Tony Stewart, a Rotherham businessman stepped into Rotherham United ten years ago with the club on its knees.
They were in their third period of administration with a total of 37 points docked by the EFL and almost extinct due to ex-chairman and owner of their Millmoor ground, Ken Booth, charging the club an exorbitant rent for playing there.
Stewart & Booth couldn’t agree a move forward over Millmoor so he took the bold step of quitting our ground of over 100 years & sought permission from the League to temporarily move the club to Don Valley athletics stadium in Sheffield. Assurances had to be given to the EFL to move back into the borough of Rotherham within a four season time frame.
Stewart gave these assurances stating that he would be paying off the clubs debts & financing the build of a brand new stadium within Rotherham which would be ready for the beginning of the 2012/13 season. Most diehard Millers fans scoffed at Stewart’s bold plans stating past false dawns as a reason not to believe his plans.
Not a football venue – The Don Valley Stadium (Sheffield)
The years of exile
Four long dire League Two seasons at the awful Don Valley Stadium ensued with only an unsuccessful 2009/10 play-off final at Wembley and the goals of Adam Le Fondre to lighten the gloom. Crowds were sub 3000, made worse by the fact that only one stand was open at a massive 25000 venue stifling what little atmosphere there was.
To add to the issues, Mr Stewart was struggling to find a site within Rotherham that would be suitable for a stadium, gloomy times indeed. The light at the end of the tunnel came in January 2010 when through the local press Mr Stewart announced that he had agreed with the local council a site in the town centre, a derelict site that was part of the Guest & Chrimes steel company, an area that was known locally as “New York”. The stadium’s construction started in June 2011 taking a year to complete.
Coming home…
The inaugural game was in July 2012 with a 2-1 friendly win over local rivals Barnsley with a reduced capacity because the stadium hadn’t obtained the safety certificate initially. On the 18th of August 2012 Burton Albion had the honour of being Rotherham’s first league opponents on a glorious day for all the fans. The Millers won 3-0 en-route to a first season promotion from League Two under the management of Steve Evans. A second straight promotion followed through the 2013/14 L1 campaign with a penalty shootout win over Leyton Orient. The Millers were relegated back to League One last season after three campaigns in the Championship. The club are back on an upward turn reaching the League One play-offs this season under the guidance of ex-Rotherham player Paul Warne.
NYS has become a favourite venue for the FA in recent years hosting several England youth team internationals as well as women’s internationals and has recently been given the honour of hosting five UEFA U17 European Championship games including the final itself.
The club has certainly come a long way since Jamie Green scored the winning goal v Barnet on May 3rd 2008 in Millmoor’s last ever game.
words Ian Bradley, D3D4 Rotherham United correspondent