Paul Warne calls one of his players 'a feisty little sh*t'. But he means it in a good way ... the Rotherham United boss writes for the Advertiser

That isn’t a criticism, by the way, it’s why I brought him to the club!

He’s one of a few older players I’ve signed this summer. As a rule, I don’t really go for over-30s as they help you for a bit but not forever. However, there are times when it’s worth making an exception.

Pelts and I played together years ago at Yeovil Town. He was just a kid then and we kept in touch when our careers took us down different paths.

I had him in here for a chat before he joined us. He was a free agent and had loads of better offers, financially, from League One, but he just liked the idea of the challenge with us in the Championship.

I knew that he would work out for us because he is a competitor. He says what he thinks and won’t back down from what he believes in. No doubt I will have loads of arguments with him but I will take that because he’s perfect for us.

At 35, he’s been around the Champ virtually all the time he’s been a pro. He is still a winner who will give you everything.

Conor Washington and Grant Hall are two others who are the wrong side of 30 now.

With Wash, I knew before the end of last season that Charlton Athletic did not want to keep him.

I had no problem taking a Charlton ‘reject’ from the third tier and asking him to perform in the division above. It is not about age, it’s about the person and how they play.

Wash was always going to suit us because he is all about work rate. He’s like me only with hair. He is desperate to play for Northern Ireland again, which I am sure he will do.

Hally, who we’ve got in on loan from Middlesbrough, is also a bit of experience.

All three of them could have done a job at another Championship club and we have done well to get them.

We went in early and persevered with them, which counted for something in their eyes.

They have all been excellent for us. In previous seasons in the Champ, we have had effort and enthusiasm but not had enough guile. I think these three add what we have lacked. I am not saying that will be enough, but it definitely helps.

I’ve heard them in the dressing room already and they are prepared to let lads know what they think, which is good.

You need people to stand up because you are in a fight really.

You can have runs where you lose three matches on the bounce, you can have runs where you have three wins on the spin.

The experienced lads handle the adversity and then don’t get carried away when things are better. It’s all about the next game for them.

They are all highly-motivated individuals; football people who are almost like mini-coaches to me. You don’t hear them talking about Instagram and TikTok. To the staff, the ‘oldies’ feel like they are ours.

Pelts was having a good moan about something the other day and he was right to because what he was complaining about needed addressing.

He was a feisty little sh*t and I loved it.

I DON’T think there is a better 52-year-old skipper in world football than our very own Richard Wood.

I could wax lyrical about him all day.

Woody was a player here when I was the fitness coach and he has been with me throughout my time as manager.

Every single year people write him off, every single year I give him another contract. That’s been happening since 2017.

He is absolutely brilliant for us. I wish I could play him in every game but I can’t because Age Concern have written to me and said it’s not allowed.

What a day it was for him last Saturday when he scored both goals in our 2-0 win over Birmingham City at a packed New York Stadium in front of his two sons.

He is a really good leader on and off the pitch, a really good father, a really good family man.

It means the world to him when he scores because his kids love it. They make him do some crazy celebrations and it’s just lovely to watch. I get emotional when a Woody  special hits the net.

I am really proud to have him as our captain and long may he continue to wear the armband.

Dan Barlaser provided the assists for both goals but had a penalty saved. He’s normally deadly from 12 yards but I just didn’t fancy him to put it away on this occasion as his set-pieces — apart from a couple — had been a little bit off.

There was no drama in him not scoring.

I have no issues with mistakes, I have issues only if there’s a lack of effort and determination.

I always say to the lads: ‘If you put ten crosses in and all ten go in the car-park I don’t mind as long as they don’t hit my car.’

Dan will probably be on our next spot-kick because he’s a great penalty-taker.

Victory made it five matches unbeaten for us at the start of the season and I hope we’ve stretched it to six at Sunderland on Wednesday night by the time you’re reading this.

The lads have got a real togetherness and want to prove the people who doubt us in the Championship wrong.

There have been some outstanding performers, none better than Viktor Johansson who has been absolutely colossal in goal.

