'Yo-yo club' ... Rotherham United chief operating officer Paul Douglas on how the Millers are trying to put an end to an unwanted tag

Paul Douglas doesn’t want Rotherham United to be known as a ‘yo-yo club’ but accepts the Millers’ up-and-down EFL status over the last seven seasons makes it a justified description.

The label isn’t a sign of failure, the chief operating officer reckons, more a mark of over-achievement for a club whose natural place in the grand scheme of things would be somewhere in the third tier.

“You only have to look at the Championship and see the size of some of the cities,” he said. “There are some big clubs in there.

“At any one time, nine or ten of them have been in the Premier League in the last few years.

“From League One to the Championship is a huge step. For clubs of our size,  you look in recent years at the Peterboroughs, the Burtons, the Wigans ... they’ve found it very difficult, as we have, to get a foothold in there.”

The last time Rotherham managed to stay at the higher level was in 2016 when Neil Warnock arrived in February to inspire the 16-game Great Escape.

Survival attempts fell short in 2017, 2019 and 2021 but Douglas is confident next year can bring a change in outcome.

“I believe we’ve learned from the experiences we’ve had and that we can sustain ourselves in there,” he said.

Three relegations have been followed by instant promotions under then-manager Paul Warne and the COO says the highs along the way in those achievements shouldn’t be under-estimated.

“Every season has its own story and I don’t think our supporters have not enjoyed the League One campaigns,” he said.

“We’ve had fantastic League One campaigns where we’ve been winning games away from home and at times giving teams a hiding here at New York Stadium and playing really attacking, attractive football.

“I don’t believe the bottom part of the yo-yo has been anything to be disappointed with. Nevertheless, I’d love to see us shake off that name this term and gain that foothold in the Champ.”

The Millers will take no risks with their financial stability, believing they can beat the odds with the right management and staff working in tandem.

“We do our best,” Douglas said. “We are prudent in the way we spend. We like to think we have people at the club who are good at what they do and enable us to punch above our weight and get value for money in everything we do.

“We’ll continue to do that. Let’s hope that we can take that little step further and become a team that can consolidate themselves in the higher league.

No-no to the yo-yo.

Championship, Championship ... that’s the aim for 2023.

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STAYING up is the key to Rotherham United spreading their appeal to a greater number of potential new signings, says Paul Douglas.

The view of the chief operating officer is that better-quality players would regard AESSEAL New York Stadium as a more tempting destination if they felt the Millers were beginning to establish themselves as a Championship club.

“It might just open up a certain area of the market we haven’t been able to get into before,” he said.