Rotherham United, which spent just one season in the Championship, will be playing in League One again. The Millers had a challenging season in the second division, initially under former City coach Matt Taylor before Leam Richardson took over and was unable to keep them up, despite an exciting 5-2 victory over Cardiff City on the last day of the season. The club was already in disarray when Steve Evans took over a few weeks prior to the start of the season. This indicates that Rotherham has only remained in the same league for two seasons in a row since 2013, having been promoted six times and relegated four times. Certainly, it’s never boring to help Rotherham!
A Brief History
Established in 1925 as a result of the merging of Rotherham’s County and Town, Rotherham is among the Football League’s comparatively “younger” teams. The club was inducted into the Football League right away.
United was elevated to the First Division North as winners for the first time in 1950–1951, although they lost the inaugural League Cup Final against Aston Villa, losing 3-2 on aggregate over two legs.
Between 1951 and 1968, the Millers played in the Second Division for 17 seasons. They were relegated in 1973 and again in 1972, but by 1981, they had risen from the Fourth Division back to the Second Division. They won the championship in 1989, were demoted once more in 1983 and 1988, and then
Under the direction of one of United’s all-time great managers, Ronnie Moore, the team saw back-to-back promotions from 1999 to 2001, a four-year stay in the second division, and two relegations in three seasons that saw the team drop to League Two by 2007.
Once Steve Evans took over the team following his quick departure from Crawley Town, the club experienced additional back-to-back promotions in 2012–13 and 2013–14 as they advanced to the Championship through automatic promotion and a play-off victory.
Rotherham United alternated between League One and the Championship for six years in a row, from 2016–17 to 2022–23. The team won the Football League Trophy in 2022 and the play-offs in 2018.
The Manager
Although the Millers were already in League One when Steve Evans took over in April 2024, his past performance indicates that he will try to get Rotherham back in the Championship as soon as possible.
With two promotions from United and a Football League promotion with Crawley already under his belt, Evans is no stranger to the lower echelons of the EFL and has already started building a team capable of earning a promotion.
Evans made the most of the biggest budget ever granted to a Red Devils manager with Crawley, helping the West Sussex team win the championship, 105 points, and a trip to Manchester United in the FA Cup fifth round.
Additionally, Evans has managed Stevenage, Gillingham, Mansfield Town, Boston United, Leeds United, and Stamford.
The Stadium
After leaving their long-standing home of Millmoor in 2008, Rotherham spent four years exiled in Sheffield at the Don Valley Stadium until moving into their opulent new stadium in 2012.
Located on a site where fire hydrants for New York City were also constructed locally, the stadium is named the New York Stadium. It can accommodate slightly more than 12,000 people in four interconnected stands: the North, East, South, and West. There is space in the South Stand for up to 2,000 away fans.
The stadium was used in the 2022 Women’s Euros, hosting four France matches against Italy, Belgium, Iceland and the Netherland. It also hosted England Women’s fixtures, beginning with a Euro 2017 qualifying match against Belgium in 2016.
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