Connect with us

English Football League

Lee Clark speaks of concerning situation at Rotherham as defeat to Wigan confirms relegation

Lee Clark speaks of the concerning situation at Rotherham as a 3-0 defeat to Wigan confirms relegation to League Two.

Clark came in on a deal until the end of the season, replacing Matt Hamshaw who was sacked following a 5-0 defeat to Peterborough in March, leaving the Millers 22nd and six points adrift of safety.

While Northampton fall down to the foot of the League One table Port Vale, neither of those sides are down yet, but third-bottom Rotherham do have the ‘R’ placed next to their name having played a game more.

After fives games in charge, Clark is yet to win a game, and has only picked up one point, a 0-0 draw against Stevenage.

His side’s have also suffered a 3-0 defeat to Lincoln, a 1-0 loss to Port Vale, a 3-1 defeat against Barnsley, and the 3-0 loss to Wigan.

Two seasons ago, Rotherham were playing in the Championship, and now they return to League Two after 13 years. They haven’t managed to stay in the same division for more than three seasons since 2013. An announced end for the Millers

your tweets feature in the article, feel free to retweet/follow us

Lee Clark said, per Rotherham Advertiser: “I think there are lots of negatives about the whole squad.

“What I’ve walked into, it’s been a real eye-opener. It’s been sad, very sad, to have this type of scenario.

“Fans, might say that it’s down to me, I had to come in, get the new-manager bounce and I had to change things. I get that. I’ve tried everything. We’ve worked so hard in terms of tactical sessions, work on the training ground, but it’s difficult.

“As I’ve said before, and as I’ve just told the players, there are too many not-so-good things here. We’re not a robust squad, we’re not a fit squad in terms of physical capabilities. We haven’t got the fire in our belly. When I say that, I’m not saying every single player. There are some exceptions.

“It’s like Groundhog Day. I’ve already said it all on Saturday (a 3-1 loss against Barnsley). We had to change the system because we didn’t have a fit left-back in the club. The 19 players who were here were the 19 fit players I’ve got.

“We tried to get a system and personnel out there that would do something in the game. We did do some good things in the first half but we gave a really awful goal away.

“It’s the same players making the same errors. We work with them individually, we work with them collectively, we put things on the footage, we sit down with them, we show them the clips and where they need to improve, but they carry on making the same mistakes.

“Then in the second half, we concede a poor second goal and then you couldn’t tell what shape we had for 10 minutes, because the players were just running around but not getting anywhere near the Wigan players. It doesn’t come across well for me because it’s my team and I’ve got to accept that.”

On his future at Rotherham: “It’s given me my love back, my spark back. The grass stuff and working on the training ground, I’ve loved being back in the football environment.”

Back to the result: “Today is an awful, awful day at the office. It’s very tough. It must be very tough being a Rotherham United fan at this moment. I’m really sad for the good people at the club. There’s a big, big job ahead.”

STATEMENT FROM CHAIRMAN:

“Millers supporters, after our relegation to Sky Bet League Two was confirmed at Wigan Athletic on Tuesday night, I feel compelled to place on-record my feelings on a bitterly disappointing campaign and afford those who have backed us with such loyalty with as much transparency into where and why we think this season has ended the way in which it has.

“I would like to open with an apology to our supporters. Relegation always cuts deeply, we have experienced that during near misses in the Sky Bet Championship but always displaying a never-say-die attitude which has seen us fight until the end. This season, for a myriad of reasons – which I personally feel have been significant – we haven’t shown that same spirit, desire and heart.

“Throughout my time as Chairman, I have always celebrated the way in which you have backed this football club. The investment from both an emotional and financial viewpoint has forever been a driving factor behind the successes that we have enjoyed since we were promoted from the fourth tier back in 2013 and has never once been something that we have taken for granted. In the same way that the recent release of our accounts show that running a football club is becoming increasingly expensive, I am well-aware that the same is applicable to our supporters as costs continue to rise across the board. We have always tried to ensure that following Rotherham United remains affordable, but I am also acutely conscious of the fact that ticket prices were raised this season and we have not delivered a product on the pitch which has mirrored that in value for money.

“It has been a rollercoaster journey, as I always predicted that it would be, but I have never lost sight of my gratitude to those who have been with us for every up and down and all the twists and turns that the 13 years since that date has presented. I am sincerely sorry for the frustration that we are all feeling today, but we have great confidence that we can re-establish momentum once more and bring the good times back to AESSEAL New York Stadium.

“To achieve that, a full post-mortem of the season will be required and I can assure that you a huge amount of introspection which takes into consideration every element of the football club is already under way.

“The headline of those investigations will, absolutely, be into how and why we have encountered such unprecedented difficulties in regards to player availability, injuries and the subsequent rehabilitation of those same individuals. Without question, this topic has reared its head with such frequency this season that it goes down as what I consider to be the main – but not sole – reason for our relegation. In all my years in football, I have never witnessed anything like this campaign whereby squad availability throughout the course of the season has been so poor and it would be neglectful of us not to thoroughly deep-dive the root cause of why this has happened. We must look at why players who were recruited as a result of the consistency at which they were able to perform in this regard have not been able to do so here at Rotherham United. As I have already mentioned, operations and practices throughout the football club will be reviewed – as they always are in the summer – but a real emphasis will be placed upon diagnosing the issues on the injury front this season, and providing a viable long-term solution which will mean that we do not face a similar situation in the future.

