Richard Wood on his new contract, his promotion lager blast and what might have become of him had he not been a footballer ... the Rotherham United skipper writes for the Advertiser

I’ve signed a new deal and next season will be my ninth in a Rotherham United shirt.

I’m well past the 200-appearance mark which means I’ve played considerably more games for the Millers than any of my old clubs.

I came through the ranks at Sheffield Wednesday and had seven years as a pro there but Rotherham is where my heart is — and has been for a long time.

The contract was pretty much done and dusted several months ago. There were a couple of minor things holding it up but I was always confident they would be sorted out.

The gaffer promised me that everything would be done in the end and his word was good enough for me. I never had any worries.

So, I’ll be heading into the Championship as a 37-year-old following our promotion this term.

Can a player of my age do a job at that level? Of course he can. I have no doubts about my ability to perform.

It will be my 20th season as a pro and I reckon I have a few more years left in me yet.

Why would I want to stop when I’m playing at a decent level and enjoying it? Until I feel something has changed drastically in myself, I’ll carry on. I’ll know when it’s time to call it a day.

I still love playing. You hear all the time about former players who have found it difficult when they have hung up their boots. I want to get every last drop I can out of my career and then retire on my own terms.

I think I enjoy it even more now because as I’ve got older I’ve learned to relax more. I don’t have the worries I used to have.

When I was in my late 20s, I was terrible. I was always panicking about the future. Now, with experience, I can accept that the end will come one day. Why worry about something that you know will eventually happen?

I’ve learned there’s more to life than football as well and I make sure I spend plenty of time with my children and my missus. Everything is good.

People ask me all time: ‘When are you going to call it a day?’ Even the Rotherham lads enquire now and then. I tell them that while ever I’m contributing they’re not getting rid of me.

I’ve grown to accept I can’t start every match — much as I’d like to — and I trust the gaffer to know when to play me and when I might need resting.

I still wake up and look forward to going to training. The atmosphere is brilliant in the camp. That’s because it’s full of great lads and great staff.

The whole situation is very good and I feel more motivated than I’ve ever done.

IT’S that time of year again when everyone is wondering about new signings.

The gaffer has said he will recruit this summer so there is likely to be some fresh faces at Roundwood when we return for pre-season training at the end of next month.

The new boys obviously get warned by the management that the regime is going to be tough but it still takes them by surprise just how hard it really is.

I’ve been in football for a long time and the demands and expectations of the management here in terms of effort and fitness are more than at any other side I’ve played for.

The work rate in games is something else. It’s not so bad at centre-half but I really feel for the wing-backs. The flank is not a great place to be! I’m glad I’m not out there.

They have to get up down the pitch, and the same is expected of the midfielders. The strikers don’t escape either. They have to close down every single ball.

It’s great for me. I just stand there giving out orders for the other lads to press!

I like us bringing in new players. It increases squad depth and makes us a better team. The gaffer won’t sign anybody who doesn’t improve us.

The players just get on with their jobs. We don’t focus on who might be arriving. Like the fans, we hear rumours, but we don’t ask the gaffer about potential signings or talk about them among ourselves.

LAS Vegas. Wow!

The lads had a fantastic weekend there celebrating our promotion and Papa John’s Trophy double.

It’s just a mad, crazy place; brilliant for team bonding.

I won’t pretend there wasn’t a lot of alcohol consumed. The picture doesn’t lie!

We needed to let our hair down after ten months of pressure, hard work and disciplined living and we certainly did that.

There’s me, far right on the photo above, relaxing with, from left, Viktor Johansson, Ben Wiles and Angus MacDonald.

It was a bleary-eyed Woody who walked back through the door at Wood Towers a week last Monday.

THE gaffer and I go back a long way.

He was the fitness coach before I had him as my manager. He looked after me back then; he looked after everybody, to be fair.

I’ve always had a good relationship with him and when he took the hot-seat he put his trust in me by giving me the responsibility of being captain.

I’ve got so much respect for him and I like to think he respects me too.

We get on really well as we’re very similar in outlook and have the same set of values. What he believes in is what I believe in. We try to help each other as much as we can.

I’ve learned a lot from him. If I ever become a manager, as I hope to one day, there will be a lot of things that the gaffer does that I’ll take into the job.

WHAT would I have been if I hadn’t become a footballer? Good question.

The answer is, I don’t really know.

I would definitely have gone to university because I did well at school. I took A-levels while I was on the Youth Training Scheme with Sheffield Wednesday.

Normally, the youth trainees went and did a sport BTEC thing but I went part-time to a school in Sheffield and studied for two A-levels.

I got a maths A-level and half a chemistry one. Football was taking up more and more time so I did only a year of chemistry and got what’s called an AS-level. Had I been in school full-time, I would definitely have passed the full A-level.

I have no idea what I’d have done after university. For me, it was all about football from when I started with Wednesday when I was ten. That’s all I thought about.

That maths A-level will come in handy when I finally retire and tot up the number of appearances I’ve made!

To be honest, I can’t remember hardly any of what I was taught. My son, Jenson, gets out his homework — algebra and all that — and I sit there scratching my head thinking: ‘How on earth did I used to do that?’

REGULAR readers of this column will know I enjoy my food.

A beef Sunday dinner takes some beating but if I had to choose my favourite meal of all it would be a big rib-eye steak with thick, triple-cooked chips and a salad.

I have a fillet steak rare but it has to be medium-rare for a rib-eye because I need the fat to cook a bit.

I do like my steaks. And a red wine with it.

If I’m not eating, my favourite alcoholic drink is Madri lager, although I do like a Nespresso Martini as well.

Being a sportsman, I don’t indulge very much at all, but I do treat myself at the end of a season. I like a Corona in the summer.

This all sounds terrible, doesn’t it? I’m not sure I should be putting it in the paper. Please be aware that I lead a life of near-total abstinence for most of the year!

During a normal day in the season I generally have just water and electrolyte drinks; nothing fizzy.