Seven more years and Christmas socks ... an interview with Rotherham United skipper Joe Rafferty

He's sporting a black jogging suit, trainers and grey socks that both bear the word, 'Thursday'.

"They look like a present," I venture. "Yeah, someone will have bought me them for Christmas," he grins. "I've got a pair for every day of the week."

This is Joe Rafferty, an old head in the dressing room who is planning to become an even older one.

Inspired by a club legend, the Rotherham United captain is aiming to play on for long, long time yet.

Richard Wood - Wembley 'magic man and now a coach - managed to get past his 39th birthday before hanging up his boots.

Rafferty, or 'Raffs' as he's known to everyone in the Millers camp, is hoping to go one year further.

"I've always had it in my head that I want to go to 40," he says. "When I came here and looked at Woody playing until nearly that age, I thought: 'Why not?' I still keep myself fit, I do everything right away from the pitch. I want to go for as long as I can."

He turned 33 last month, so his ambition to become a manager one day looks like being on hold for a good while yet.

The Scouser could add plenty more matches to his career total after hitting the 500 mark in last Saturday's trip to Swindon Town, even though he had to come off injured in that game.

"Physically, I'm as good as I've ever been," he says. "My data is something that I check every day. I'm not slow, but I'm not someone who's lightning quick who's relied on being really fast.

"As you get a bit older, that works in your favour. I've always had to see things on the pitch before they actually happen. I love football, I watch it all the time, it's on in the house all the time. I study the game as much as I can. I think that has helped me."

Rafferty is in his third year at AESSEAL New York Stadium and more than a century of his outings have come in a Millers shirt. The right-back, after a spell as a substitute, is in favour again following boss Alex Bruce's switch in approach from 3-5-2 to 4-3-3 and know what he can offer as Rotherham seek to climb away from the lower reaches of the League Two table.

"Getting the right balance between experience and youth is something that I think every manager in the country is trying to work out," he says. "The game has gone really athletic. Everyone wants to be fast, but there's a time to have that know-how of how to get round the pitch as well.

"Being on the bench was really tough. Since I've been here, I've basically played every week and missed only a couple of games here and there. Quite naturally, I was getting slightly annoyed, especially when things haven't been going our way as a team. I feel that I can help the situation. Hopefully I can stay in the side and we can kick on

"One-hundred per cent, losing gets me down. Since I've come to the club, it's been tough for me. I've played a lot of games, but there have been nowhere near enough wins. It does affect my mood, and so does not being in the team.

"You try to be positive, but sometimes you want to have a sulk, sometimes you want to have a fight. Ultimately, I just want to be out there playing and proving to myself that I've still got plenty left. Everyone thinks I'm getting old, but, in my opinion, I'm really young.

"All I want to do is just play as much as I can. I think you appreciate it more as you get a little bit older. You want to play every single week, so it's up to me, now, to perform and stay in the side".

We're chatting at Roundwood a couple of days before the October 24 home match against Shrewsbury Town, and the defender is always a welcome visitor to the interview room. He's very serious about his football, but accompanying that approach is a quick sense of humour far drier than his dark hair that, on this occasion, isn't long out of the shower.

The 'Thursday' socks make me smile as they're frivolous and seem out of character for a mean, wily competitor who asks for no quarter on the pitch and never gives one.

He's been living with his missus and two young children in Wickersley since his move to South Yorkshire following a League One title triumph with Portsmouth. Individually, the former Rochdale youngster has acquitted himself well, but the team haven't, and his family have felt his frustration over the duration of two-and-a-bit tough seasons.

"You try to leave it at work, but there are times you go home and you're in a mood, probably subconsciously," he says. "It's difficult. I go home and I watch training back, I watch games back. Sometimes I get annoyed with myself if there's a pass there and I haven't made it or if I'd make a bad decision."

It's not only in the Rafferty household that there has been a touch of angst. Supporters have suffered in the drop from the Championship to the fourth tier and the spectre of National League football, that will hang in their air while ever Rotherham are so low in the rankings, has done nothing to lift their worry,

"We've got really good players," says Rafferty. "I'm not saying it's a case of we're too good to go down - that's definitely not the case, as we've seen many times in different leagues. You can't ever think you're too good for that.

"But what I would say is that we believe in ourselves. We believe as a group, in terms of staff and players, that we're more than capable of going on a good run and really firing ourselves up the table.

It might be taking a little bit longer for some of the players to shine, but I really think that they will do. Enough has gone against us in the two seasons I've been here. You've got to overcome it, you've got to crack on."

His experience is important, and the starting 11 has looked better for his recent inclusion.

It doesn't seem five minutes since he was leaving Liverpool's youth ranks and taking his first steps in the pro game as a teenager with Dale where he went on to be a first-team regular for seven seasons before moving on to Preston North End and then Pompey.

Back then, he was the young buck in need advice.

"Yeah, I had some amazing mentors," he says. "One of the biggest ones was Brian Barry-Murphy who is Cardiff City's manager now. He was fantastic for me when I was coming through. My first ever pre-season, I roomed with him and he was absolutely brilliant.

"There was another player, who's a coach at Everton these days, Peter Cavanagh. They're just two that stick out. They never told you what to do, but they kind of ushered you in a way to make the decision yourself.

"That's what I try to do now with some of the younger boys. You've got to make mistakes sometimes, that's part of life. As long as you've got good intent, that's the main thing."

So, seven more years, then ...

"I don't see why not," Rafferty says. "You can go on for longer when your game isn't based on pace. I'm still as confident as I was when I was in my early 20s. Hopefully I can carry on as long as possible.

I check out the 'Thursday' socks again as he gets up to leave and they look pretty new to me.

Plenty of wear in them yet.

Much like the bloke who put them on that morning.