The anniversary interview: Paul Warne, three years as boss of Rotherham United

In the beginning, he twisted and turned at 2am, chewed his gums so badly his mouth filled with blood, fretted and fixated at 4am and got through the following day on overdoses of caffeine.

That was in 2016 when he was given the job he didn’t want as boss of Rotherham United. Every night brought troubles and terror. But Thursdays were the worst.

That was when he would agonise over what he would say on Friday to the men he was leaving out of his side.

Next week sees the third anniversary of Warne’s appointment and the tortured soul of old has given way to a better-balanced, more moderate man.

“I’ve become a lot stronger,” he says. “I find it easier to drop players. In the beginning I found that really hard. I don’t enjoy it at all now but, unfortunately, it’s part of the job and I’ve got more used to doing it.

“I evaluate what I do a lot more than I used to. I write down a lot more. Initially, there were things I did well and things I did badly. I look back and realise what worked and what didn’t.

“When I first took over — because it was really only me, Hammy (coach Matt Hamshaw) and Dibbs (goalkeeping coach Andy Dibble) I was trying to do everything. I can delegate a lot more now and that helps. I’ve got good staff around me.

“Being a football manager, there are probably more downs than ups. Even though you might win more than half your games, there’s always bad news around the corner. The physios will knock on my door and give me that look and I think: ‘Oh, here we go.’

“My home life is a lot better. Defeat still hits me really hard but by the time I get out of my car and walk into my house I feel like I’ve cleansed myself, if that makes sense. I try to do that anyway. It’s three years of my life I’m not going to get back. I’ve found a way to cope.

“Away from football, if there is such a place, it’s a little bit more relaxed than it was at the start.”

The drop from the Championship had already been made inevitable by Alan Stubbs and Kenny Jackett by the time Warne took charge. Since then, he has led Rotherham to League One promotion, won plaudits for a brave though failed attempt to stay up and now has the Millers in the play-off places in the third tier.

Lessons learned in those campaigns have hardened him in some areas and softened him in others, but it’s an event away from the sport that has had the most telling effect.

“Some of the change in me has coincided with the last 18 months and my father’s death,” he says. “That’s made a massive difference to me as a bloke.

“You don’t know exactly how you’re going to feel when you lose your dad but it does cause a fundamental change in you. It did with me anyway. I think I’m not so hard on myself now. And I try to enjoy more parts of every day.

“Before, when I first took over, I could get bad news that, say, Joe Mattock wasn’t fit and that would plague my thoughts all day. Now I think that there’s no point stressing about the things I can’t affect.

“Since my dad was really ill and then died, I have, without a shadow of a doubt, become more melancholy.

“I have the outlook that life’s too short. I harp on to the lads all the time about it. Their careers are over so quickly so they have to enjoy them as much as they can.

“Even when we lose, there has to be something in my day that I enjoy. You can’t just be wiping a day out of your week and thinking ‘Well, that was sh*t’.”

We’re talking on the phone last Thursday morning but in the afternoon I find myself in his office. I’m a regular visitor there and the motivational slogans marker-penned on the wall behind his chair are familiar sights.

What I haven’t seen before are the French translations. Cross — traverser, feet — pieds, press — presse, closer — plus proche are just a few on a lengthy list.

Rotherham have youngster Julien Lamy, from France, among their ranks and it turns out Warne is leaving no stone unturned in his bid to communicate with the winger more effectively in training.

He is a driven leader and a self-help crash-course in a foreign language is just one of hundreds of examples of going the extra mile that have helped him rebuild the playing structure since he gave up some of his transfer budget to fund a training complex his squad could be proud of.

He has changed the Millers while he has been changing himself.

“I don’t think I’ve altered as a person, though,” he grins. “I’m still hilarious! My personality hasn’t changed at all.

“I’ve maybe become a bit more media-savvy. I’m more aware than I was initially that everything I say will be read and judged. The chairman reads it, the players read it, the players’ families read it, the fans read it.

“Maybe I’m a bit more polished than I was. But then there are still times, Mate, when I say whatever comes into my head. Some of my humour is wasted in press conferences at away grounds because they don’t really get it.”

His next sentence is important to him: “I don’t think I’ve lost my principles or compromised in any kind of way.”

Weekdays are good but there can still be woe at weekends. Nowadays, if there is any night he doesn’t sleep, it’s a Saturday after a loss.

