‘Promotion for Millers would be a footballing miracle’

NEXT Monday, Tony Stewart will celebrate his fifth anniversary in charge of Rotherham United.

It has not been an easy time. A variety of factors have seen to that, ranging from a swingeing points deduction that left the club fighting for its Football League survival through to play-off heartache at Wembley and, worst of all, having to live in exile for four long years in nearby Sheffield.

All those travails, however, will be forgotten come 5pm this Saturday if, as is expected, Steve Evans’s United clinch automatic promotion back to League One.

One point from the meeting with bottom club Aldershot Town should be enough to have the champagne corks popping around Rotherham and cap a remarkable turnaround in the club’s fortunes under Stewart.

Let’s not forget that just a few days before Stewart was confirmed as the new owner, the administrators then running the Millers had revealed the club was on the brink of extinction.

The timely arrival of local businessman Stewart – boss of Rotherham-based ASD Lighting – meant United were saved. More importantly, however, it also meant there was finally someone at the helm with a proven track record of getting things done.

Five years on, Rotherham may still be in League Two – albeit, hopefully only until Saturday. But, in every other aspect, the club is unrecognisable.

A £20m new home is the most obvious symbol of the change Stewart has wrought and the man himself admits he can’t wait to see the New York Stadium packed to the rafters this weekend.

“Everyone is looking forward to the game against Aldershot,” said the Millers chairman to the Yorkshire Post as he relaxed amid the sumptuous surrounds of the club’s state-of-the-art home.

“In life, success is all about timing. And if we can win promotion this season then it probably couldn’t come at a better time, considering we are in our first season in the new stadium.

“This season has seen the club take huge steps. From an average attendance of 3,000, we will – now that the final game is sold out – be looking at an average of more than 8,000.

“Promotion would ignite Rotherham. Not just the football club but the town as well. It will be a carnival and I’ll be at the very front as promotion would be a big, big thing for everyone.”

Technically, the Millers need to beat Aldershot to guarantee promotion. However, with nearest challengers Cheltenham Town being two points behind and having a goal difference that is six worse off, Evans men are likely to need just a point.

Providing the United players can deliver in front of Saturday’s sell-out crowd, the vision Stewart had when buying the club out of administration on April 29, 2008 will be a step closer to being realised.

He said: “The club is ambitious. And if we can get up, we feel we’d be able to really hit the ground running in terms of League One.

“I want to get Rotherham United in the Championship, that has always been the target. We were in League Two and in administration when I took over. Then, just a few days later, we had to move out of Rotherham to Sheffield and the Don Valley Stadium.

“That definitely cost us in terms of support, as I’d estimate at least 1,000 of those fans who’d come along every week at Millmoor decided not to go to Sheffield.

“Not long after, we then got hit with a 17-point deduction from the Football League (after coming out of administration for a second time). So, all in all, it was quite a baptism of fire. But we just got on with things.”

Stewart’s drive did, indeed, power United forward. As did his enthusiasm, which was only strengthened by the play-off final defeat to Dagenham & Redbridge at Wembley in 2010.

Hopes were high the following season that United, who again boasted one of the highest playing budgets in the division, would use that disappointment to fuel a push for automatic promotion. The reality, however, saw the club finish ninth in 2010-11 and then tenth last term.

Evans was at the helm by then, having taken over in the final weeks of the season. Stewart has been delighted by the impact the Scot has made since heading north from Crawley Town.

He said: “Steve is a very, very likeable guy. The inside view of Steve Evans from those at the club who know him may be very different from what his public image is with fans of other clubs.

“But those of us who work with Steve know he is a very different man to how others see him. He is very passionate, very driven and very motivated. Once the players get to know him after joining the club, they can see he is actually a sensitive guy. They can also recognise just how devoted Steve is to bringing success to Rotherham United.

“What the club has achieved this season is remarkable, especially when you consider that we started the season with a new stadium, a new team and more or less a new manager.

“That is a lot of factors that have to come together. If we get promotion, I would say it borders on a football miracle, especially as we have had 30 players who have come and gone out this season. That is a massive upheaval.”

On the target of Championship football, Stewart is also adamant that lessons will be learned from the past.

He added: “Things went wrong last time in the Championship under the Booth family. Alan Lee was transferred and that, with hindsight, began the ball rolling. I would like to think we wouldn’t do the same again.

“I am a chairman who looks at assets and is very reluctant to sell them. Of course, any decision has to be down to the manager.

“If an offer came in and the manager said, ‘Take the money and I can get you a better player for the same money’ then we would do that. But if he instead said, ‘The player can be sold, chairman, but to get a similarly talented player in will cost the same money or maybe even more’, then there is no sense in selling. We want to build.”

Stewart estimates promotion to the third tier would be worth around £500,000 in increased revenue from the Football League.

Off-setting that, of course, will be the increase in wages that comes with elevation to a higher division.

Finances, however, are not what fires the United chairman’s imagination. Instead, it is occasions like the forthcoming visit of Aldershot.

“We have had an amazing year,” said Stewart. “Getting back to Rotherham was huge, especially to such a wonderful stadium. Promotion would be the icing on the cake, as it really would mean the phoenix has risen from the ashes.”

[email protected]