Rotherham United at 100: The history-maker and history-recorder on why the Millers' past matters

That is why it is important for the Millers to mark their 100th anniversary this year.

"Rotherham County were in the Football League from 1919 and it was an amalgamation (with Rotherham Town) and a name-change to United in '25," explains club historian Garry Bray. "It's a bit weird celebrating the centenary when we had one in 1984, 100 years after Thornhill United became Rotherham County, but I'm all for it.”

Proper football clubs have identities and methods you do not have to have been born within sight of the floodlights to learn.

"When I was a kid it was, 'Rotherham, who are they?'" admits Moore, born and raised in Huyton, Liverpool, "but they've become a massive part of my life."

Whilst the “ageism” which is his bugbear at 72 stops him being as hands-on with club football as he would like – he is Hartlepool United's chief scout, coaches three times a week at his academy in Rotherham and commentates for Radio Sheffield – he and former team-mate-turned-assistant John Breckin remain part of the Millers fabric.

"You've got to know the Rotherham Way. They will never be Man City playing out from the back because the players who can do that cost an awful lot," he says.

"It's fantastic to seeing (Rotherham-born manager) Matty (Hamshaw) in charge. Him, Woggy (former goalkeeper Andy Warrington) and (coach) Richard Wood are Rotherham people, they know how the club should be run.

"They've been brought up with Warney (former manager Paul Warne) and Warney was brought up with me so I'd like to think there's still a bit of Ronnie Moore going about at Rotherham.

"Warney and Richie Barker (his assistant) were both my players and they knew how to win with Rotherham and so does Matty, Woggy and Woody. You've got to be fit, you've got to work hard, you've got to play to a certain pattern of play.

"They weren't at their best last season because we had some decent players on paper but you don't win anything on paper. They had a lot of injuries in Steve (Evans, the manager)'s defence but they weren't at the required fitness and he lot his job."

Passing on values is part of the worth of any club's history, but not the only part.

"It's very important, especially in northern industrial towns," says Bray, in his volunteer role since 2011. "When you're in the pub with your mates you do mainly talk about football, it is so important. I'm interested in cricket and rugby league but not to that extent.

"Football is important to the town, it brings visitors. Whenever Rotherham get relegated to League One, I know the owner of Chantry Brewery and he thinks it's a disaster.

"The community trust is getting bigger all the time. The trust are going to go to 100 primary schools in Rotherham in 100 days and I've provided all the information for a slideshow for the kids.

"When a nine, 10, 11-year-old kid hears their local football team is 100 years-old, they must be thinking, 'I don't know anyone who's 100.'"

Both men have felt the power of Rotherham United in different ways.

"I've been to Charlton, to Cardiff, to Tranmere and Rotherham," chuckles Moore. "All I was missing was the caravan!

"When I went to Cardiff for 120 grand (in 1979) I ended up scoring six goals in 56 games, which isn't what's expected when you've forked out over 100 grand for a centre-forward.

"But there I was a workaholic, chasing balls down the channel and crossing. So I swore blind to myself that when I came to Rotherham there was not a cat in hell's chance of me running down the channels, I was playing in the width of the boxes.

"I'd heard about the players who were coming in – "Tiger", Tony Towner, and John Seasman. I knew John from my Tranmere days – and that made my mind up as much as anything else.

"The team that came together under Ian Porterfield was just an incredible team. Things just clicked. There was good experience, young lads and every game was a joy.

"The togetherness at the club was incredible, one of the best clubs I'd played for in the way it was run.

"Ian Porterfield was years ahead in his coaching. He was an absolute joy as a manager, one of the best. It was just a pity he left and went to Sheff U because I think had he left, there could have been great things there."And to be fair to Emlyn Hughes (his successor) we were so unlucky the next season. We were fourth in the Championship at one stage and we just cracked.”

Moore scored 25 goals as the Millers won promotion to Division Two in his first season (1980-81) and 25 more in 1981-82 before a clash of personalities with then-manager George Kerr saw him moved on in 1983.

Only when he came back as manager in 1997 did he realise how popular he was.

"I'd only been a manager for six months, at Southport," he says "We had a massive get-together with supporters in a working men's club and it was unbelievable. They were singing, 'Ronnie's coming home'.

"It became, 'I could blow everything here and be the biggest flop ever.'

"The pressure I felt at that time – especially when we didn't win my first three games! – was huge. You were carrying everybody's dreams. That was the hard part, getting used to that, but you do.

"If it had gone the other way around, I hate to think what it would be like. But when you got it right, that feeling was just as strong as a player, and back-to-back promotions (from the fourth to second tiers in 2000 and 2001) was unbelievable.

