How much money Rotherham United would have to lose a week in the chase for Championship success

The Millers were wracking up weekly losses approaching £100,00 last season on their way to sliding back into League One and are reliant on the backing of chairman Tony Stewart to stay afloat.

Only by more than tripling that figure could they hope to put a dent in the second tier, revealed academic, author and broadcaster Kieran Maguire.

He went on to commend chairman Tony Stewart's policy of continuing to run the club in a sensible manner and not put its future at risk.

“Financially, Rotherham had a good season, but they were still losing £87,000 a week (before player sales),” Maguire told the Advertiser.

“In any other business, you would say that was awful, but football is different, especially in the Championship. It's like a casino: you have, effectively, got to commit to losing £300,000 a week to be able to go and put your chips in.

“There are so many other owners of clubs in that division who are putting in £15/20 million a year. And what have they got to show for it?

“I don't think Tony Stewart wants to go that far and I absolutely understand why.

“You look at Millwall, they lost more than £300,000 a week last season. Clubs like them, Bristol City and Preston North End – ones you'd call the 'middle' class of the Championship – are good, solid clubs with half-decent fan bases and yet it is so challenging for them to compete.”

City's losses over the years amount to £224m and Preston's £90.3m. Rotherham's total is £7.6m.

Maguire says that the Millers couldn't realistically expect anything other than relegation last term bearing in mind their financial circumstances.

“For a club with the lowest revenue (£16.6m), the lowest wage bill (£12.9m) and the lowest squad cost £2.1m), they were what you would expect them to be in the Championship,” he said.

“It was always going to be a tough season, on and off the pitch. The club is run in the most sustainable way it possibly can be.

“Even the clubs with parachute payments tend to lose money. It's quite scary when you look at some of the numbers. They make money only if they come down from the Premier League with a couple of decent players who they then sell.”

Rotherham managed to stay up in 2022/23 but have fallen straight back to League One in all four of their other most recent attempts to avoid the drop.

Maguire says that any year in which they pull off an against-all-odds survival should be a cause for huge celebration.

“Leeds United came down at the end of last season. Their squad cost was £300m. Rotherham's cost £2m,” he said. “How do you possibly compete? The answer is, you can't.

“What Rotherham do is say: ‘We have a bottom-three budget but our ambition is to punch slightly above our weight and finish fourth from bottom.’

“If they do it, it is a fantastic season. You should be having an open-top bus parade for that!”