The Paul Warne Column: Rotherham United's boss on his lucky coat, flat caps and getting out of taking penalties

It made its first appearance of the season against Swansea City last weekend and somehow we came away with a 2-1 win after they had outplayed us for well over an hour.

It was cold last Saturday. Not as cold as at Preston the week before, though. That was really bad.

I wasn’t going to wear it against the Swans but then I decided I would need that reassurance at the side of the pitch if things weren't going so well.

I could do with treating myself to a new lucky coat really. But then last season’s was phenomenally lucky, wasn’t it? I don't feel I can just bin it. And especially not after last Saturday’s events.

It didn't get me quite all the wins I wanted, but I remember it being an excellent coat against Doncaster Rovers. It was the lucky Donny coat, I think.

My head is the worst when it’s cold. I want to wear one of my new flat caps on matchdays, but my missus thinks I look like a weirdo in them. I say ‘them’. I wear only one at a time.

I'm embracing Yorkshire with my flat caps — covering my bald head and ticking a lot of boxes for a lot of people. It would be high risk to wear one on a Saturday.

The Advertiser's Paul Davis was talking to me about my lucky coat. He asked me what it was I liked most about it, the fact that it was lucky or the fact that I got it in the sale?

That is a very good question, maybe the best I’ve been asked this season, certainly the best he’s asked me.

A sale ... Yorkshire-based again. Value for money. I like that. I like the coat for many reasons. It does have good memories for me. It keeps me 'toastie' and it's a good place to be, inside that coat.

I like the fact it's got a good, wide neck. I hear less abuse from behind the bench when I wear it, which is good. It's a bit of a volume-deflector!

*****************************************

FAIR play to Ryan Manning for having the bottle to take and score two penalties against Swansea and win us the game.

You'll not be surprised to hear that I wouldn't have taken them. No chance.

We were 1-0 down when we got the first penalty. If I'm honest, I was thinking: 'I'm not sure we will score this and that will sum up our day. We just haven't been as crisp and as good all over the pitch as I would like.'

I remember looking at their bench and their goalie coach was pointing which way Ryan was going to go.

We all do our work these days. Polly does presentations every week to our keepers on where the opposition have put them in the past. Ry always goes that side, or has done so far for us, I believe.

For him to take one and then take another one is pretty good character for a young man. That's four out of four he's scored.

He's doing all right on penalties, isn't he? If he could add that to his open play, he'd be a superstar. He took the penalties while I had two centre-forwards on the pitch. That shows how good he is at them.

*****************************************

SEMI Ajayi has been magnificent so far this season, mainly as a centre-half but also as a defensive midfielder.

Because of injuries, he's having to play in central defence at the moment, but I do like him in midfield.

Moving Semi further forward again is definitely an option. We're considering it. But it would be a bit weird having two left-footed centre-halves (Clark Robertson and Richard Wood).

I don't know why that is weird, but it is. Two right-footed centre-halves always seems socially acceptable, two lefties is a bit crazy.

Also, if I play Semi as a sitting midfielder, which I am keen on doing, I then lose Willo (Ryan Williams) as a '10' and he's been one of our outstanding performers recently.

I lose, I gain. I gain, I lose. That's the quandary I have.

*****************************************

BEATING Swansea lifted us into 18th place in the Championship but it's tight at the lower end of the table. Had we drawn, we'd have been next to bottom.

Am I focusing on the bottom six or seven places? I'd be stupid to look at the top six. Both Alex Neil (Preston North End boss) and I regarded our clash two weeks ago as a big game.

I still think we should have another four or five points on the board. That would put us in with the Aston Villas and Brentfords, which would be impressive.

I don't see us as a bottom-six team. I definitely don't. Nor will I let the lads think like that. The top eight are breaking away a little bit.

As the football cliche goes — and I love a cliche — it's a long, hard season. The hard months are coming up.

This article first appeared in last week's Advertiser