Spread the love

 

On the eve of a rare ‘new stadium visit’ for Brentford fans, BillytheBee catches up with Chris Saxon (@AxhomeMiller) and chats the joys of beating Peterborough, the dee dar treble and Rotherham’s impending Premier League charge.

What was your first game ?

My first game, and here I show my age, was in the very late Fifties against Bristol Rovers. I went with my Dad, saw us win 3 1 and have been going to most games, home and away, since then!

Rotherham helped to stoke the Brentford revival. Your 1-0 win at Griffin Park being one of our low points of the season.

After winning promotion last season, on the back of a late run which saw us win our final five games and despite losing eight games at home, I think that most of us would have settled for a mid table finish this season.

However, much to mine and everyone else’s surprise who follows the Millers, we’ve maintained our momentum especially on our travels.

You’ve certainly surprised most of the division and probably yourselves this season.

Back to our last meeting, I must admit to being somewhat surprised at your meteoric elevation up the table after that mediocre display. There was nothing that day to suggest anything but a mid table season for the Bees!

We played well that day and I think you’ll agree deserved the victory. Our early goal at the opposite end was always going to bee enought to win the points. I was also surprised that the home support appeared quick to get on the players backs, something not experienced at the usual partisan Griffin Park on previous visits. Understandable at the time perhaps following on from the disappointments of last season and the desire by everyone to put things right?

Since then, of course, you’ve been on one big upwards spiral and seem well placed to achieve promotion. Top two places are yours and the Wolves to lose now, as the long predicted falling away of the O’s seems to be becoming a reality.

Talking of the league standings, the pace set by the top three has been a massive disappointment for us Millers. Despite being unbeaten in the last thirteen games, we’ve not really made much of an impression on those much coveted automatic places as we would have hoped for!

Preston fans must surely feel the same!

Talking of Preston, I was there when we met them at Deepdale a couple of weeks back and witnessed a fine exciting end to end affair which resulted in a 3 3 draw! Arguably one of our best displays of this wonderful season as our never say die attitude enabled a last minute equaliser against one of our main rivals.

We’ve scored lots of last minute goals this campaign, and I read somewhere on the Leyton Orient fans forum that they reckoned had games lasted 88 minutes instead of the 90, we’d be battling against relegation! Maybe not quite that bad, but point taken and Bees beware on Tuesday evening. We never know when we’re beaten!

Steve Evans is not a very likeable manager. The words shady and whingey come to mind. But to be fair, he’s done alright with your mob in his first 100 matches. However, don’t you think he’s over-egging himself saying Rotherham will be pushing for premier league status within 100 games?

As for our manager, the much loved Steve Evans? Joke! It’s fair to say that like many Millers fans I was less than impressed when Tony Stewart, our much revered Chairman, made the appointment 100 games ago.

His management style is individual, to put it mildly. His favourite saying is based around our season as being a roller coaster ride. Ups and downs, and generally that’s what we get. More ups than downs thankfully.

On the ups is the fact that he appears good at spotting talent and some of his signings like Agard, Frecklington and Morgan have been brilliant. He’s also has the financial backing of our Chairman and has been able to attract players, not normally likely to be interested in coming to us, Iceland International Kari Arneson being a good example.

We’ve since seen lots of players come and go and at times, there’s been a virtual revolving door of players ins and outs.

He promised promotion last season and delivered, this season he’s more or less promised the play offs and again looks likely to succeed.

Maybe then, his claim that after our next 100 games, we will be in sight of the Premiership isn’t so far fetched? We shall have to wait and see. For now, like most Millers, we will simply enjoy the ride and maybe even reach Wembley, followed by promotion to the Championship.

We thought your season would crumble when Rosler recalled Dicko from you guys. We thought he was gonna do us a favour and send him down to Griffin Park. We were looking at him but were focussing on bringing in Judge at the time. You haven’t really missed him though have you?

Dicko? Came to us from Wigan nobody had ever heard of him, but we’d had many loanees before so we waited. What we got was a superb player, on the face of it much too good for League one. He excited the support like none had for many moons.

