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First County Visit:	Saturday 3rd December 1988
Competition:	Barclays League Division 4 – (Tier 4)
Result:	Rotherham United 2 – 1 Stockport County
Attendance:	4,005
Away Trip:	46
Away Day:	165
County Line-up	1 Andy Gorton; 2 Brian Butler; 3 Nigel Hart; 4 Steve Bullock; 5 Andy Thorpe; 6 Bill Williams; 7 Rodger Wylde; 8 Bob Colville; 9 Brett Angell; 10 Paul Hendrie (12 Mike Pickering); 11 David Logan
Scorer:	Rodger Wylde
Manager:	Asa Hartford
County Visits:	10

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THE TUBE TRAINS GRAVEYARD

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It took just shy of 3 years, another 5 new grounds, and 38 Away Days, before there was the chance to go back, this time sailing under the County flag.  Nothing had changed.  I can only summarise the home of the Millers as watching football in the middle of a scrap yard.

The ground was approached along Masborough Street, just off which I found a parking spot which served me well on all my visits.  Club offices backed onto what must be a uniquely named stand, the Tivoli End.  Apparently it got that title from the cinema opposite which on this first visit was but a forlorn apparition of what must have been a rather grand past. 

But looking from Masborough Street on either side of the ground there were cranes, competing with the floodlights for possession of the skyline.  The scrap yards must have been there for years, but no more than a couple of years before had been bonded inextricably with the Millers.

After an association with one Anton Johnson in the early 1980’s Rotherham found the bailiffs knocking on the door.  Johnson, self styled as the “King of Clubs”, had a pretty chequered record of involvement in football.  At one time or another he owned Rotherham, Bournemouth and Southend, none of them ending with much glory.  He had left Millmoor in the mid 1980’s with the club reportedly £250,000 in debt.  Now these days that is mere small change in the football industry at the highest level, but not so for a lower league club, and certainly 30+ years ago it was a huge amount.  It was more than sufficient, despite efforts to address the situation, to put Rotherham into administration.

A rescue operation was mounted which was eventually completed by Ken Booth.  The debts by this time, (1987), had risen to over £800,000 and Booth’s munificence saw these wiped out.  What was his reason you may ask.  Lifelong supporter, (but not documented); previous connection, (yes, but resigned his directorship some time before); altruist, (maybe, maybe not – he was described as a hard headed businessman); local interest, (definitely – he owned the company CF Booth).  The latter was the key point. 

CF Booth was the company running the scrapyards which as good as circled Millmoor.  There may have been some plan to use the Millmoor site to expand this business.  That never transpired, but one thing is certain there’s plenty of good things written about Booth’s custodianship of RUFC. 

Some suggest that the Club would have folded without his intervention, and there’s probably more than a scintilla of truth in that.  His departure in 2005 occasioned some criticism with the terms of his exit, but without a doubt the name Booth is certainly synonymous with the stadium and its immediate environs.

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Whilst the yards on either side of the ground were visible from Masborough Street it was the expanse behind the far stand which put its title into real perspective.  A decent covered terrace it was known as the Railway End … and quite rightly too.  There may well have been a railway in the distance, but it was the contents of the scrapyard which made it so appropriate.  It was a graveyard for seemed to be countless London Underground trains.  After years of service and hundreds of thousands of miles on the District; Circle; Metropolitan and all the other lines they had reached their final resting place.  Their last sight, before the breakers arrived, would be the back of a football ground.  Maybe an apt terminus, having transported football supporters……

The ground itself was a hot-potch of stands.  The Main Stand occupied around two-thirds of the touchline, with the rest being a small area of terracing, tapered so as to accommodate the back wall to one of the scrapyards.  Behind the goal, at the entrance to the ground was the Tivoli End, standing room only and reserved for the homesters.  It always struck me as the archetypal “End”, which provided so much more atmosphere then the anodyne structures we see today with seating muting any real ‘ambience’. 

On the far side was Millmoor Lane,  Terracing occupied a third, a seated area on either side of the half-way line, another third, and a more recent cover, of what was clearly terracing previously, for the rest. 

It was this latter edifice which housed the away fans who wanted to rest their legs – for those wanting to stand it meant heading down a further 20 yards for the Railway End.  The only access to either was down Millmoor Lane.  It might sound very rural on paper, but the reality was far distant.  It was a narrow alley, hemmed in by the back of the stand on one side and the ubiquitous yards on the other.  Somewhat less than well-lit it could be a daunting place on a dark winter afternoon, or at a night match, and on a couple of occasions, particularly an FA Cup game which County won right at the death, it needed the care and comfort (sic) of the South Yorkshire police to ensure a healthy egress.

