In praise of Rotherham

[PerigordMiller]

from the Stoke oatcake board:

OK, so Rotherham will probably never get to the dizzy heights of the Premiership in my lifetime - if at all. However, as a small town akin to Stoke (also living in the close shadow of the Sheffield teams), I was quite impressed on Saturday. Working with the local Council, they built a new (if somewhat modest) Stadium close to the town and within a short walking distance to the Bus and Railway Stations.
As a result the Town looked more alive and thriving than Stoke (considering the major shopping outlet Meadowhall is a short drive away). We were also welcomed, firstly by the Rotherham Supporter who rang into radio Stoke on Friday evening informing fans of watering holes, then by welcoming boards directing supporters to a club.
It also appears the Rotherham players are quite down to earth - parking some distance from the players entrance and strolling up to the Stadium and chatting/posing for phots/signing autographs.
On the pitch, Stoke had superior quality (and rightly so, for the money spent), but they stuck to their task and we only came away with 1 point.
Whilst only a hardcore support of under 10 thousand, there is an honours board inside the ground to Supporters who raised £200,000 for a new roof at their old Millmoor stadium - quite impressive.
There is ongoing moans about transport access to the BET365 (and it will probably never be perfect), but getting away from the New York Stadium was so easy. Staying until the final whistle at the end of 6 mins added time, a medium jog to the bus station (plenty of buses available), straight on a bus to Meadowhall, and in my car and away by 19:50.

[millmoormagic]

Cue Rotherham folk's negative response's shortly....

[Ericsladkilnhurst]

Good to see fellow supporters giving some praise to Rotherham, be it we are not the money bags of the championship, but having
a chairman who keeps the club on a even keel in the accounts of the club.
Has said decent distance from town & transport for the fans, pity the trains were on strike on the day, ( Which I back the dispute ), we know that the club is punching above its weight in the championship, & to stay in this league the club will have to get some players in the January window, but the board won't overspend on this, so it will be what is on offer & what the club can afford.

While Tony Stewart knows what he wants to spend, he may at some point let investors come into the club, but at the moment
the club is his baby.

[Hazza Has A Gazza]

Glad to hear they got away from the ground hassle free while we had to zig zag at snails pace through the car park and up Don Street with a police van thrown in just to slow us even more, only to clash on Main Street once again where there were a few squabbles with rival fans.

Other than that, I'm glad they enjoyed their visit. They were the loudest set of fans we've had in NYS possibly of all time. Sat level with the halfway line in the East stand I thought I had a blockage in my right ear as the noise from the north stand was so quiet compared to the away end.

[audimiller]

Strange that because from the north stand i thought they were the quietest fans weve ever had, thinking even Accrington were louder apart from 2 renditions of delilah i never heard them. 🙄

[Hazza Has A Gazza]

Audi, you can only appreciate how quiet the north stand is when you're not in it. Most of the time it can barely be heard from the hallway mark. The acoustics in the stadium are awesome so we can't blame that.
You can see hands clapping and arms waving in the north stand, but no noise, apart from the ever popular 'come on you reds' when we get a corner.

[rolymiller]

I think the answer could be very simple. We were in the north stand on Saturday and I commented on how loud we were that day. (Our lass said its because we were on telly!).I thought the Stoke fans were surprisingly quiet but did get going a bit in the second half. I was just looking at a map of the NYS and the north stand faces more or less south west directly into the prevailing winds which can often be strong. Could the sound just be blowing back into the north stand? It would also explain why the sound coming from the south stand would blow generally across the pitch.

Dunno if we have any acoustic engineers on here who might back that argument up. If this was true, then it may suggest we should have put home supporters in the south stand and away in the north stand. It would be interesting to see what the sound would be like on a still day or if the wind was blowing the other way.



Here is the sciency bit that might back up my argument. (There does seem to be some sort of correlation).

http://www.hk-phy.org/iq/sound_wind/sound_wind_e.html

On another point. would it also be safer to put away fans in the north stand and let them have a head start in getting away from the ground?.Just a thought...


ps all you millers supporters on the half way lines just make a mental note of how good our vocal support is when the wind is calm or blowing from north stand to south stand and report back on here!

[Hazza Has A Gazza]

Roly it's always quiet from the North stand. I know it sounds great when you're in and amongst it but for whatever reason, 90% of the time it's incredibly quiet. Like I said, you can see arms and hands so I know the effort is there, mostly from 150 or so right at the back.
Btw I am a North Stander originally, as I was a Tivoli Ender. I prefer the view from where I sit now but I get dirty looks when I try and join in with the singing, and as it's the family stand, I find it very difficult to curb my swearing!

[rolymiller]

I accept it can be quiet in the north stand at times hazza but my argumernt is: is if the wind is the "wrong way" so to speak the same volume of noise from both sets of supporters would seem louder coming from the south stand.Bear in mind as well that winds in our part of the world tend to come from the sw direction hence the term prevailing wind.I think if millers fans were permanently in the south stand you may think generally we were getting a bit louder.

Could work for us away though if we are sitting in a stand with the wind behind us.

[caytonmiller]

If your report is correct roly and sound into the wind travels further lower down. the solution is simple. Make all the singers sit at the front....