Rumours were that we would sign him on a permanent. Then, disaster! Wigan changed managers, in came Rosler and it appeared that he wanted Dicko back and quickly. Steve Evans could do nothing, he wasn’t our player and back he went!

Evans said he was still hopeful of Dicko returning. He’d transformed our good team into a great one, everyone agreed. Initial hopes were raised as despite his return to the dark Side of the Pennines, Lancashire to everyone outside Yorkshire, he hadn’t really featured. Word on the street was that Mr R was keen to help former club Brentford and he’d be going to London!

Well, what followed was rumour and counter rumour. At one stage we were convinced he’d signed on a record deal for us only to be thwarted by Wolves. They’d been One of Dicko’s victims whilst wearing a Millers shirt. He’d run riot with two goals. I suppose from a purely career point of view, Wolves were always his likely first choice. He’d gone and we moved on.

Initially, we did miss him and defeat at Port Vale, never one of our favourite away days, was closely followed by home defeat – albeit rather unluckily against Coventry. Two losses on the trot! Unheard of!

Since that very first day of the new year, we have remained unbeaten and Dicko has been almost, though not quite, forgotten. We’ve still to play against him at Easter! Nicky Adams was signed, a player much admired by SE from his Crawley days. Adams, another in a long line of Crawley purchases! Matt Tubbs had been and failed, would Adams go the same way?

The jury’s out at present, mainly due to him not being given much of a run in the team due to our success.

You had a big result at the weekend beating Peterborough at their gaff with their £1.5mill striker. When we beat Posh for the 2nd time in the league in January Fergie whinged he would happily play us every week. Ironically your manager still lives just outside Peterborough. Do you think he’ll be inviting Fergie around for tea at the weekend?

Peterborough? Big spenders, big name manager, if only for the surname. We really owed them one after the game at our place, when we produced a five star performance only to lose to a rather poor penalty decision. Their goal led a charmed life and even their most ardent supporters agreed that even Dick Turpin wore a mask. We’d been robbed and Fergie junior almost suggested it afterwards, not quite though!

Perhaps, it was ironic that we’d return the favour at the weekend. A soft penalty won the game, but there the similarities ended. We were better in every department and ought to have won by far more! Of course their manager thought otherwise but what does he know. Spent lots for little return! Stadiums currently a mess and undergoing renovation, not good as an away venue for now. My guess is that Peterborough will miss put on the play offs and Fergie will go! Bless him!

Rotherham away support is decent averaging around 900 fans per game across the season so far – slightly less than Brentford. That’s the 8th best away following in the league. What have been your quality away days??

Best days out, Preston, brilliant classy club in every respect. Nice friendly stewards, great ticket office personnel, wonderful stadium and a superb result against a good side.

Bradford City, all Millers love playing the Bantams. Why? Because we always beat them and always fairly easily, home and away. We’ve won the past eight or nine meetings and our final encounter will be shown on live telly in April. They’re dreading it, we’re not!

Almost a local derby though not quite Bradford is simply a nice way to win three more points. We even beat them in the Cup this season 3 0. Steve Evans is the most hated man in Bradford due to done strange carrying ons when Crawley were there a couple of years back, which makes our wins even more sweet. Ask most Bantam fans who they hate, answer Rotherscum! Tough!

Hated Leyton Orient away this time around. Dreadful seats and stuck in a corner of an archaic stand on a cold day. I used to love the O’s having lived in Leytonstone for a few years, but this season! Ugh! Added to that the difficulties of actually driving there and one of our three away losses and it’s as bad as it gets.

What teams you have played have looked decent. Who has been poop?

Notts County, thrashed 6 0 at home and 1 0 away are awful and will be relegated. Crawley, Swindon and Walsall are best footballing sides I’ve seen this season. Notts County, Colchester, Shrewsbury and Bradford are the poorest.

Who do you fancy playing in the playoffs?

As for the play offs, Leyton Orient, Preston and ourselves look nailed on. Peterborough are faltering at the wrong time and I suspect we shall witness the customary late arrival. Swindon might well be that team? They were the only side to beat us comfortably, 4 0 at ours, a result that flattered them a bit but on the day they looked good.

