Now do you all believe me?

[millavanilla]

Some good posts and I agree with all the negative ones........Anyone feeling positive needs a mental health check.

Most of us are exhibiting the stages of grief and at present we are in the blame stage and soon will go into the depression stage.

Petewaller as usual gives a nice summary and I cannot disagree with anything he says.

To be honest the vast majority of supporters now realise that the situation is dire.

Nobody cares about this season,it's gone but we are concerned yet again there is seemingly no useful preparation for next season.

Listening to Giddings on the radio makes me ill..Making excuses for TS..Belittling listeners and the head in the sand attitude is pathetic.

"There may be lots of things going on behind the scenes" is the Giddings theory....Well to be fair and taking it literally I agree...almost certainly there is plenty going on behind the scenes!

This is the club I have supported nearly all my life and it's burning while Nero fiddles.

I make no apology for being negative as I find absolutely nothing to be positive.

Mind your head on the gym ceiling is a joke but really it's not funny!

if we keep nipping round to boothys, he might have got a couple of double deckers in...
take the top deck floor out and the jobs a good un..it'll do for our lot...

[millavanilla]

Trust TS as a person that's all. He's never let me down. Can tell he's as honest as they come. He's not made any promises financially he hasn't kept. We're lucky to have him.

he has no knowledge of football and neither do the people below him, but without him we wouldnt have got to where we are now..instead we would now be extinct or, at best, 4 or 5 tiers down in non league football ..it was really going to happen...its a shame that the championship is a bridge too far without investment, but for a rotherham supporter, thats just how it is...

[mellowmiller]

he has no knowledge of football and neither do the people below him, but without him we wouldnt have got to where we are now..instead we would now be extinct or, at best, 4 or 5 tiers down in non league football ..it was really going to happen...its a shame that the championship is a bridge too far without investment, but for a rotherham supporter, thats just how it is...

"But for a Rotherham supporter that's just how it is" sums up the situation quite succinctly.
However, when we moved into NYS we attracted about 5000 new supporters and they've generally seen little but relative success until this season. But now, having watched us give up our Championship status without so much as a whimper I fear that a good number of these newbies will not return next season.
Additionally we've already seen on here that a fair few of the more established supporters are uncertain about what to do or have already decided not to renew their season tickets.
The financial implications of relegation will be significant and I just hope it doesn't lead to a downward spiral - it's happened to a lot of clubs with much greater resources than we have.
People say "once a Miller always a Miller" but I bet a lot of those will follow the fortunes of the club from their armchairs next season rather than going to the matches.

[kempo]

Another good post mellow,one which I agree with.

Its a shame that people like Yak have to make personal attacks rather than deal with the subject matter.

Milla of course is Milla and he is allowed to insult me but Yak is a nobody and should show respect towards one of the board's top posters.

[Yak]

Pmsl Kempo .

Personal attacks really my you are insecure aren't you?

Fragile and attention seeking springs to mind.

Brilliant just brilliant.

[lbj]

Some good posts and between you you've answered all the questions there could be .... who needs a forum !

KJ was the point when TS said - "Let the chips fall as they may" - and let Warnsey play for a while - take us down and regroup - some say why bother because the same budgets will be our stumbling block.....but who knows that for sure.

TS is said to not know football - but when money is concerned - my bet is he's a quick learner....so - back to a Stubbs type manager ( 3 year project - lol ) and back up team - but with a championship infrastructure and better players we'll go for it again.

Just remember not to destroy the manager by shouting "die" at him and a new squad ( allegedly at Barnsley ) - don't forget insults like "Mr Personality" hurt and if the fans want a motivated manager / squad they need support - as individuals.

It's seem like a lifetime away now but reading back - these pages were awfully hostile to all things Rotherham United !

And were you all right - NO!

Even now huge generalisations are accepted as the truth and blaming one guy is most definitely wrong - and should never happen again - in my view it's cost us our place in the championship !

And killing two birds with one stone here I've found a very apt quote from EVO regarding the the treatment of our next manager - whoever it is - just remember:

"The numpties out there - the few of them who moan and groan - want to realise that it takes a little bit of time whren we bring players together to get a style and a pattern and to get everyone fit"

So it's nothing new - but as fans - it's "shambolic" !

[leedsmiller]

I remember very well when we were a permanent fixture in the Second Division. Having known nothing but since my inauguration in 1957 I was devastated when we were relegated (what's that?) in 1968. Little did I know that would be the first of many such experiences over the decades that followed. But they don't get any easier, whatever the circumstances, and this one has been particularly onerous for many reasons. On the other hand, we wouldn't have relegations if we didn't have promotions (assuming we retain our FL status) so we may have had a chequered 50 years since that first heartbreak but it's not been all bad by any means. And there will be good times ahead. Just how far ahead I don't know - but I hope they're in my lifetime! If not, looking at the bigger picture, looking at the family I've helped raise, it's not all that important really...

[gwru]

It's way we've gone down which hurts & seeing empty seats tues.

But look at the bigger picture. We're all here alive & kicking. Saw Judd Trump beat Ronnie last night. Cheltenham next week. 4 days of magic.

[millertop]

It's way we've gone down which hurts & seeing empty seats tues.

But look at the bigger picture. We're all here alive & kicking. Saw Judd Trump beat Ronnie last night. Cheltenham next week. 4 days of magic.

I'm not hurt by that Gwru but bloody angered by it

[MagyarMiller]

I remember very well when we were a permanent fixture in the Second Division. Having known nothing but since my inauguration in 1957 I was devastated when we were relegated (what's that?) in 1968. Little did I know that would be the first of many such experiences over the decades that followed. But they don't get any easier, whatever the circumstances, and this one has been particularly onerous for many reasons. On the other hand, we wouldn't have relegations if we didn't have promotions (assuming we retain our FL status) so we may have had a chequered 50 years since that first heartbreak but it's not been all bad by any means. And there will be good times ahead. Just how far ahead I don't know - but I hope they're in my lifetime! If not, looking at the bigger picture, looking at the family I've helped raise, it's not all that important really...

Very interesting post LM.

I turned 50 last month, so since my first game some time in the early '70s all I've really known are these perennial ups and downs, so for me, there was always a sense of inevitability about a relegation from this level sooner or later.

We were always going to struggle at this level, even more so than similar times in the second tier in the past.
However, unlike the previous few seasons, I think what we are finding difficult to take in this particular relegation battle is an apparent lack of fight this year, there seems to be an almost air of resigned acceptance of there fate and are now just going through the motions.

I'd like to think that's not the case and I'm not sure whether it's better to just accept they're simply not good enough for this league.

I know lbj regularly mocks what people describe as 'the Rotherham way' in that it's effort over substance, but I imagine that's more as a reaction against a specific plan that we should have adopted.

But, of any success in our recent history, there as always been an element of, if not the foundations it was built on, of the collective being worth more than the sum of it's parts.
In much more simplistic terms though, personally I think people could have accepted relegation much easier if there seemed to be some effort put in by ALL the team.
Even if all it amounted to was, for want of a better phrase, a lot of running about.

It probably wouldn't have made a bit of difference, and some of the defeats might have been even heavier, but I'd rather come, out of a game in this potentially record breaking relegation season with the view that they couldn't have done or given any more
rather than [insert name of choice] is stealing a wage or was anonymous or wasn't trying.