Rotherham United v Birmingham City: ‘Old heads’ help Millers adapt to life at higher level

The Millers’ dressing room is not exactly a passable impersonation of a latter-day ‘Dad’s Army’ cast, but it does contain a few elder statesmen in football terms, with captain Richard Wood having a few seasoned professionals for company now in the likes of Lee Peltier, 35, Conor Washington and Grant Hall, both 30.

Each possess old-school traits which are to be embraced, according to Paul Warne.

They are thinking footballers, who you won’t see ‘chained’ to their phones in the changing room before training. You will see chatter between proper professionals who love their craft and discussing all things football.

Primarily, Warne has brought in the trio for their footballing know-how at this level.

They have also come in for what they bring to the group from a mentality level. Each have their own personal motivations to do well at Rotherham too and prove a point or two to anyone who has chosen to write them off. They are busy doing that already.

Warne said: “Wash is desperate to play back for his country again (Northern Ireland), which he will and they are all highly-motivated individuals and all they talk about is football. It is nice for us staff.

“They are like a blast from the past and you can come in and they say: ‘Who watched Man United versus Liverpool’ and you can guarantee those three watched it. I cannot guarantee the rest of them watched it; they were probably watching Instagram or something. In that respect, they are just football people and feel like mini-coaches to me.

“When you talk to an 18-year-old in the dressing room, you think ‘What are they talking about TikTok for?

“I have heard the three in the dressing room already and they are prepared to let lads know what they think, which is good because you are in a fight really.

“We have all had runs where you lose three on the bounce and then all of a sudden, in the same way you can have three wins on the spin and some lads get carried away with themselves. The experienced lads don’t.”

At the minute, the Millers are on a good run. Their unbeaten league sequence of four matches is two away from equalling their longest streak without a second-tier defeat under Warne. That was set at six in March 2019.

The impact of their older heads has played its part and while many managers at this level turn their noses up at signing players aged 30 or over, Warne is happy to make certain exceptions.

Warne commented: “In fairness, I have been part of that policy and I don’t really like signing over-30s as they help you for a bit, but they do not help you forever. There’s been massive criticism of (Manchester) United signing a player (Christian Eriksen) for four years at 31 or something. However, they have an impact.

“With Wash, I knew before the end of the season that he was not getting a new deal.

“For us, to get a ‘Charlton reject’ in League One and for him to come and play in the Championship, it is not so much about the age, but person and how they play. I always knew Wash would suit as he is all about work-rate.

“With Pelts, I played with him at Yeovil and knew him as a lad and kept in contact for years. He had loads of better deals in fairness from League One, but just liked the idea of the challenge we had as he’s a feisty person. I knew it’d work — he’s a competitor.

“No doubt, I will have loads of arguments with him, but I will take that because he’s perfect.

“Hally is also a bit of experience. I think with all three of them, they could have done a job at another Championship club. We were lucky to get them and probably went in early with them and persevered with them.

“Those three have been excellent. In previous seasons in the Championship, we have had effort and enthusiasm, but just did not have enough guile. I think those three players add a little bit of experience and guile that we possibly have not had. I am not saying that will be enough, but it definitely helps the dressing room.”