Are Ross Burbeary/Matt Hamshaw working the team too hard in training?

[mygiddypant]

I think if anyone watched the Premier League games on Sky over the weekend they would realise that we are not suffering more hamstring or muscle injuries than anyone else which is remarkable because their training facilities are vastly superior to ours.

You're right. But they're not part of the conspiracy.

[DerekMiller]

I am not going to get into a PD discussion, some people on here think he is blameless and is a good COO and others don't, we are all allowed to have an opinion.

Please tell me what is there to be positive about at Rotherham United at the moment? Instead of attacking other posters or talking about the days with buckets (i was there I remember them) which is what the happy clappers often do, give us your insights into what we should be happy about.

I'm pretty happy overall with my football club. Is it perfect? No. Are the board above criticism? No. Is the manager above criticism? Nope. Are the players perfect? Nope. There are negatives of course and we footy fans just love to chew over them. Fans of every club do it, it's one of the rights of the modern supporter.

But there are still plenty of positives, and this does not make me a happy clapper. I just weigh up the pros and the cons and think that overall we're in a good place.

We're at the embryo stage of a new management set up that has been implemented to try and reverse several years of doom and rot. Hamshaw is a brand new manager learning his craft, if he was perfect straight away and had us at the top of the table looking invincible then it's a guarantee he'd be offered big money to go elsewhere. But Hamshaw and the team need time to iron out the creases and build up a decent squad. It's a three season project, which I anticipate will all be contested in League One. We can push the panic button if we're in the bottom four come January, but for now I'm happy to be on board to see the project develop.

With the current club structure, the wealth of the chairman, the size of the fan base, I think it's fair to say that our glass ceiling is finishing in the lower half of the Championship. But that is considered by many to be a massive over achievement but yet we have done it a few times in the last 20 years or so. I would imagine clubs of a similar size and set up would look up to us as an example of what can be achieved within our limitations.

Anything more would require vast investment at board level, and for that we roll the dice on who we get. I quite like the fact we have a local businessman in charge, who operates from within the town and knows the community. He's not perfect, as previously mentioned, but who else locally has the wealth and desire to run RUFC? I can't think of anyone, I often look at the Yorkshire Rich List and the only person in the top 50 with the kind of wealth that could move us forward is the guy who owns AES Seal. Given he already has involvement with the club as stadium sponsor etc, I would imagine he's had plenty of opportunities to get involved further. The fact that he hasn't suggests maybe he has no interest at all in that. So then we'd need to rely on someone from further afield with no affinity to the community who would treat RUFC like some vanity project plaything. That might sound appealing but it's a big risk, for every Ryan Reynolds there's probably three Chansiri's.

I'm happy I get to watch my team play, meet my family at the game, have a few beers, discuss the match. I'm happy my club is a strong community club with local people in charge, both at board and manager level. I'm happy that we are more or less at our natural level and slowly building towards a push back towards our glass ceiling. I'm happy I get to have a moan if we play badly because we all love a good moan, but I'll still be there the following week with the usual pre match optimism that is often squashed 10 minutes into the game.

But if it was really that bad, I'd stop going.

That won't be happening any time soon

[parkgatewelfare]

Re DerekMiller, What an excellent post, a positive and insightful look at our club.

[mellowmiller]

You're right. But they're not part of the conspiracy.

I think the key part in your earlier post is about the intensity of the modern game rather than the number of games being played.
Let's face it, it's not that unusual for players to break down in the pre-match warm up nowadays as they can be pretty intense too!
The game is definitely faster than it used to be and it does make you wonder if players at all levels are nearing the limits of their physical capabilities.

[caytonmiller]

Great post Derek. I honestly think other clubs would look at the millers and believe TS has thrown loads of cash at our success. Think plenty would be be smacked at how much he has spent

[Townerslovechild]

We do seem to have had a bad start this season with injuries, but we've had lots of injuries for few seasons.
I don't think it's owt to do with the training methods, given our players limitations, being the first team is a must.

Fitist team,not first,don't think that's likely this season !

[ragingpup]

Great post Derek.

[Brin]

I'm pretty happy overall with my football club. Is it perfect? No. Are the board above criticism? No. Is the manager above criticism? Nope. Are the players perfect? Nope. There are negatives of course and we footy fans just love to chew over them. Fans of every club do it, it's one of the rights of the modern supporter.

But there are still plenty of positives, and this does not make me a happy clapper. I just weigh up the pros and the cons and think that overall we're in a good place.

We're at the embryo stage of a new management set up that has been implemented to try and reverse several years of doom and rot. Hamshaw is a brand new manager learning his craft, if he was perfect straight away and had us at the top of the table looking invincible then it's a guarantee he'd be offered big money to go elsewhere. But Hamshaw and the team need time to iron out the creases and build up a decent squad. It's a three season project, which I anticipate will all be contested in League One. We can push the panic button if we're in the bottom four come January, but for now I'm happy to be on board to see the project develop.

