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Club News

A foot in both camps – Rob Scott

26 October 2014

Club News

A foot in both camps – Rob Scott

26 October 2014

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For those who missed the Millers Matchday interview with former Miller Rob Scott from the recent game with Fulham here is a snippet with the full interview in the programme available from the club shop:

When a football club changes off the pitch, it's usually the people on it that are affected the most, just ask Rob Scott.

The 41-year-old was having the time of his life at Fulham in the mid-1990s, helping the club win a promotion in his early days as a professional footballer, before the Cottagers were famously taken over by Mohammed Al-Fayed.

That was the start of a journey that would see the west London club rise from the depths of the lower leagues to the unrivalled high of the Europa League final, but it meant that many of the original players fell victim to their new-found wealth.

And Scott was one of them. He had played an integral part in the club's 1996/97 Division Three promotion-winning campaign under Micky Adams, making 44 appearances, but could not compete with the calibre of players that were beginning to come into the club following Al-Fayed's takeover in 1997.

It eventually led to his exit from Craven Cottage, but he doesn't take it personally.

"It was a massively different club back then," he exclusively told Millers Matchday. 

"When I went there we were second or third bottom of the Football League, so where they have got to from then is a massive achievement. 

"I went to what was then a very traditional club with great history, but it was on its knees really and financially we didn't have much. 

"The first full season I was there under Micky Adams, he changed the team around and got some very hard-working personnel in and on the back of that we came to a little bit of prominence. 

"It was my third or fourth season as a professional footballer and I was lucky enough to get promotion. I played about 99 per cent of the games and it was a really good team. 

"It was a great season, not just in terms of getting promotion, but the squad we had was a great bunch of lads and we all got on really, really well.

"Mr. Al-Fayed then decided to come in and invest a lot of money and bring in a lot of high-profile players.

"After that it was massively different, Ray Wilkins came in to be head coach and he was brilliant. He was an excellent guy he would treat everyone the same whether they came in on big contracts or left over from the previous regime, he didn't treat anybody any differently or force anybody out. 

"Then Kevin (Keegan) came in and he gave everyone a go, but obviously the club went to another level in terms of the affordability of players. 
"From a year ago when the squad was made up of lower league players or players disregarded by the top clubs to having the likes of Chris Coleman, Peter Beardsley and Karl-Heinz Riedle then you start thinking your days might be numbered. 

"There was no ill feeling, it is a great club and I have a lot of affection for that club. The target to me was to play every week and I wasn't doing that at Fulham because of the names they brought in. It was no disgrace personally but the club had moved on a little bit and ultimately I ended up at Rotherham."


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