“There has, understandably, been a considerable amount of discourse regarding the departure of Matt Hamshaw, its timing and how that creates a bigger picture of the club changing the individual in the managerial hotseat with some regularity over recent years. I should begin by saying that is not by design. There are huge financial implications associated with the appointment and dismissal of a manager – and often their staff – which impact massively on a club of our size which we insist upon running sensibly.

“Following on from the successes of the end of the 2024/25 campaign, everyone within the football club felt as though Matt had earned the opportunity as a result of his credentials as a person and coach to take the team forwards this season. I genuinely don’t believe that we could have entrusted an individual who had more passion for this football club than Matt and we were all excited to see him put that into practice every day in the role. We could see and feel that from him and the group of staff he assembled around him, all of whom had a real connection to and affinity for Rotherham United. We collectively built and tweaked structures within the football operation which would give Matt the utmost chance to be a successful long-term appointment and end a cycle of managerial changes over recent years.

“We backed Matt as best as the club could allow throughout the season and afforded him backing both financially and emotionally, but importantly, with as much time as possible to try to correct the course of the ship. It is important we don’t lose sight of the performances which gave us great reason for optimism such as the 3-0 dismantling of soon-to-be-champions Lincoln City, a nine-game unbeaten run and a thoroughly entertaining 7-2 triumph over Salford City, to name but a few. I will not disclose the intricacies of what was an honest conversation on both sides upon us parting ways, but, there was a strong collective belief that the injury situation was the main – although not sole – reason for our inability to consistently produce performances like the aforementioned.

“I have always been firmly of the opinion that if you don’t move forwards in both life and business, you go backwards and, despite the challenges we have faced on the pitch this season, we have taken measures to improve off it. Phil Smith’s arrival as a non-executive director has seen us adjust a number of ways in which various departments operate and the feedback I have received from his continued review of the football club from a business perspective has given us a lot to reflect upon and review.

“Across all levels, the football landscape has reached a point whereby it requires more and more financial strength to keep pace with other clubs, some of which I would argue are not being run with the long-term interests and stability of those particular institutions in-mind, and are instead being bank-rolled by owners who are chasing immediate success. I am not criticising the way in which others choose to operate their businesses, that is entirely their prerogative, but I have said from the outset that I will never put this football club into anything like the financial dangers that it has experienced before.

“It is a volatile industry and one that we hope will be improved by the incoming football regulator as soon as the new calendar year, when we hope our approach in regards to sustainability is rewarded by new policies and practices which punish overspending. As we have done since Day One of me becoming chairman in 2008, we will continue to invest every single penny that we can afford to in an attempt to re-establish the momentum which has produced such great success for this football club over the last 14 years.

“Whilst we are immensely proud of where we have been and what we have achieved, we can no longer concentrate attention on our historical accomplishments. We must fully focus on moving forwards and what the future looks like for Rotherham United. That – as disappointing as the fact is – will be in League Two. We will deal with the facts of the here and now and do so with the same vigour and drive which helped Steve Evans to set the wheels in motion back in 2012 upon our return to Rotherham. The circumstances are different and it won’t be easy, but I ask that you stick with us as you always have done. The older generations of Millers fans are perhaps somewhat better-versed in seeing us at this level of football, but that ‘understanding’ which we are grateful for, does not change the fact that our ambitions are to be in the Championship.

“We have work to do to climb back to those heights and appreciate how difficult that will be to achieve. What it does mean is that we recognise an immediate urgency to cultivate a culture centred around hard work and determination both on the pitch, off it and in the Boardroom and combine that with the evolution of a number of practices which will improve our long-term prospects.

“Sincerely, I am sorry that this, our Centenary Year, which promised so much, has played out the way it has, but I ask that you take this communication in the spirit it is intended as a heartfelt acknowledgement of where we have gone wrong and a powerful statement about our vision for the future and how that needs to look to get us once again moving in an upwards trajectory.

“Thank you for your support.”

Here’s the social media reaction after Lee Clark speaks of concerning situation at Rotherham as a defeat to Wigan confirms relegation…

@millersfm2011: Wonder what the board thought of that interview!!!! Saying what the majority of fans have been saying for a while. The answer to ‘do you still want to be the manager next season ‘ he may as well have said ‘do I fuck’. Interesting times ahead.

@Natalie30163876: He’s absolutely spot on with everything he said

@sh4unh__: Says alot about the players, whether it be Hamshaw or Lee Clark in charge …nobody was getting a tune out of this lot. We need answers 😠 #rufc

@miller83862: What a man. Says it how it is. #rufc

@ChrisIbbotson: Took him 5 games and just under a month to realise the utter shit show that is Rotherham United. I like the way he speaks. Id like to see a full squad playing with that passion he just showed in this interview. If not him who else? #rufc

@MG117_: Inevitable relegation finally confirmed and the interim manager has absolutely no idea if he’s going to be here next season or not. You really can’t be angry enough #rufc

@RUFCGeorge: Hope Stewart and Douglass know they’ve let every single fan of this club down. Sell up and piss off.

@RothersMatt: Thanks for a top class centenary season. Absolutely disgraceful both on and off the pitch. Shameful. Club needs a clear out from top to bottom.

@eddie_broomhead: It has been coming for years and years. This is what happens when you do bargain basement shopping and expect miracles. Left Hamshaw in post about 6 month too long for starters. Everything always done on the cheap and it’s finally caught up.

Related Topics
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

More in English Football League