the respect of an audience that might be unforgiving if they sense any character weaknesses.

He has passed that particular examination with flying colours, so much so that his Millers’ side will clinch promotion should they beat Shrewsbury Town in Sunday’s League One play-off final at Wembley.

Footballers, like children, can exhibit limited attention spans and will switch off if they smell the equivalent of managerspeak ‘claptrap’. And those who are in it for themselves.

Warne avoids that by being unfailingly honest and it is one of his most enduring qualities in a footballing world full of spin, bluster and narcissism.

What you see with him is what you get and it is easy to buy into. Spend time in his company and you will find his views are enlightening, sharp, thought-provoking, self-effacing and funny in equal measure.

It is always a pleasure and never a chore to attend his media briefings and it is impossible to come away without an amusing footballing vignette and a bit of light to your day.

A giver and not a taker, the genuinely effusive way in which Warne’s players have spoken about his man-management this season suggests that the Millers’ training ground is now a seriously enjoyable place to work.

Happy workplaces usually breed winners, after all, although no one can deny the Millers and Warne are in credit regardless of what happens on Sunday.

A thoroughly engaging individual he may be, but Warne also leaves you in no doubt that there is clearly a time for banter and a time for work. Someone serious about his craft, but not too serious about himself.

His standards are demanding. Ask those players who were forced to endure three daily sessions from hell during a pre-season training camp in Austria.

The Millers’ chief, a self-confessed fitness fanatic, demands the same commitment that he gave when he wore the red and white of Rotherham. By his own admission he was never the best player, but his work ethic was total. The ‘world champion at winning throw-ins’ as he memorably once put it.

Warne is just as big on discipline and order. A visible reminder of the importance he places upon standards can be seen on the Millers’ dressing room floor where a huge club badge is resplendent. Anyone caught dropping a piece of kit on it is hit with a fine – although you suspect that not too many have done so this season.

A family man with that same duty of care to his football club, Warne has also astutely surrounded himself with like-minded individuals among his coaching staff in the shape of Richie Barker, Matt Hamshaw, Mike Pollitt and John Breckin.

They are ‘Rotherham people’ who reinforce his message.

Warne’s obsession with good human beings, as he puts it, has seen the self-interested characters from last season being moved on. As much as his personality is magnetic it is not too much use if you do not assemble enough players to buy into your beliefs.

No such worries here.

Recently alluding to that very fact Warne said: “We have good people in the building. I was talking with it to Richie a while ago and we have not had any issues with any player this year. No one has had to pull anyone in for under-training in training or not taking it seriously.

“I am more of a humanist than a football coach. I tried to put a group together that wanted to be together and were strong. They are definitely that and put their bodies on the line for each other.

“Collectively they are an impressive unit and want to win and I am pretty proud of them.

“It is testament to them that they have gone through the whole season virtually injury-free and I think that is the way they live their lives and the way we have recruited people.

“Even the lads who have not been in the team have dedicated their lives to this club. The heart of the team is the friendships within it.”

Warne has cultivated the right balance and the little touches also mark him out, such as the decision to ask injured striker Jamie Proctor to lead the team out at Wembley on Sunday as a reward for his dedication to his rehabilitation from injury over the last nine months.

His promise that whenever he bids farewell from Rotherham United that the Millers, his club, will be in a much better shape than they were when he first took over the reins is no idle boast.

He may reside in the village of Tickhill – home to a fair few fans of the Millers’ rivals and near-neighbours Doncaster Rovers – but well-wishers will not be in short supply ahead of Sunday.

There will be pride as opposed to envy. It is hard not to root for him.