Rotherham owner appreciates £800k windfall from Manchester City game

On his own admission, Rotherham United’s chairman Tony Stewart wouldn’t be any good at a football quiz.

Spotting Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho at a game in 2015, he rushed over to thank him for the loan of goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez. ‘When I got back to my seat, another director pointed out we’d taken the lad from Arsenal,’ says Stewart. ‘No wonder Jose looked a little bemused.’

What Stewart lacks in specialist knowledge, he makes up for in business acumen. He made his fortune with lighting company ASD, having moved to Rotherham from nearby Sheffield in the Seventies.

And in 2008 — the same year Sheik Mansour bought Manchester City — Stewart took over the football club who were in administration and relegated to League Two.

Today they are in the Championship in a new stadium and ready to face champions City in the FA Cup this afternoon.

‘It’s been an incredible journey,’ says Stewart, awarded an OBE in the latest New Year’s Honours list.

‘I wasn’t a football goer the last time Rotherham played away to Manchester City in 2001.

‘I worked Monday to Friday and put on my uniform at weekends to chauffeur my wife around.

‘Football came like a bolt from the blue. Rotherham council needed local businesses to help the club.

‘I went down, had a look and decided it’d be better than sitting round doing crosswords.’

It was a tough start. Stewart didn’t want to rent Millmoor on unfavourable terms so he controversially moved to Sheffield for four years until the new ground, The New York Stadium, was ready for opening in 2012.

The Millers have gone through three promotions and a relegation in the past decade and comparing them with City is chalk and cheese.

Whereas Pep Guardiola’s squad cost more than £800 million, Rotherham’s record signing is £500,000 midfielder Jon Taylor. Average pay among the players is about £300,000 a year — the equivalent of a week’s wages for Kevin De Bruyne. The only obvious similarity is their lookalike managers with Rotherham’s shaven-headed boss Paul Warne known as ‘Warneola’ to the club’s fans.

‘He’s straight talking, you can understand within seconds what the guy is saying,’ says an admiring Stewart about his manager.

‘A lot of managers promise the world, it’s like buying a second-hand car, but there is no salesmanship with Paul. He’d played for the club and was our fitness coach for 10 years.

‘I’d had nine managers and was sick of the merry-go-round. My son Richard said “What about Paul Warne?”, within three seconds I said “That’s a good idea”.’ The club will be cheered on by 6,000 fans at the Etihad. Though Stewart has twice taken his team to Wembley for triumphant play-off finals — they were promoted by beating Shrewsbury in May — visiting the champions will be special.

He reckons Rotherham United have personally cost him £55m and says the club are still running at a loss. But he wouldn’t have swapped the adventure for anything.

Besides family and golf — Chris Waddle is an occasional playing partner — the club is his life.

‘There are very few clubs in the Football League where the balance sheet breaks even,’ he says. ‘You have to be generous with your wallet. I would say it has cost me about £55m in total. We built the stadium, I funded all of that. In for a penny, in for a pound!’

He seems to be drawn to extrovert managers. ‘I watched Crawley Town play on television and hired Steve Evans,’ he says with a laugh. ‘He got us two promotions but, when we wanted to restructure the recruitment, he shied away from that. Neil Warnock saved us from relegation in 2016. He had that magic touch, he could get people up for a game in a simple way.

‘Kenny Jackett left after taking one point in five games. He came to me after we’d lost 2-1 to Leeds and said: “I’ve failed, are you going to fire me?” I wanted to back him but he rang the next morning to hand in his notice.’ Stewart puts the club’s resurgence down to a five-man transfer committee that includes Warne and head of recruitment Jamie Johnson.

‘I was fed up with signing players on 10 grand a week who weren’t good enough,’ he says.

‘It’s worked well, we are better prepared for the Championship now than we’ve ever been. It doesn’t give you a divine right to stay up but it gives us the best chance against bigger clubs.’

Though Rotherham haven’t got star names, they are no mugs. Left back Joe Mattock won five England Under-21 caps alongside Joe Hart and James Milner while centre half Sean Raggett was part of Lincoln City’s famous FA Cup run a couple of years ago.

A 2-1 win against Preston on New Year’s Day ended a nine-game winless run and took them out of the bottom three. With FA Cup gate receipts shared between both clubs, Rotherham could make up to £800,000 from today’s tie.

Stewart says he won’t be overawed when he sits with City directors and is wondering whether to let them into a little secret. ‘My lighting company did some work at the Etihad,’ he added. ‘I think it was in the boardroom area.’