Artell - Its horribly sad..

Last updated : 04 April 2008 By Bigrich.....
Artell for the Millers
Speaking to todays 'Tiser, the former Miller, who left nearly 5 years ago and still gets a bit of unwarrented stick for me, gives his thoughts on the Millers plight.

"It's horribly sad, I wish had the money to help Rotherham and that I was Roman Abramovich. We all live in hope that an Abramovich will come along but they are very few and far between and those sorts of people don't want to invest in a club like Rotherham." he said

"You have to be realistic and hope someone comes in. The last thing anyone in football wants is the sort of thing that has happened to Scarborough. But that's football. You live to your means." he added

Artell blames the lack investment when the club were in the Championship, "During my time there under Ronnie Moore we were doing so well and that was the time to invest but it never happened. "If the club had got a new stadium six years ago then it wouldn't be having to pay such reportedly high rents to Mr Booth now."

"You can't blame him, he's a businessman at the end of the day, but the council has to take a fair share of the blame. You only have to look up the M18 to Doncaster to see the set-up they've got, and that's all council-backed."

"We're building a new stadium here at Morecambe, again all council-backed with help from the chairman. At League Two level, the stadium has become the biggest earner. You cannot just rely on a once-a-fortnight income and I read Rotherham's chairman (Denis Coleman) saying as much in the Advertiser recently."

"You need corporate events on matchdays and conferences during the week and weddings and christenings and the like. To be fair, there are not many places in Rotherham that do that kind of thing. The town is football mad and if you have a bloke that supports Rotherham, he is not going to go to an hotel or register office when he's half a chance to get on the centre-circle at Millmoor and get married with his wife's blessing."

"Equally, if I was a businessman selling a product and my client was football mad, I'd hire a suite at the football ground rather than an hotel. It's got to be a 24/7 set-up and unfortunately Rotherham has missed the boat. It's a sad demise, although I don't think the current regime did the damage. I think it was the people who bought it off Mr Booth (Millers 05) who have a lot of answer for."

David then went on to speak about Saturdays drubbing of his former team; "It was a bitter-sweet win for me last Saturday, I've got my job to do for Morecambe Football Club and there's no sentiment when you cross that white line. It was a fantastic win for us—but I just wish it hadn't been against Rotherham."

The Soccerlinks Hit List English Football