I’d fancy anyone over two legs, Bees included if the worst happened.

You play Sheffield Utd three days before their FA Cup semi-final with Hull. There’s a theory if you kick them up a bit in the run-in to that game their players won’t want to know. You’ve already done the Dee Dar Double. The Dee Dar Treble doesn’t seem to have the same ring to it does it?

Sheffield United at Bramall Lane? You probably are unaware but we Millers have something of a love in with the Blades. It all stems from our mutual hatred of the Owls, the club
most Millers detest for their continued looking down on all the other local teams. Last time we played the Blades at the NYS, funniest moment came when we sang “stand up, if you hate Wednesday?” And everyone in the entire stadium obliged! It was the Blades that supplied loan players during those dark days of administration and their fans gave generously to help us out. We’d still love to beat them in April though!

Seriously though a Dee Dar treble would be wonderful for us Toytowners to achieve. That’s what Sheffielders call us! Hopefully their minds will be on other things when we go to Bramall Lane, where we haven’t faired particularly well over the years. To beat both the Massive as Owls fans call themselves and the Blunts in the space of a few weeks will live long in the memory and Steve Evans will always be remembered for that no matter what else transpires.

Back to earth Tuesday and for the first time in a long time, we’re not expecting to win! Brentford looked good against the O’s on telly and might prove too strong, but beware of that last minute goal!

Millmoor had a certain ‘charm’ about it. Many fans hate a move to a new stadium. But Rotherham fans seem delighted with their move to the New York Stadium. Why is that then?

You’ll definitely love the New York Stadium. Even now after almost two seasons I have to pinch myself and Santa to really believe it’s ours. Superb views no matter where you sit and great acoustics elevate the NYS well above most of the other new builds. Shrewsbury and Chesterfield come to mind as not in the same league when it comes to stadium facilities.

Did it help to create an affinity the fact that you had to spend a number of years in that soul-less hell hole called The Don Valley. Christ that wasn’t one of the prospective away first trips you would tick off when the fixtures come out.

Those awful years of Don Valley now a thing of the past, a sort of penance which had to be endured if we wanted something much better.

Away fans detested it too, and they only had to visit once a season! Millmoor, our spiritual home, was missed but we all accepted that if we wanted to move on, a new build was essential.

Head to head, Rotherham are streets ahead winning 22 games to the Bees’ 17 with 16 games drawn. Can you keep the run going?

Finally, to my prediction for Tuesday. We love playing Brentford and when Millers fans reminisce about past memorable games, the one at home to the Bees a few years ago will certainly be one of the favourites. Our last home game of that season saw Alan Lee score a late winner in a 2 1 win to seal a second successive promotion from League 1 to the Championship, where we remained for four years! Who knows, history sometimes repeats itself?

Give us a score prediction

We draw lots of games at home and given your wonderful form I expect another one Tuesday. Say 2 2 with us scoring a late leveller?

Give us a 1st, 2nd playoff winner/loser prediction

As for the final outcome. Bees to be Champions with Wolves second. Orient against Preston and us against Swindon in the semis of the play offs with Millers eventually beTing Preston at Wembley! I can but dream

As this is a brand new stadium for most Bees, where do you recommend away fans hang out out pre-match?

Most popular pub amongst fans and away friendly is probably The Bluecoat – so called due to the building being a former school and the uniforms were blue! It’s a Weatherspoons pub so reasonably priced with the usual array of food too. It’s a fifteen minute brisk walk from the Stadium and not too far from Rotherham Central Station.

Then comes The Rhinoceros, a town centre establishment, so again very close to the stadium, and very near to the Railway Station. Another Weatherspoons pub and very popular with home and away fans.

The Bridge Inn used to be a traditional spit and sawdust place but now enjoys great popularity for its real ales. Near to the station and the stadium, this is a good choice if your travelling support wish to sample a more original Yorkshire style boozer.

There are many more pubs in and around the town centre and home fans will no doubt have their favourites.

We would like to thank Chris for giving us some decent insight into Rotherham. You can follow Chris on twitter at @AxholmeMiller

BillytheBee
@billythebee99