Rotherham United v Middlesbrough: '˜Grumpy' Greg Halford is back in Millers' spotlight

But they will not be moaning now and while the high-maintenance utility man’s recently-acquired dressing-room nickname of Victor Meldrew is not a particularly flattering one, the 31-year-old certainly is not having a miserable time of it on the pitch.

Halford has had his fair share of gripes this season after falling out of favour under Neil Redfearn and taking to social media to sound off about his predicament.

But while he may be truculent in the view of someone who knows him well in Millers’ assistant manager Kevin Blackwell, putting up with his “idiosyncrasies” is worth it when he is performing as he has done so far in the reign of Neil Warnock.

After a slow start to his tenure, the rewards are starting to arrive for Warnock, whose adherence to the maxim of there being no substitute for experience has yielded rewards in the shape of sweet back-to-back wins over Brentford and Sheffield Wednesday.

The veteran has turned to the older heads in his fire-fighting mission to save the Millers from the drop with the likes of Halford, Richard Wood and Frazer Richardson set for leading roles after being on the periphery for large parts of the campaign.

It is currently working a treat with the renaissance of Halford – told by Redfearn that he had no future at the club in January – being the most unlikely one.

Blackwell, who worked with Halford at one of his former clubs in Sheffield United and got the best out of him, said: “You get on with him if he moans about something. It’s the way you handle it.

“What we call him here is Victor Meldrew. If he moans you just humour him.

“But for anybody, it must be great to have someone who believes in you and he was thoroughly lost here.

“I know he has told a lot of people that he had his best spell of his period with me and he always had an ally in me.

“Neil has seen that and now he is a big ally.

“People talk about psychology and Neil is fabulous at how he deals with players and knowing how to get the best out of them. It’s a little comment here or there or a rollicking if needed.

“But it is knowing when, where and how.”

In the past, all of Warnock’s successful sides have been heavy on senior players with imposing physical attributes and strong characters, laced with young, hard-running offensive players.

This template also served the Millers well during some golden times in the Noughties under Ronnie Moore and while there are plenty more hills to climb for the club’s current gathering of seasoned warriors, Warnock might just be onto something.

Just as Moore’s crop proved proficient in upsetting a fair few divisional heavyweights, so 
Warnock helped rewind the clock to orchestrate the Millers’ tremendous victory at S6 at the weekend.

Two more big-hitters arrive this week in the shape of first Middlesbrough and then Derby County with Warnock and his No 2 Blackwell having some previous to call upon in relation to the Teesside club.

The Riverside Stadium was the scene of one of the pair’s interim games in charge of QPR back on November 20 on a night when the R’s frustrated the life out of an unconvincing Boro side who were hugely fortunate to nick a 1-0 win courtesy of Grant Leadbitter’s penalty.

The visitors may have lost, but it was still a bit of a moral victory for Rangers, who quietened the crowd and forced them to turn on the hosts. Something resembling a repeat, with a different result, is the Millers’ aim tonight.

Blackwell added: “We played them up there with QPR and they got a penalty and won with the last kick of the game. They are a strong unit and they have added the likes of (Jordan) Rhodes and (Gaston) Ramirez, who I thought was outstanding when I watched them at Leeds recently. Wherever you look, there is quality.

“But you have to deal with that and we did that against Burnley, Reading and Sheffield Wendesday, who all have good squads.”

After seeing his side scramble a late draw at MK Dons and suffer a last-gasp loss at Bristol City, the last thing Boro head coach Aitor Karanka will be caught doing is under-estimating Rotherham.

He said: “It could be the most difficult game for the rest of the season. Everyone expects us to get three points and thinks it will be easy, but for me it’ll be the most difficult as they’ve won the last two.

“Under Neil Warnock they’re a team; he’s motivated them and he’s a good manager.”

Last six games: Rotherham LDLLWW; Middlesbrough DDWWLW.

Referee: P Bankes (Merseyside).

Last time: Rotherham 0 Middlesbrough 3, November 1, 2014; Championship.