Realise the potential before it's too late ... The David Rawson Rotherham United Fan Column

The present state of our club, summarised in one incident.

Away from home, second from bottom of League Two, desperately needing a win after effectively throwing away two games at AESSEAL New York Stadium. Key players missing through injury and suspension. A time to dig in, to stick together, be hard to beat.

Instead, Jili Buyabu gets a niggly shove in the back off the ball. Could he let it go? Control himself? Of course he could. But he can’t concede the last word. So he leaps into Swindon Town’s midfielder, in full view of the referee, and earns the most unarguable red card I can ever remember.

When literal push came to shove, it was about him settling his own score as an individual, rather than the needs of the team.

We’ve seen that so often in the past few years. People out for themselves, rather than for the team. This is how it starts.

For now, there’s still potential in the group. They don’t give up, as a rule. They could - should - have snatched a point late on, with nine men. The coaching staff can take credit for the team’s willingness to have a go in the face of adversity. The players can be take heart that they could cause trouble, even with a two-man disadvantage.

But it’s cold comfort.

This isn’t battling against insurmountable odds in the Championship. This is the bottom of the fourth division, against a Swindon team who barely created a worthwhile chance despite having a numerical advantage for 86 minutes.

Because they’re not very good. Like everyone else.

Yes, I know, we’re nearly bottom, so what does that say about us. But look, it’s not being arrogant or above ourselves to say we have every right to expect much, much, much better than this. It’s not hard to be competitive in this league. Some big, experienced lads in the spine of the team, basic discipline, basic organisation and you win at least one in every three games.

We’ve won two all season. Because we’re organised enough, but too weak, and too lacking in care.

Our head of football popped up again last week, to assure us that this is all to be expected as a team comes together. Not just a team. A club. He’s building a club from scratch, he said, so it’s bound to be slow going in the first few months of that process.

But how come we need to rebuild from scratch at all? It can’t have been doing too badly in all those years yo-yoing between League One and Championship. That BBC podcast series with Paul Warne in it didn’t suggest a club that had nothing going for it.

So, how have we got to this state? Who allowed the decline?

And more to the point, who is going to stop it?