Tonight's bo diddly meet-up

[rolymiller]

20:42
Question for Paul Douglas on club's stance on 'safe standing'...

PD: "There are a couple of clubs, or certainly Shrewsbury, who have been used as a pilot for the testing of it.

"It is still something that is under review and until it is approved going forward, it is difficult for clubs like us with all-seater stadiums to do anything about it at the moment.

"If it did happen, we would take a view on it.

"It has made a difference at Shrewsbury.

"It is a difficult one, but we'll have to see what happens."

Question for Paul Warne on throw-ins...

PW: "We joked today that when we had Will Vaulks he could throw it a million miles, so we didn't have to work on it.

"We do loads of work on throw ins. If you come and watch us train you'll see we genuinely do.

"I still agree with your point, we're not good at them. We're trying to get better.

"We've done loads of work with Matt Olosunde. He is the worst thrower of the ball I have ever seen, you can put that on Twitter, I tell him every day!

"I completely agree. Funnily enough, there is a player we like, who has a long throw. His manager phoned me back and told me I'm the only other manager that gets excited about a long throw!

"It might look random to you lot [when we take one] but it isn't. We're trying to make it less random."

0:32
Question for Paul Warne on how this squad compares to the 2017/18 team...

PW: "I think there is more excitement and pace in this team.

"We have a group, barring a couple, quite young lads. I think potentially they could be better but on the spin side, I could ruin them.

"I have a lot of love for that team for the other year. It had been together a while. They stuck with us and improved.

"I do think there is perhaps a bit more potential in this team."

20:26
Question for Rob Scott and Paul Warne on the major difficulties in recruiting players...

RS: "I don't think we are unique in this. Finances are a big thing, whether it is players wanting too much money, or agents.

"Logistics is another reason. Families of the players. Some of these young players have families and they don't want to relocate. We're lucky in that we live in Rotherham.

"I think it is an old age problem. Ultimately, it is the same around the league. Clubs miss out on players because they don't agree with their demands, or those of the club's they are buying from.

"Yes, we all want the best players, but we want the best players that we can't afford.

"We want the best players for this league, but so does everyone else."

PW: "The other issue we have is with egos. Some players make demands that we'll play them every week and I just won't promise anyone that.

"I told Haks [Adelakun] how hard it would be and that I will be changing the team. I reiterated it would be tough. I told him to go and give it some thought and come back to me if he wanted to sign.

"We have to make sure that we recruit the best players that we can and try and make as few mistakes as we can.

"You can't get all your recruitment right. You just don't know what they're going to be like when they're in the building. You can watch players on Youtube, Twitter or Instagram and they look amazing. Sometimes they come in and it is hard for them. You expect them to slot straight into the team, physically and emotionally I drain the lads."

20:20
Question for Paul Douglas on whether the club has considered 'personalising' the concourses

PD: "We have done some work in the Family Stand to make it a bit more family orientated.

"We do have budget restraints, but we are looking at ways in which we can make it more 'Rotherham United'.

20:17
Chief Operating Officer Paul Douglas has faced the questions this evening.


20:15
Question for Paul Warne on whether the team is 'too honest'...

PW: "I agree that other teams do run the clock down but there is no way I'm going to encourage my players to do that. You pay to watch football not to watch lads roll around on the ground.

"I understand about being in the referee's ear. I do encourage my captain to talk to the referee where it is appropriate.

"I am quite happy with how my players perform. They are respectful of the game.

"To break up opposition momentum, our strategy is to get the ball.

"We do try and break up momentum. We don't lay on the floor and pretend we're injured.

"If the opposition do have momentum we try and change our shape to counter that."



19:48
Question for Paul Warne concerning players like Will Vaulks 'whipping the crowd up' previously, are we able to have players do the same in the current group?

PW: "I understand what you are saying. One of the loudest cheers at one of the last games was when Woody lifted someone up twice with a couple of tackles.

"It is hard to change players' personalities though. It is not natural for some. We try and recruit really strong characters.

"I do understand the point and what Will brought us, when we lost Will, we lost more than the footballer. Even when we weren't playing well, he was able to ignite the team.

"If I could sign three more characters like him, I would love to, to be fair."

19:45
Question for Paul Douglas on having a fan zone/singing area in the North Stand to help improve atmosphere and more of an incentive for supporters to come to the ground early...

PD: "Obviously we have certain restrictions here at the club. We do have what we call our Fan Zone outside the North Stand which is our attempt to provide some form of entertainment for our fans before matches.

"We have had a lot of positive responses from our supporters on that.

"The Trust will have Skill Zones and penalty shootouts and we had Santa's Grotto there recently. We are open to those ideas. We want to use the facilities we have as well as we can, but we do have limitations.

"Turning the outside of the North Stand into a more fan-friendly area is something we are open to improving on."



"We recognise that it is difficult to recreate the noise from the Tivoli in a seated area. We are not sure that we could move a number of season ticket holders without creating an uproar to create a singing section in the stadium.

"I respect the enthusiasm from the crowd on the matter but I do think we would find there would be objection from supporters who have had season tickets in these areas for a long time.

Question now moves to Paul Warne on his experience of the home atmosphere...

PW: "I think the atmosphere is on me. When we're winning it's really good. I take it on my chin. I think the atmosphere away from home has been ledge.

"I think it has been hard here because teams have come here and frustrated us - fans, players and supporters.

"It feels a really positive environment at the moment, but I would say it hasn't been as loud as I would like. I say it to be honest with you because you're honest with me. I do think we're always better when there is a big away following."