I pay him to make saves, as I remind him most days. It’s the other stuff I’ve really liked. He’s been able to hold the ball and the opposition have had no joy in sniffing for scraps.

Anyone can make a save but can you show safe hands when a centre-forward is rushing in for a tap-in rebound? That’s the test.

I was out with the lovely Mrs Warne on Saturday night as we’d been invited round to some friends in the village.

There was a quick shower once I got home from the game and I had to ditch my favourite Millers polo shirt as I’ve had it for three years and, even though it gets washed regularly, it’s starting to ‘pen and ink’ a bit.

A splash of Tom Ford had me smelling as heavenly as usual.

THIS is how much excitement I’ve felt in the last week of the transfer window ...

Zero. Absolutely zero.

I know fans and the media buzz off it but I can’t wait for it to close at 11pm tonight. It seems to have dragged on forever and forever.

It’s an unnecessary distraction after the season has begun. It should close before opening day and teams should go into the new campaign knowing that the players in their squads are going to be there at least until January.

You want to start out thinking: ‘Here we go then, we’re all in it together, this is the group of players we’re going into battle with.’

You say that to the lads in the last month and they think: ‘Well, in fairness two of us might be sold and a couple of us might be loaned out.’

A deadline before the onset of the season would calm them. They’re a bit unsettled until the window shuts.

I’m compiling this column early in the week and I’m expecting one or two loan departures.

We carry 22 pros at the most and I don’t want players here who feel it would take two injuries and a suspension for them to get into the team. You can’t keep someone motivated if they continually turn up and train and see no way in.

You have to let players go sometimes. I’ll help them and advise them as best I can.

The club will always come first, though, not the individual.

TOM Eaves is one funny guy.

I’m glad our new striker is over the calf injury that he suffered in pre-season and is now starting to get a bit of game-time.

I joked with him in training the other week that, despite all the sun we’d been having, he looked a bit pale.

After enquiring if he was feeling ill, I offered to give him a token to go on a sunbed.

The next day, he said he’d thought about getting his missus to put loads of fake tan on him so he could turn up for training with a bright orange face but that he hadn’t been sure how I’d have taken it.

I told him if he’d knocked on my door looking like an Oompa Loompa I’d have wet myself laughing.

He’s right up my street. We need to get him match-fit. He’ll back himself to do well, which is a great attitude to have.

I’d tried to sign him three times in the past before landing him the summer. Each time we were in League One and each time he politely said he wanted to stay in the Championship.

The lads have all taken to the Scouser and his sense of humour. I think he will be a really good asset on and off the pitch.

LOSING to League One opposition in Morecambe in the Carabao Cup last week disappointed me.

It hurt a little bit less when the third-round draw gave the Shrimpers a midweek trek to MK Dons away rather than a juicy tie at somewhere like Liverpool or Spurs.

I fielded a team mainly of players on the periphery of the first team and no-one put their hand up for a league shirt really.

Our outstanding performers were Pelts and Ollie Rathbone who are already matchday regulars.

It was good to get game-time into people who haven’t been in the side. They need to know how we play, although, ironically, we didn’t play the way we normally do, which was a tad frustrating. We took too many touches.

The good thing was, I could feed back to them in the debrief the next training day and say: ‘We do not do that here.’

IT’S scary to think that Brooke Norton-Cuffy is only 18.

There’s plenty for us to work on with our Arsenal loanee but he did some things against Birmingham on his league debut for us last Saturday that were frighteningly good.

He has all the raw ingredients to become a top-class wing-back.

Brooke had a successful summer with England, winning the European Under-19  Championships and did really well at Lincoln City in League One last season.

Now it’s time for him to test himself in the Championship after we made a move for him following the loss of Peter Kioso to a long-term groin injury.

Please bear in mind Brook’s age and don’t expect too much of him too soon. I don’t want people thinking: ‘Oh he’s from Arsenal, he’s going to have everything on lockdown.’

No teenager has everything sorted. We’ll help him with his game and hopefully he’ll help the team.

All I’ll say is. I’m quite encouraged by what I’ve seen so far.