Keep it simple. And fight ... David Rawson's Rotherham United fan column

Let's pretend Derby hadn't come calling. Let's pretend Warne signed a three-year contract extension. Let's pretend last season played out broadly the same: the frenetic energy of those early matches catching up with us, the slump, the scrap and the final exhausted slog over the safety line.

How would you view where we are now?

About par? In touch - though only just - with safety in a nightmarishly tough division, where we have the least resources and budget of anyone and a monstrous injury list. Glimpses of a quality of play that we've never seen previously.

Or failing? Backed by the chairman in fees and wages like never before, a squad of proven Championship talent crushed by being driven to over-exertion, producing only fleeting periods of genuinely competitive play.

There's no world, surely, in which this is a success. But you can, still, argue it both ways. Depending, largely, on whether you like the warmth and charm of the last guy, or the calm, detached professionalism of his replacement.

Me? I find the twisted maze of contradictions too energy-sapping. The sharp, intricate, one-touch triangles that create the space for a wasteful poke forwards. The squad assembled to better keep the ball yielding two thirds of its possession to their opponents. A defence boasting hundreds of Championship games in its collective careers giving up the softest, simplest goals.

The blueprint is there. In the Barnsley side that battered their way to the play-offs. In the Luton side that won them. In the Warnock version of Rotherham that stayed up against all odds.

A simple, clear approach with few frills, and less room for misunderstanding. Do as many things that your opponents dislike as you can. Give them as little as possible. Make them work to beat you.

Accept your limitations. Don't let them define you.

So little about us is simple or clear. We've some big lads, but we're not physically dominant. We've some talented footballers, but we so rarely trust our ability in favour of the lottery of a kick and chase. We've some pace and bustle, but we're not quick and direct.

We're decent, diligent, honest. We play at - or just beyond - our physical limits. We give our all.

But we play like a team that knows “there's a reason” that its players play for Rotherham. We play like a team that knows its place.

And that's dangerous. Because, truth be told, in a lot of ways, our place isn't in this league. And unless we really fight for it, it won't be.