"Me and Breck came in after Danny Bergara and the club was really struggling. To have four years in the (now-)Championship was incredible. We've only stayed in there twice since (2014-17 and 2022-24).

"That was bigger for me than the promotions. We probably had one of the lowest budgets in the league but that wasn't (chairman) Ken Booth's fault in a division with Man City, Leeds, West Ham.

"Nowadays coming to the (New York) stadium some old photos hit you straight away in the glass windows and you go inside and round by the tunnel there's the modern-day players who played at Wembley and things like that. I think they've got it spot on. You should be reminded of who you are.

"The stadium is there because of what me and Breck did, I don't care what anybody else says. The club could have been a Hartlepool or a Chester, out of the league. I feel it was a crucial time for Rotherham and myself, the start of my (managerial) journey.

"I'm still waiting for the statue, to be honest! But I think the crowd appreciated it."

Bray, who is 65 and has followed the Millers since he got the bug of going to Millmoor with friends when he started secondary school, certainly appreciated Moore.

"My first season wasn't a brilliant season for Rotherham but we were playing quite big teams – Aston Villa, Fulham and people like that," he says. "Football was far more exciting in them days. I find current football pretty boring – nobody takes risks.

"That 80-81 season was an amazing season, one I'll always remember. There were so many brilliant players. We played 46 games and conceded 32 goals. They fought like lions away from home.

"We first won at Wembley in '96 in the Football League Trophy. That was a day I never thought I'd see. When we went 4-0 up on aggregate in the semi-final at Carlisle it brought tears to my eyes.

"I don't expect Rotherham will ever play in the top division but I've had five Wembley trips and an 80 per cent win record – that’s not so bad, is it?”

Being manager for the only loss, the 2010 League Two play-off final against Dagenham and Redbridge, “hurts” Moore.

"We've been to Wembley five times and only lost once,” he says. “That was me. That hurts a little bit. I know what it's like to win at Wembley and what it's like to lose there and I'd much rather not put myself through that."

Courtesy of the inaugural League Cup in 1961, Rotherham will always have a place in the history books.

"A lot of First Division clubs didn't enter the League Cup for a long time,” explains Bray. “I'm sure even the Rotherham fans didn't think it was a big thing at the time but it's always there as part of history that we played in the first League Cup final (losing over two legs to Aston Villa).

"We've had 12 promotions and 12 relegations. After 1925 it took 26 years to win promotion from Division Three (North). They won the Division Three (North) in 1946 and never had a promotion from '51 to 1975.

"We missed promotion to the top division in 1955 on goal average. Rotherham had finished their games before Birmingham. They played at Doncaster the following day knowing if Birmingham won, Rotherham wouldn't go up. That is one of the big reasons there is supposed hatred between people from Rotherham and Doncaster.

"Rotherham have the record for most points deducted – 40. We had points deducted three seasons running from 2006 to 2009 – 10, 10 and 17 – because of being in administration, and three for an ineligible player. We got relegated in the first of those seasons but we didn't do badly to finish 14th (in 2008-09) after 17 points deducted.

"If I'm honest I don't think I was ever worried we wouldn't come back. I suppose you have to believe the worst isn't going to happen. It's not happened to a lot of clubs. It's usually the banks who lose out the most.”

Bray introduced "legacy numbers" – ordering the 1,042 men who played competitively by debut – to give a sense of their part in Millers history.

"One of the players who has got dementia, Allan Gilliver, who also played for Bradford City (and Huddersfield Town), his wife contacted the club when I was in the middle of creating my database wanting a legacy number from Rotherham and his other clubs so we were able to create a certificate for him," he says. "She was very happy with that.

"I've been trying to find the oldest living player and the oldest we've found is 91, Colin Longden, who played for the first team in 1952-53. He's in a care home in Rotherham.

"He had a fall and doesn't talk much so we couldn't actually discuss his memories but I took a replica shirt from that era and as soon as he saw it, he said, 'Can I wear it?'”

Another source of memories is the Millmoor ground where Moore played and managed, and Bray first watched. Rotherham left in 2008 over a rental dispute for four dark years at Sheffield's Don Valley athletics stadium as a new home was built on the nearby former Guest and Chrimes foundry. Unusually, it is still standing.

"They've got local girls and boys on it now, they've had a lot of cup finals on it for Rotherham schools," says Moore. "Young Ken Booth (son of former chairman Ken) has spent a lot of money putting it right. It just brings back so many memories walking around the place. You can go where the dressing room used to be and my (manager's) office is still there."

For people like Gilliver and Longden the memories really matter, for their old club, the values learnt in 100 years of history are priceless.