Poor enough to fear the unthinkable ... The David Rawson Rotherham United Fan Column

Saturday, October 17 2026. A new low.

5pm and Rotherham United are second bottom of the entire Football League, five points above bottom place, but having played three games more.

Eased aside by a Fleetwood Town team that had lost three and drawn one of it last four games. Capable of being cut adrift at the bottom of the bottom league, without being able to do anything about it. For the immediate future at least, in the ultimate relegation scrap.

How have things come to this? Who are we, as a club? What’s our future look like? Where, exactly, is our lowest point?

It’s a disorientating feeling. Old certainties are falling away. I can’t ever remember - even in the darkest moments of administration and its aftermath - feeling that relegation to the National League was a realistic concern.

What I saw against Fleetwood was a Rotherham team that absolutely could do the unthinkable.

Most worryingly, It wasn’t that we were bad, as such. We didn’t give in after conceding. We were up for the fight. There were moments of impressively fluid play. .

But we didn’t have enough of what it takes.

Not enough physique. Not the legs to outrun and grind down opponents. Not enough skill to compensate for what we lack. There’s some good players, with good attributes, but as a team we’re not quite up to it.

Short of confidence, morale low, we kick hard, but we’re at the mercy of the current.

Drifting.

You could argue that the Auto Windscreens win was the high-water mark of Ken Booth’ s ownership. It was a moment when the town embraced its club, when shrewd investment might have propelled us forward. What Ronnie achieved later was despite the ownership’s approach, not because of it.

Maybe Georgie Kelly’s goal at Gillingham was the equivalent of this regime.

In that moment we had a clear culture, an identity, a togetherness with the fans. Investment then - in a long-term contract for the manager, better training facilities, a modern off-field set-up - and we might have ridden the wave to become an established Championship club.

Instead, drift set in.

Paul Warne, given a rolling contract, floated away from us. Matt Taylor was given short-term funding, but his ideas for longer-term investment were ignored. Liam Richardson came and went. Steve Evans felt like a flailing grasp at the receding shoreline of our past. Matt Hamshaw, as a kind of nod to Warne, the same. Lee Clark seemed to be the only man who’d answer the phone to us.

Now, here we are.

We’ve an ex England manager overseeing things, a young manager, decent and committed, a squad that is trying, that cares and can play a bit.

But not strong enough to scrap.

Now in a fight to stay in the Football League.

And apparently unable to move forward because there’s no longer a floor to push off from.