91st place, non-league fears and a chairman under fire ... Fleetwood Town 2 Rotherham United 0

The sun came out as if, somehow, is was choosing to mock Rotherham United.

How dare it turn it up unexpectedly to spectate as the Millers suffered and sank half a mile from the Irish Sea.

Surely, the proper thing to do was stay away, particularly now that the club's summer of optimism has faded into grim, grotesque uncertainty.

Rotherham have lost four games in a row, they occupy one of League Two's relegation spots, fears of the National League have re-emerged and fans chanted: 'We want Stewart out.'

Yes, you've read that right. It was heard during a game for the first time in chairman Tony's 18-year tenure.

'We want Stewart out.'

Next-to-bottom place - 91st of 92 teams in the top four tiers of English football - isn't the fault of Alex Bruce. The head coach has been in his role for less than four months and his budget hasn't been a substantial one. Rotherham's predicament hasn't been a matter of weeks in the making, it's been reached, step by miscalculated step, over a spirit-sapping spell stretching back to 2023.

"I feel for the supporters, I feel for everybody associated with the club," said Bruce as he conducted his post-loss pitchside inquest at Fleetwood Town's Highbury Stadium.

"It's been a tough time - not just while I've been in here, but for a long time. We've just got to work tirelessly to try to change this swing. I'm sure a couple of results would give us confidence, then hopefully we can go on a run."

Nor even in 2008, when the Millers kicked off with a 17-point deduction, where the club this low in the fourth tier. An opening-day win meant they were above two other sides who had also been punished, Bournemouth and Luton Town.

Fans are desperate to have something to get behind. Even here they were eager to back their team whenever there was a fleeting glimpse of something positive.

But that support, right now, is brittle and can turn the other way very quickly. Three years of suffering, two relegations, a number of false dawns and too many lurches in approach see to that.

The chants broke out in the second half while Rotherham were 1-0 in arrears and an equaliser wasn't on the agenda. They were borne of frustration rather than volatility, and not everyone took part. But there will be growing numbers who do - and the volume level will increase to deafening - unless there is a swift turnaround in fortunes. It felt like the chairman had become an outsider in his own club.

He was there, just above the pack of journalists, around the halfway line, his coat drawn at first but later discarded thanks to the elements being so unseasonable.

Who knows if the chants registered with him. They were loud enough to reach the press box. He will have heard them if he wanted to.

While all this was hanging in the warm coastal air, a depressing game was taking place.

Fleetwood had a Ronan Coughlan volley disallowed for offside, Julian Eyestone saved sharply from Mark Helm and it was 0-0 at the break.

That changed 54 seconds into the second half when Shaun Rooney tucked the ball away, and there was no way back from the 80th minute onwards after Coughlan had directed a simple header beyond Eyestone.

A 25-minute burst of Millers pressure between the goals had come to nothing, with Klaidi Lolos denied a debut to remember when a header went just the wrong side of the post, Jili Buyabu's low crosses going untouched and Jayce Fitzgerald bending a free-kick not far off target.

It has been sparked by the simultaneous introduction of a quartet of substitutes, and Bruce said: "Four lads came on the pitch when we were 1-0 down and the reaction was there. Fitzy came on and had had an impact - he got on the ball. Klaidi nearly scored.

"I've given a couple of 'rockets'. I've got confidence in the players to turn this bad couple of weeks around. We've got two home games coming up that are very winnable. All my efforts and concentration have to be on that. We're going to see who the characters are, the ones who are going to respond. Because they need to."

His players want to rely on each other, but a lot of them are young, even more of them are new, and they just haven't worked out a way of doing that yet.

Fleetwood weren't particularly good, and they didn't have to be get the better of visitors who are too soft and too easy to score against. It was plenty enough for the home side to be neat most of the time and incisive now and then.

The first goal saw a low cross go past four Rotherham defenders before reaching the Rooney while Coughlan somehow had a free header in a crowded box.

Each goal was greeted by the Captain Pugwash theme tune. its nautical jauntiness jarring with the cold desolation in the away end.

Interestingly, supporters turned on Stewart, and, later, on the team, but they didn't turn on Bruce. There seems to be an appreciation that it's a mess not of his making that he's trying to clean up.

The players went to the fans at the end to pay rudimentary respects, but they kept a safe distance. Kian Spence got closest. Perhaps he felt brave enough to because he'd been one of those subs who'd added some spark.

Long after the final whistle, as the last workers were packing up and preparing to leave, Bruce sat in the front row of the deserted Main Stand in earnest debate with head of football Steve McClaren and assistant head coaches. The three allies. The three stooges maybe.

The many glories of the chairman's reign seemed a long time in the past.

The sky was still blue and the air still thought it was summer.

The sun continued to shine.

But … four lost games in a row, the occupation of one of the relegation spots, fears of the National League and fans chanting: 'We want Stewart out.'

Make no mistake, this was a dark, dark day in Rotherham United's history.

Fleetwood (3-5-2): Jay Lynch; Shaun Rooney, Rhys Bennett, Finley Potter; Lewis McCann, Adam Murphy (Crispin McLean 77), Mark Helm (Conor Haughey 84), Harrison Neal, Jake Batty; Ched Evans (Will Davies 65), Ronan Coughlan (Raff Cirino 84). Subs not used: James Pradic, Aaron Loupalo-Bi, Josh Robertson.

Rotherham (3-5-2): Julian Eyestone; Dominic Iorfa, Sonny Aljofree (Aaron Nemane 53), Hamish Douglas; Denzel Hall, Josh Austerfield (Kian Spence 53), Brandon Cover (Jayce Fitzgerald 53), Jamie Jellis, Jili Buyabu; Paul Mullin, Tom Bradshaw (Klaidi Lolos 53). Subs not used: Ted Cann, Joe Rafferty, Kieran Ngwenya.

Goals: Rooney 46, Coughlan 80 (Fleetwood)

Referee: Steven Copeland (Merseyside)

Attendance: 3,084 (728)