14 Rotherham legends graced the pitch at Wembley on April 14 1996 and led the Millers to glory. That was 11 years though, find out what they are doing now!
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 | The Cat |
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Matt Clarke
Clarke was the man who famously led the walk to the top of the 39 steps to lift the shield and left Millmoor soon after to join local neighbours Sheffield Wednesday. The goalkeeper, who was a huge favourite with the Millmoor fans had a spell in the Premiership with Bradford but a run of bad injuries ended his professional career whilst at Crystal Palace. Clarke is currently playing for Redditch in the Nationwide Conference North League.
Paul Blades
Blades was a bit of a journeyman both before and after his time with Rotherham with clubs including Derby, Wolves and Norwich (where at the time he was their record signing at £700,000) and the central defender left Millmoor at the end of the disasterous 1996-97 season leading to an uninspiring time in non league that eventually saw him end up managing non league outfit Stapenhill United. However, his spell in charge there lasted a mere eight games and Blades is now believed to be a health and safety officer.
Paul Hurst
Hurst is the only surviving player from the team that still plays for Rotherham. At the time Hurst was a young lively player with a big heart despite his small frame who was in the beginnings of his career and 11 years on, he remains the same wholehearted player who is close to taking the record for most club appearances. Never the first choice left back for most managers, Hurst always forced his way in to the team and looks set to be a rarirty in fdootball nowadays- a one club man!
Darren Garner
Joining the club from his home town Plymouth at the beginning of the 95-96 season Garner was an integral part of the Rotherham's midfield for close to ten years. His highlight in a Rotherham shirt was scoring a sensational last minute winner at Hillsborough but eventually a deterioating relationship with the club's fans and advancing years saw him return to the West Country to play for Torquay in 2005. He now plays in the Nationwide South League for Newport County. | Left under a cloud |
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Neil Richardson
Richardson was affectionately known as "Butch" and commanded mixed views from many fans in his time at Rotherham with some saying he was a classy centre half and many others saying he was "bloody useless". He was never the quickest but could pick out a pass and scored some vital goals for the club. He left Millmoor in 1999 after injuries had curtailed his availability and went to Mansfield before going on to coach Boston United's youth team. He is currently off the radar.
Ian Breckin
A Rotherham born nephew to club legend John, Breckin was the main stay of Rotherham's defence for 3 years or so before joining local neighbours Chesterfield for 100k. His career took an upturn where he joined Wigan and played consistently in the league's second tier before joining Nottingham Forest for in excess of 300k in 2005. A strong, quick and commanding centre half, he is exactly the sort of player the team could do with now.
Shaun Goodwin
"Raggy" was always a popular player at Millmoor because of his local roots and his classy midfield play. Despite a dodgy mullet and moustache combo during the late 80's and early 90's Goodwin was good enough to command a trial at Everton and was a fixture in Rotherham's midfield for several seasons. Injuries and lack of fitness was evenutally the undoing of Goodwin though and Ronnie Moore released him at the end of the 1997-98 season. Spells at Doncaster, Altrincham and Gainsbrough prolonged his playing career but his time at the Millers was his only spell in the professional game. He stayed local and managed Maltby Main for a time and can still be seen from time to time watching at Millmoor.
Andy Roscoe
There is no doubt that Andy Roscoe had a mixed time at Millmoor. He joined, initially on loan from Bolton and his early performances down the left wing gave lots to be optimistic about. He was a regular for a large chunk of his time at Millmoor but post Wembley was a difficult time for Roscoe. In a struggling team he was singled out by fans for three seasons with the home faithful booing when his name was read out and cheering when he went down injured. The Liverpudlian's last act in a Rotherham shirt was to miss the penalty that saw the Millers miss out on a second trip to Wembley in the 1999 play off defeat to Leyton Orient and he went on to play for Mansfield, Exeter, Halifax and is now at Leigh RMI playing in the Nationwide Conference North.
Trevor Berry
This pint sized winger came to Rotherham in 1995 from Aston Villa and can consider his time at Rotherham a success. He was an integral part of the club's road to Wembley and in his latter years at the club under Ronnie Moore he contributed to two successive promotions. Tricky wing play and a keen eye for goal, no better than a 20 yard chip at Burnley, Berry was a popular player at Millmoor but eventually fell down the pecking order after the emergence of Chris Sedgwick. Many were sad to see him leave the club in favour of a move to Ireland to set up life over there with his wife. Berry did play over in Ireland but unfortunately slips under the radar.
 | FA Cup hero! |
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Nigel Jemson
The goal hero came to Millmoor on loan with a great pedigree playing under Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest and also playing Premiership football with Sheffield Wednesday and made a huge impact at Rotherham scoring plenty of goals although his goal scroing exploits in this final were not the first time he scored the winning goal in a Wembley cup final as his goal in the 1990 League Cup final gave Forest a win over Oldham Athletic. The club couldn't keep him though and Jemson left for Oxford Town before making history for Shrewsbury Town when his goal knocked Everton out of the FA Cup in 2002. He eventually ended up in non-league and is currently managing Illkeston Town but remains a Rotherham legend.
Shaun Goater
Goater led the attack along with Jemson in this final and can consider himself a bit of a Rotherham legend and is their most capped player. Playing over 200 games for the club, "The Goat" bagged 80 plus goals for the Millers following his move from Manchester United. Goater's performances for Rotherham alerted bigger clubs and following the success at Wembley left for Bristol City where his career spiralled beyond anyone's expectations. Success at Ashton Gate saw him seal a move to the blue half of Manchester where his 100+ goals sent him in to legendary status scoring a Manchester Derby winner and the last ever goal at Maine Road. Spells after that at Reading and Southend saw him call time on his career in England to move back to his native Bermuda where he is currently playing for Bermuda Hogges, the team he part owns, whilst studying for his UEFA coaching badges.
Andy Hayward
Hayward is famous at Rotherham mainly for his awful moustache and a shocking miss from four yards out that saw the ball go over the Railway End and unfortunaltely not much else. Rotherham was the first professional club for the striker and he was never really much more than a bit player although he did manage to score a goal for the club in their first ever Sky appearance in the aforementioned 3-0 cup win at Burnley. He left in 1998 for Hednesdford before spells at Doncaster, Stalybridge, Bradford Park Avenue before ending up at Osset Town who compete in Unibond League.
John McGlashan
The dogged Scot was the epitomy of the sort of player that Rotherham attracted in the mid nineties. With lots of lower league experience McGalshan was a solid player but offered nothing spectacular and his three years at Rotherham included a Winners medal at Wembley and a retched relegation campaign in 96-97. He left bound for Dundee, following that relegation, a club he played for in the early 90's and remained in Scotland. McGlashan is currently manager of Arbroath in the Scottish Third Division. |