With the current club structure, the wealth of the chairman, the size of the fan base, I think it's fair to say that our glass ceiling is finishing in the lower half of the Championship. But that is considered by many to be a massive over achievement but yet we have done it a few times in the last 20 years or so. I would imagine clubs of a similar size and set up would look up to us as an example of what can be achieved within our limitations.

Anything more would require vast investment at board level, and for that we roll the dice on who we get. I quite like the fact we have a local businessman in charge, who operates from within the town and knows the community. He's not perfect, as previously mentioned, but who else locally has the wealth and desire to run RUFC? I can't think of anyone, I often look at the Yorkshire Rich List and the only person in the top 50 with the kind of wealth that could move us forward is the guy who owns AES Seal. Given he already has involvement with the club as stadium sponsor etc, I would imagine he's had plenty of opportunities to get involved further. The fact that he hasn't suggests maybe he has no interest at all in that. So then we'd need to rely on someone from further afield with no affinity to the community who would treat RUFC like some vanity project plaything. That might sound appealing but it's a big risk, for every Ryan Reynolds there's probably three Chansiri's.

I'm happy I get to watch my team play, meet my family at the game, have a few beers, discuss the match. I'm happy my club is a strong community club with local people in charge, both at board and manager level. I'm happy that we are more or less at our natural level and slowly building towards a push back towards our glass ceiling. I'm happy I get to have a moan if we play badly because we all love a good moan, but I'll still be there the following week with the usual pre match optimism that is often squashed 10 minutes into the game.

But if it was really that bad, I'd stop going.

That won't be happening any time soon

Derek, an amazing and long overdue analogy on everything currently RUFC.

Thank you for such a forth write view.

[mellowmiller]

I'm pretty happy overall with my football club. Is it perfect? No. Are the board above criticism? No. Is the manager above criticism? Nope. Are the players perfect? Nope. There are negatives of course and we footy fans just love to chew over them. Fans of every club do it, it's one of the rights of the modern supporter.

But there are still plenty of positives, and this does not make me a happy clapper. I just weigh up the pros and the cons and think that overall we're in a good place.

We're at the embryo stage of a new management set up that has been implemented to try and reverse several years of doom and rot. Hamshaw is a brand new manager learning his craft, if he was perfect straight away and had us at the top of the table looking invincible then it's a guarantee he'd be offered big money to go elsewhere. But Hamshaw and the team need time to iron out the creases and build up a decent squad. It's a three season project, which I anticipate will all be contested in League One. We can push the panic button if we're in the bottom four come January, but for now I'm happy to be on board to see the project develop.

With the current club structure, the wealth of the chairman, the size of the fan base, I think it's fair to say that our glass ceiling is finishing in the lower half of the Championship. But that is considered by many to be a massive over achievement but yet we have done it a few times in the last 20 years or so. I would imagine clubs of a similar size and set up would look up to us as an example of what can be achieved within our limitations.

Anything more would require vast investment at board level, and for that we roll the dice on who we get. I quite like the fact we have a local businessman in charge, who operates from within the town and knows the community. He's not perfect, as previously mentioned, but who else locally has the wealth and desire to run RUFC? I can't think of anyone, I often look at the Yorkshire Rich List and the only person in the top 50 with the kind of wealth that could move us forward is the guy who owns AES Seal. Given he already has involvement with the club as stadium sponsor etc, I would imagine he's had plenty of opportunities to get involved further. The fact that he hasn't suggests maybe he has no interest at all in that. So then we'd need to rely on someone from further afield with no affinity to the community who would treat RUFC like some vanity project plaything. That might sound appealing but it's a big risk, for every Ryan Reynolds there's probably three Chansiri's.

I'm happy I get to watch my team play, meet my family at the game, have a few beers, discuss the match. I'm happy my club is a strong community club with local people in charge, both at board and manager level. I'm happy that we are more or less at our natural level and slowly building towards a push back towards our glass ceiling. I'm happy I get to have a moan if we play badly because we all love a good moan, but I'll still be there the following week with the usual pre match optimism that is often much the samesquashed 10 minutes into the game.

But if it was really that bad, I'd stop going.

That won't be happening any time soon

An excellent post Derek and I feel pretty much the same about a lot of your thoughts. I suspect we may be of a similar age?
Unfortunately the elephant in the room is that a lot of younger people have a different view and many of them feel the club is doing little to attract and retain the next generation of supporters.

[Townerslovechild]

Stewart isn't perfect, but he saved the club,and continues to keep us steady and solvent.
I'd love us to do a "Bournemouth, Brentford, or Wrexham ",and I'm sure Mr Stewart would as well, but unfortunately we haven't the cash.
I honestly believe our best chance was if Warne had stayed he would have kept us up that season, and given some big luck and shrewd management we might have scraped into the top 6 one day,other teams have done it recently on small budgets.
I've a feeling that Hamshaw will come good, but it will take time, maybe 2 or 3 seasons, however some on here won't give him 2 or 3 games, which is ridiculous.
Remember, our best ever manager took 3 years to get out of the 4th division .