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|
Interview
with Rotherham manager Ronnie Moore 03/02/04 |
| When
people talk about managers who have worked the lower leagues to perfection,
it’s generally Crewe’s Dario Gradi who gets the plaudits.
But at Rotherham’s Millmoor ground, there’s another boss
who works miracles on a shoestring. Ronnie Moore has dragged the Millers
from the Third Division to a place right in the heart of Division
One, working in a world a long way removed from the fast cars and
loose women of the Premier League. “From where we started in Division Three five years ago, it’s a long way to where we are now. We were lucky that we got back to back promotions which helped us on our way but every year it gets harder in this league – you look at the start of the season and you find West Brom, West Ham and Sunderland have come down and then you’ve got the likes of Wigan and Cardiff with all their money coming up, and you know you’ve got a fight on. For us to survive in that is a wonderful achievement, not just for me but for all my staff, my players and everybody at the club. “Every year, it’s a relegation battle for us, every year we have to find three sides that are worse than us, and that’s not negative thinking, those are the facts of life. But we’ve done okay, we’re playing well and we’ve been unlucky in a couple of games, especially last Saturday when we let in a goal in the last minute to drop two points to Forest. We did the same against Norwich, 4-3 up with ten men, getting caught in the last minute was gutting. That’s four points lost and if we’d had them, we’d be on 42 and only eight short of the magical 50. We want to be surviving and playing on at this level, because there’s nothing better for a club our size than to be in Division One, it’s a tough old league. “Saying that, it’s a bit more of a level playing field now because teams can’t go out and spend fortunes on bringing players in. So you have to try to improve what you’ve got, and we’re used to that. We’ve always had to coach players from the Third Division into being First Division players. Bringing our own lads through is important and we’ve got four or five boys who’ve come through the ranks. That’s the way forward for us. “Andy Monkhouse is the kind of player that could play at whatever level he decides he wants. He’s good enough for the Premier League, but he could end up staying in this league or end up at the Dog & Duck! It’s all down to him. He’s got great talent and he knows he needs to be more consistent. He’s come in and scored a couple of goals in the last two games so I hope he’s going to go on from there. Over the other side there’s Chris Sedgwick who has played probably twice as many games for us at the same age. If Andy can get the same work ethic in his game that Chris has in his, them two are going to be alright.” Recent transfer dealings suggest that Rotherham are winning more respect across the game, as Moore agrees. “We let Byfield go to Sunderland and we took Michael Proctor and he’s shown that he wants to play first team football and he’s a good signing. And to have Robbie Stockdale on loan, a Scottish international who has played in the Premiership, it shows that we’re not little old Rotherham any more, we can stand up and fight with the best at this level. I would like to think we can go beyond this opint where we’re always looking over our shoulder at the relegation places. I’d like to think we could get established here and become a Preston or a Crystal Palace, a mid-table side who don’t always have to be worrying about getting relegated. “Football is a pressure game anyway, top or bottom, but I can tell you the pressure’s an awful lot nicer when you’re going for the top prizes than worrying about being at the bottom. We don’t want to be relegated, we want to stay and enjoy life among the big boys at this level, playing the likes of Norwich, West Ham, Sunderland, West Brom, Ipswich. We don’t want to be going back to Scunthorpe, Lincoln, Mansfield, Halifax. We need to be able to compete at this level, and if we can’t, that’s the most frustrating aspect.” Finances dictate that Rotherham share Millmoor with the local rugby club, which must have an impact on the pitch, though groundsman Bill Corby works wonders on the turf to provide a decent surface. “People say that having the pitch ripped up by rugby players doesn’t matter to us because we never pass the ball, but that’s an insult to our lads at times because we can knock it about and we do play some good stuff. We have been more direct at times because we’ve bee forced into playing that way, going long with the ball and squeezing up from the back to condense it. But to be fair to the rugby club, the pitch isn’t as bad as it could be. We’ve been very lucky that we haven’t had too many wet days when they’ve played which has protected it, but of course it’s not as good as it could be. But it doesn’t hinder a passing side, as we’ve shown.” |
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