Rotherham United tap into siege mentality of Ronnie Moore's legends

The unfancied Millers, under the management of Ronnie Moore, famously revelled in their status of underdogs during some successful times in the second tier, with Warne, assistant Richie Barker and goalkeeping coach Mike Pollitt – all members of that squad – spying similarities between then and now.

Vaulks said: “They do talk about it and how it is quite similar with their wages being low – and our wages being low in comparison with the clubs in this league with the budget.

“But you have to make the most of that and they were successful because they were a good team and made it horrible for other teams.

“That is something we would love to do and we spoke about being hard to play against in pre-season training. That is the only chance we have got.

“Some will write us off. It is always going to happen. But the reality is that it does not affect anything.

“If you watch any of the highlights, we only seem to get five seconds of the highlights whether we have won, drawn or lost. That is the way it is going to be, there are some massive clubs in this league and we would not want more attention anyway. We know what pressure we put on ourselves anyway.

“But it would be nice to prove some wrong and prove we can compete at this level and we believe we can.”

As with Moore’s charges, the present-day Millers also possess strength in their team ethic and solidarity in their dressing-room, something Vaulks admits is in marked contrast to the lack of togetherness present in the club’s disastrous Championship campaign two seasons ago.

Given the challenges that will face United, about to embark on a tough quartet of games against Midlands opponents – starting with the arrival of Derby County this weekend – it is just as well.

Vaulks added: “We are definitely in a better place as a whole, in the dressing room. After a successful year, it is always going to be and everyone who was there is still here, apart from a few loan players.

“That is something we need to harness. It will be tough and almost impossible, if we did not have that. So we feel we have a good chance.

“We are a good group with no egos and everyone is together.”