Which Present Miller Would Make A Good Manager?

Rotherham United have had quite a few players in the past who have become Managers after they’ve hung up their boots.

Of course we know about Paul Warne who played two hundred and sixty-one times in a Rotherham shirt before going on to be fitness coach and then pushed into managing the Millers. His second in command, Richie Barker, played one hundred and forty times for Rotherham and after hanging his boots up he managed Bury, Crawley and Portsmouth, as well as being assistant at MK Dons, Charlton and now at the New York Stadium.

Then there’s his team mates Paul Hurst and Rob Scott. Hursty made four hundred and thirty-eight appearances for Rotherham while defender Scotty (although he was originally brought in as a forward) played over one hundred and seventy times. They were joint managers at Ilkeston, Boston and Grimsby before Hursty met up with Warney at Wembley as Shrewsbury Town manager before moving on to Ipswich Town in the summer break.

Going back some years the man who holds the record for most appearances for Rotherham, Danny Williams, might have been a one-man club as a player and also went on to manage the Millers before being in charge twice at Swindon, at Hillsborough and with Mansfield Town.

Andy Smailes might only have made just twenty-six appearances as a Miller but he managed at Millmoor from 1952 to 1958 before taking charge at Scarborough.

Ronnie Moore, of course, managed the Millers twice as well as playing one hundred and twenty-five times for Rotherham. He also went on to manage Tranmere three times, Southport, Oldham, Hartlepool, Eastleigh.

Neil Warnock wasn’t in charge of the Millers for a season but he was our saviour and a lot of us were sorry he didn’t stay on. He played just over fifty times in a Rotherham shirt and went on to manage Gainsborough, Burton, Scarborough, Notts County, Torquay, Huddersfield, Plymouth, Oldham, Bury, Sheffield United, Crystal Palace (twice), QPR, and Leeds before the Millers. He’s now at Cardiff and will get his chance to manage in the Premier League after taking them up at the end of last season. Actually it’s probably quicker to say who he hasn’t been in charge of!

And there are other former Millers such as Bobby Williamson, Nicky Law senior and Martin McIntosh who have all gone into management.

It got me thinking about our current players and if there might be some who, in the future, who could go into management.

Firstly what makes a good manager? For me it has to be loyalty to the club you are in charge of. I think you have to have a hands on approach, have discipline in the ranks but, possibly as important as any of those things is you have to be prepared to do what you are asking your players to do.

I know most of them are still too young to be thinking of going down that route but is there any player at the club at the moment who you think might eventually manage?

For me, if any, I think Will Vaulks has what is needed to be in charge. Even though he’s not even captain at Rotherham he is the one who goes around chivvying everyone up on the pitch, he talks all the time, he’s confident, he’s involved in the local community away from football and he always has a smile on his face.

Are there any more of our squad who you think would make a good manager?