In 1959-60 they were involved in some epic FA Cup battles with mighty Arsenal. The teams drew at Millmoor in a third round tie and against the odds they drew in the replay at Highbury in front of a crowd of 57,598, the highest ever for a Rotherham game. The Millers won the toss to stage the second replay, which was staged at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough ground, where they pulled off a memorable 2-0 win.
More success was to follow when Rotherham reached the first ever League Cup final but the two-legged final against Aston Villa was held over from the end of the1960-61 season to the beginning of the next campaign when they were beaten 3-2 on aggregate after extra time. Rotherham were involved in another titanic cup game against the mighty Manchester United in 1965-66 when they drew 0-0 at Old Trafford only to suffer an agonising 1-0 win defeat in the replay at Millmoor. But in 1967-68 matters on the pitch worsened and they were facing the prospect of relegation when the famous Tommy Docherty was brought in as manager. He made a promise to get United out of Division Two and he was true to his word - although it was the wrong way, with relegation coming at the end of the season.
Matters got even worse when another relegation followed in 1972-73 with the team going down to the basement division. But two seasons later with Jim McGuigan now in charge, promotion was achieved and in 1976-77, the team came within a whisker of going up to Division Two, missing out on goal average again. Several seasons of mediocrity followed and off the field there were major upheavals when Anton Johnson took over the club from the Purshouse family.
The new chairman brought lan Porterfield in as manager and he guided the team away from the relegation area in 1979-80. The following season he brought in several newcomers and his signings reaped rich dividends as the team went on the win the Division Three title with an unbeaten home record which saw a mere eight goals conceded in 23 games at Millmoor. Unfortunately Porterfield was lured away to take charge of Sheffield United during the summer, with former England international Emlyn Hughes taking over at Millmoor.
In his first season his team was struggling at the wrong end of the table before he guided them to a remarkable sequence of nine successive victories to shoot up the table and raise hopes of promotion. But they fell away again and finished in seventh spot before more dismal results the following season led to Hughes' dismissal with new boss George Kerr being unable to prevent relegation.
Behind the scenes the club was now in great turmoil with huge debts threatening to bring an end to the club's existence after some shady dealings and, after the departure of Johnson, the club changed hands a couple of times before it was placed in the hands of the Administrator. Only the intervention of chairman Ken Booth saved the club from folding but since May 1987, he has been faced with ever-increasing financial problems and has regularly had to keep the club going.
Rotherham dropped into Division Four again at the end of the 1987-88 season but manager Billy McEwan guided them back as champions at the first time of asking. But yet again the higher status couldn't be maintained and it was back down again in May 1991 with McEwan joining the list of sacked managers during the season. Assistant Phil Henson took over and he achieved immediate success with second place being good enough to take his team from Division Four straight into the newly formed Division Two. However, Henson's reign came to an end just into the 1994-95 season when he was replaced by Archie Gemmill and John McGovern but they were unable to bring league success to the club.
But they did take the Millers to Wembley for the one and only time in the club's history when they won the Auto Windscreens Shield in April 1996 by beating Shrewsbury Town. The duo joined the long list of sacked managers early into the 1996-97 season and Danny Bergara who wasn't able to prevent United's worst ever season and the inevitable relegation replaced them.
Former goalscoring heroin the successful 1980-81 season, Ronnie Moore, took over in May 1997 amid a blaze of publicity. He only had a handful of players under contract but gradually rebuilt the team and in his first season the new manager guided his squad to ninth position, just outside the play-offs, which were achieved the following season. But they were beaten in a penalty shoot-out by Leyton Orient.
That was to herald a remarkable climb up the Football League ladder and two successive promotions saw the team in Division One at the end of the 2000/01 season. They were clear favourites to make a speedy return to Division Two but they yet again defied the odds by surviving even thought it was by the narrowest of margins, goal difference. The seemingly never ending progress continued once more and after flirting with the possibility of reaching the play-offs in 2002/03, they finished in a creditable 15th position, the lowest they had occupied all season.
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Information From :
The Definitive Rotherham United
Gerry Somerton (2003) |