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On the left, along the touchline there was seating in one of the stands on Millmoor Lane. Behind the goal was the Railway End, overhung by the trainbreakers.

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I went there 10 times, and with 5 wins amongst those it wasn’t a place to which travel was more in fond hope rather than expectation.  We did pretty well!! There won’t be another trip of course, with the move to the New York Stadium post-dating the non-league days, but the most memorable visit was in fact the last.

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On Tuesday 12^th February Rotherham stood 4^th in League 2 on 54 point with 16 games left.  County were 5 places and 7 points worse off.  But we travelled in hope.  After all only 10 weeks previously we had been 17^th.  The intervening period had produced a return of 27 points from 13 games and thoughts were turning to a push into the play-off zone.  And the hope with which we travelled was not dashed. 

Mark, Jeff and I made the trip over the Snake Pass, picking up Rob in Sheffield where he was enjoying the student life at Sheffield Hallam University. It was a bitterly cold evening, with snow in the air, and thoughts turned to the potential difficulty of getting back over’t hill later on.  But once the game started any post-match trauma was put to the back of our minds.

The bare facts will show that we trounced the Miller 4-1.  But amidst this was a product of the County youth system announcing himself in a big way.  He’d made his 1^st appearance just over a year previously, coming on as a sub in an FA Cup defeat at Vicarage Road, and had appeared sporadically in the months since that game.  The previous Saturday he’d scored his first goal against Notts County.  That night, still only 18, he ran Rotherham ragged and bagged himself a hat-trick.

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I’d first seen Tommy Rowe in a youth game against Manchester City at the Athletics arena next door to the City of Manchester Stadium.  Others might refer to this as Eastlands, reflecting the area of Manchester in which it located, and it has since been corrupted to the Et**ad.  I refuse to acknowledge any of these sponsors names attaching themselves to football grounds.  They are no more than accounting artifices, designed in the first place to drag sponsorship cash in and more latterly to avoid the various rules on proportion of turnover that can be used on players wages.  So in this instance I’ll bow down to Eastlands, but never Et**ad!  He’d impressed me that night and was obviously going to come through to the 1^st team. 

After the Watford game he made his full league debut in a quite bizarre 7-2 home defeat at the hands of Rochdale in March 2007, then appeared sporadically from the bench until 3 days before the Rotherham game.  The goal against Notts County was the start of an unbroken run in the team.  Between then and his departure at the of 2008/09 he was virtually a permanent fixture, playing a vital role in the run to promotion through the playoffs and on into the following season. 

The financial debacle in 2008/09 not only saw Gannon get fired by the administrators, (reason – the post is redundant – work that one out for a football club!!), but also the departure of Rowe who was sold to Peterborough for £252,000, (the strange sum so as to ensure that County received £210,000 after HMRC got the VAT!).  It was a sad loss, driven by factors that were nothing to do with football but loss to do with off the field mismanagement.  But he’d certainly made a huge impact and, still only 29 as I write, it’s great to have seen him have a good career, which is still going at Doncaster.

I liked Millmoor – a traditional ground; great character; good atmosphere – and what’s more only an hour from home!!

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There’s a short video montage of Millmoor. Its taken from the Vale Tarci You Tube Channel from “Demolished Football Stadiums”

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April 2020

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VISITS

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Away Day
Sat	03/12/88	Barclays League Division 4	Tier 4	Rotherham United	L	1	2	4,005	165
Sat	17/11/90	FA Cup	Round 1	Rotherham United	L	0	1	4,501	198
Tues	02/03/93	Barclays League Division 2	Tier 3	Rotherham United	W	2	0	4,275	253
Sat	13/11/93 (Highlights)	FA Cup	Round 1	Rotherham United	W	2	1	4,836	270
Sat	19/03/94	Endsleigh League Division 2	Tier 3	Rotherham United	W	2	1	3,755	276
Sat	06/05/95	Endsleigh League Division 2	Tier 3	Rotherham United	L	0	1	3,469	301
Tues	23/04/96	Endsleigh League Division 2	Tier 3	Rotherham United	L	0	2	6,912	324
Tues	03/12/96	Nationwide Football League – Division 2	Tier 3	Rotherham United	W	1	0	2,123	338
Sat	09/02/02	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Rotherham United	L	2	3	6,413	460
Tues	12/02/08 (Highlights)	Coca-Cola Football League – League 2	Tier 4	Rotherham United	W	4	1	4,004	598

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ON MY JOURNEY WITH COUNTY AROUND 180 GROUNDS

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Previously – SEAMER ROAD Next stop – BRUNTON PARK