It felt inevitable when the EFL fixtures were released back in August that at least one team would find themselves with a backlog of fixtures and all to play for, and so it has proved for Rotherham United, who face a run of ten Sky Bet Championship fixtures in 28 days, starting with the first of four in only eight days on Saturday.
A late start, a congested calendar, the good old British weather and the small matter of a global pandemic have made it a season like no other, but few clubs in England have had it as tough as relegation-threatened Rotherham, third from bottom, seven points from safety, but with the lifeline of three or four games in hand on the clubs around them.
A seismic week lies ahead. First up on Saturday is a trip to 19th-placed Huddersfield Town, fresh from a shellacking at the hands of Norwich City, who still look catchable. On Tuesday mid-table Queens Park Rangers visit South Yorkshire, and 48 hours later Rotherham welcome 20th-placed Coventry City to the New York Stadium. Then on Sunday the Millers host 21st-placed Birmingham City in what has the makings of a season-defining clash, even if Rotherham will still have six games to cram into the final three weeks.
The fixture headache began before Christmas when an outbreak of Covid-19 in Rotherham’s ranks meant games against Derby County and Middlesbrough had to be postponed. Then last month, after a second outbreak which “ripped through the camp like wildfire” and resulted in almost 20 positive tests, games against Luton Town, Brentford and Coventry City were postponed.
On top of that, three Rotherham games fell to snow and frost and rain earlier this season. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Paul Warne, the Rotherham manager, has never known anything like it — at least not since his days as a player in Norfolk’s non-League ranks, before he turned professional with Wigan Athletic almost 25 years ago.
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“Naively, back in December, I thought if there was a real problem the season might be extended,” Warne, who played more than 250 games for Rotherham across two spells, says. “Looking back now, with the play-off dates written in blood and the Euros, that was naive. And I did think that if three or four clubs were in the same position as us then something would have to be done. But it’s only us. I don’t think we’ve been treated harshly, we’ve just been unlucky.
“In fairness to the EFL, there were a couple of choices [to rearrange fixtures]; this wasn’t the choice that I went for, which would have enabled us to play clubs around us after a bit more recovery. We’re playing Coventry and Birmingham when they don’t have a midweek game. I don’t think many teams voted for that one, would be the nicest way to put it.
“But it was a difficult job to please everyone. If it was the other way round and I was asked, ‘Can you do Coventry a favour and let them have another day’s recovery?’ I’d be like, ‘Hmm…’ It’s a hard one, everyone’s looking after their own club, and rightfully so. We’ve just been unfortunate and it’s built up to this crescendo. It could be the most exciting end to a season or it could be the biggest anti-climax, we’ll have to wait and see.”
Warne, moreover, has missed four games this season: Nottingham Forest and Norwich City after a family member tested positive in October, and Watford and Bristol City before the recent international break. Last month, the club’s Roundwood training base was closed again and only reopened for training a day before the visit of Watford on March 16.
The assistant manager Richie Barker, who had also tested positive, still had the final 24 hours of his isolation period to observe, so it fell to the captain, Richard Wood, the midfielder Shaun MacDonald and the goalkeeper coach, Andy Warrington, to take training. “It was a mad situation,” MacDonald, 32, admits. “Some of the boys were recovering from Covid, had that one training session, then had to play. It was a big ask.”
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So it proved: the Millers were on the end of a 4-1 beating that day and Warne did not much enjoy the experience of watching from home. “I was watching the game and on a FaceTime with the goalie coach on the bench, but there was a one-minute delay,” Warne, 47, says. “It was mayhem. You’ve got a corner, and you’re attacking, and then all of a sudden you hear, ‘Oh, no!’ And you’re like, ‘What’s happened?’ ‘They’ve just scored …’ ‘What do you mean they’ve just scored, we’ve just had a corner!’ It was horrendous.”
With so much at stake in the battle for survival, meanwhile, conspiracy theories had begun to emerge. Aitor Karanka, the now former Birmingham manager, suggested that Rotherham would gain an “unfair” advantage playing so many games after their rivals, particularly if opponents had nothing to play for. He called for an EFL investigation.
“I don’t believe that any football manager or fan would think that having nearly 20 people with Covid would be any advantage at all,” a sanguine Warne says. “The fact that we weren’t allowed to train before the Watford game, playing one of the best teams in the league, and had to try to get through the game without embarrassing ourselves, would not be a choice anyone would take.
“And no one could think that we would consciously take Covid home to our loved ones and friends. I just think we’ve been unlucky. But it’s been a surreal season, and this is probably the cherry on the top of the cake of . . . weirdness.”
Indeed. And so to the week ahead. Recovery will be vital, of course, and particularly so for a team with some of the most impressive pressing stats in the division. “With respect, we don’t have things like a hydrotherapy pool at our club, we don’t have 15 masseurs,” Warne says. “We work with a sleep doctor [James Wilson]. But it’s just asking everyone to do the basics well: eating, sleeping, training load. We can’t even hire a cryotherapy chamber because of Covid.
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“We may have to tweak the system, rotate the players. We do press high up the pitch, chase lost causes, fight for every ball. But to do that in so many games and come through injury-free is going to be tough. Our pressing triggers might be deeper in our own territory.
“But I’ve said to the players that they have an opportunity, in my opinion, for greatness. I know greatness is measured in different ways. But in my eyes, if this group are able to stay up, it is an amazing feat. And the fact that we’d have done it in these horrendous times, without our home support, and this number of games in a short period, it would literally be the highlight of my career.
“The whole town is behind us. And I think neutrals around the country will be looking at it going, ‘Go on the underdog.’ Hopefully we can do it, because I love my team. But as long as we give the best account of ourselves, there can be no shame or regret.”