“I still get very anxious on matchdays,” he says. “I know the politically correct statement is that I wake up on a Saturday morning with a spring in my step and feeling excited about the game. I don’t.

“I wake up with fear. But then, in fairness, I also did when I was a player. The nervous anticipation overflows in me a little bit.

“I’m more proud of being the manager at this club than I was. I see it as more of a privilege than I used to. Initially, I was a bit flippant about it ... you know, ‘Well, if it ain’t good enough, just get someone else in’.

“I’m not like that now. It is all-encompassing all the time. Yesterday was our day off but the staff spoke to each other god knows how many times.

“We watched the Lincoln City game (EFL Trophy) back. Two of my staff went to watch the youth team play. I spoke to the chief exec. It’s just constant. There is no such thing as a real day off.

“Then my missus wouldn’t go to the cinema with me because she said there was nothing good on. That killed me. It put me in a right 12-year-old strop! She insisted we went Christmas shopping instead.

“Life’s pretty good. Why wouldn’t I be happy? We work so hard. We prepare the team as well as we possibly can and at 1pm on a Saturday we don’t have any regrets about what we’ve done.

“If the team then don’t perform well and don’t win, we just have to try to pick them up and win the next game. Once the game is over, what do you want me to say?

“We tried as hard as we could and it wasn’t good enough. Sometimes you have to accept that fact. I think I’m better at that now. We don’t have any divine right to win matches, do we? The opposition are trying as hard as we are.

“I’m not as hard on myself, that is for certain. I do have that philosophy of: ‘It’s going to end one day so you might as well enjoy it as much as you can.’”

He surprises himself with his answer when I ask him if he’d be up for three more years. It’s almost as if the feeling has crept up on him unnoticed.

“Yeah, I would actually,” realises the man who was hoping to hand back the reins after one match when he was first named caretaker boss. “God, that’s a weird thing to say.

“Doing three more years doesn’t seem as brutal as it once did. If you’d have asked me after three weeks if I was going to do the job for three years, I wouldn’t have been able to see the light through the trees. Now I see a lot of light.

“If I had my time again, I wouldn’t change anything. Any team I’ve picked, I’ve picked that line-up for the right reasons. If you don’t play a fan’s favourite player, you don’t know what you’re doing. If you do pick them, then you’re great.

“We’ve never taken an easy decision on anything. If it ended this afternoon, I’d have no regrets and think I did everything that I wanted to do. For me and my staff, it’s about more than just performances. But that’s all you’re judged on, innit?”

“When it ends for me at this club – as it obviously will end one day –  I will feel like I’ve possibly proved a few people wrong. I’ll definitely look back with a lot of pride. I think I’ve improved the club; not with things that fans will necessarily see.

“I just think that for the people who work here and for the players there is a much better culture, a better environment, than there used to be. Whoever succeeds me will come into a really good place.”

Our time in his office is over and he prepares to head home where his Thursday slumber will be uninterrupted.

While we’ve been chatting, I’ve spotted an A4 print-out on his desk of the predicted line-up of Accrington Stanley, the opponents due at AESSEAL New York Stadium two days later.

Alongside headshots of every Accrington player are pointers about their strengths, weaknesses, style and physical make-up. Rotherham’s squad had all been given copies before a team meeting earlier that day.

More attention to detail in Warne’s consuming mission to make the Millers stronger.

Or plus forte, as the boss of three years might say.

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WARNE AND STEWART

PAUL Warne’s bond with his chairman has been key to him lasting three years in the Rotherham United hot-seat.

Millers owner Tony Stewart asked him to step up from fitness coach when Kenny Jackett departed AESSEAL New York Stadium after only 39 days in charge on November 28 2016.

The manager and Stewart meet in person or speak on the phone several times a week and have developed a strong connection.

“My relationship with the chairman has to be all right, that’s the most important thing,” Warne said. “My relationship with my staff and players will always be all right, I think. I’m always honest with them and there are no grey areas.

“I have to keep my relationship with the chairman good. As long as he’s happy with what I’m doing, then my work/life balance is great.

“As soon as he isn’t happy ... well, three years of having an unhappy chairman behind you wouldn’t happen.”

Warne was reluctant to take the role permanently after a spell as caretaker boss but was persuaded by Stewart that he was the right man for the job.

“Luckily, the chairman has been really supportive,” he added.