Paul Warne, Matt Taylor, ups and downs and a first Championship survival in seven years ... the story of Rotherham United's season

THE text came through on Tuesday evening.

“I’ve gone. Won’t be announced until Thursday.”

Paul Warne was giving me advance warning that Rotherham United were on the look-out for their first new manager in nearly six years. The campaign that saw them lying an improbable eighth in the Championship after nine matches was taking a seismic shift.

Reading had been spanked, creditable draws had been earned against Swansea City, Preston North End, Queens Park Rangers, Watford and Middlesbrough, but the shadow of Derby County’s interest in the Millers boss had been lengthening.

Birmingham City and Blackpool were played off the park yet now the only Park for Warne, the heart and soul of the football operation for so long, was of the Pride variety.

Welcome, Matt Taylor.

A big man made a big first impression as he arrived at AESSEAL New York Stadium from Exeter City in early October after a brief spell of caretaker control from senior players Richard Wood and Lee Peltier.

He was a mix of ambition and assuredness in his introductory press conference. That ambition was tempered by realism; he knew the season wouldn’t involve a top-ten finish and was all about ending the yo-yo years and ensuring the club retained their second-tier status after three failed attempts.

He and Warne were two very different personalities and Taylor got his opening call right: he would be true to himself, his own man; respectful of what had gone before but with enough about him to take things forward his way.

The start wasn’t spectacular but promising. There were great nights at Stoke City and Sheffield United, where 42 years of hurt came to an exhilarating end, poor days at Blackburn Rovers and Cardiff City.

All the while, injuries were biting. Tom Eaves had taken time be ready because of calf trouble, fellow new boys Grant Hall and Cameron Humphreys were hampered by hamstring issues, summer signing Peter Kioso was recovering from groin surgery and then having ankle problems.

Referees were hindering the effort almost as much as the casualty count and Taylor felt compelled to go public with his ire over officialdom when a 100th-minute goal that shouldn’t have stood cost his side a valiant result at eventual champions Burnley in November.

Ah, November. All was pretty good until the World Cup break, then came a pre-arranged training trip to Cyprus that Taylor didn’t want and the Millers left their passion and pressing game in lost property when they flew home.

The build-up to Christmas was anything but festive, the New Year even worse.

January 1 brought an insipid loss at Millwall. On the way back, a supporters’ coach took a wrong turn and found itself inching through the Park Lane traffic in central London.

To the right, the beautiful people buzzed in and out of posh hotels and bars, to the left families laughed and played in a fairground spectacularly lit up against the winter night. Everyone was having fun, it seemed, except Rotherham fans.

Taylor, grim-faced in his after-match press conference at the New Den, had basically said too many of his squad weren’t good enough for the Championship.

More embarrassment was to come the next weekend, in the FA Cup against a team from the division below, Ipswich Town, and the boss had seen enough.

On the Monday, support staff were asked to vacate the main room at the club’s Roundwood training complex.

This was between management and players.

What happened next, what was said next in both directions, changed the mood, changed the approach. Pragmatism overcame a possession game as Taylor chose to put a bit more ‘Rotherham’ back into the Millers.

Blackburn were blown away, Watford were close to being toppled on their own turf, the Blades couldn’t exact revenge at New York and suddenly things were looking up. There would still be dips but a corner had been turned.

December had been a disaster, January was anything but and Rotherham emerged from the transfer window with the strongest group of players they have had in the second tier in chairman Tony Stewart’s 15-year tenure.

They lost key man Dan Barlaser but his exit was offset by the arrival of players of real Championship quality.

Sean Morrison, having spent his career at the top end of the division or in the Premier League, was a statement signing, as was Jordan Hugill. The Millers would probably have been safe weeks before they finally were had the former stayed fit.

All the while, injuries were biting. Chiedozie Ogbene had been out with a dodgy hamstring, Ben Wiles had undergone an ankle operation, Morrison lasted two games before thigh surgery ended his season, Domingos Quina hurt his knee, Hall continued to be in and out.

Credit to the chairman for honouring his pre-season promise and taking his spending on recruitment to a new level. Taylor wasn’t scared to ask for what he wanted and Stewart wasn’t scared to give it to him. That investment, together with the tweak to the playing style, saved the season.

Talking of saving, how good was Viktor Johansson? The Viking goalkeeper excelled to such an extent he earned his first international call-up from Sweden and went on to pillage every Millers Player of the Season award going.

Taylor’s clarity of thinking, his tactical acumen were having a telling effect and Rotherham found themselves eight points clear of the drop zone. His substitutions helped to win games, alter games, see out games.

He mightn’t have been the easiest of first dates for the squad he inherited, but boss and players had found a way to be together, to grow together.

That deep embrace between him and Johansson when survival was sealed last week was heartfelt and the sign of a real bond.

April arrived and by the end of it tension was increasing at the same rate as the number of walking wounded.

The concession of late goals had already hit hard earlier in the season and now, with the points buffer down to three, last-gasp losses to Bristol City and Cardiff City were the severest of tests to resolve.

All the while, injuries were biting. Rathbone’s groin meant he wasn’t available for every game and couldn’t finish any, Hall’s hamstring saw him done for the season and the same applied to Bailey Wright because of his ankle.

Shane Ferguson’s groin meant he wasn’t operating at 100 per cent, a hamstring sidelined Tyler Blackett, Cameron Humphreys somehow kept going despite a knee condition, Johansson dipped out with shoulder damage and a groin complaint did for his deputy, Josh Vickers.

Much work is afoot to improve the Roundwood facilities to ensure there is no repeat next year.

One of the saddest developments of the campaign had been the exile of Richard Wood from the first-team fold from the turn of the year.

The veteran captain found himself back in the reckoning for one final hurrah.

There were plenty of Warne players still on show but by now everything had long been done with a Taylor twist.

Under both bosses, the Millers never spent a single day in the bottom three.

It all culminated in that glorious afternoon against Middlesbrough a week last Monday when Hakeem Odoffin scored a match-winning screamer, the fans sang, Woody cried (well, nearly) and the club stayed up.

Spring had sprung on May Day at New York.

That Park Lane ferris wheel belonged in the distant past as the rollercoaster of the Championship became next year’s future.

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THE buffet on a table in the dressing room was being largely ignored.

Unlike the stash of lager which Rotherham United’s players were happily tucking into.

The manager called for silence after the victory over Middlesbrough had sealed the club’s continued involvement in the Championship and addressed the group who’d broken the mould following three failed Millers bids to stay up since 2017.

This is what Matt Taylor said ...

“I’ll back whatever needs to be backed in the next few days. You’ve definitely got that time off. I hope you spend some quality time together tonight and possibly tomorrow. Whatever you do tonight, like you do on the pitch, you do it together. Enjoy it.

“Get your heads in the air, look each other in the eyes and definitely smile. You don’t have to be sensible. You deserve this moment. This is your moment more than anyone else’s.

“This league has thrown everything it possibly can at us. To stay up with a game to spare is credit to each and every one of you. You’ve understood what it’s needed to get us to this point and you’ve been to hell and back at times.

“We enjoy the week building up to one last professional performance (at Wigan Athletic on the last day), then you’ve got some fantastic times to look forward to.

“I thank you on behalf of myself, the staff and the supporters. You’ve done absolutely everything and a little bit more. Don’t under-estimate what you’ve achieved. I’m absolutely proud of you all.”