Peter Ruchniewicz Interview

After recent events down at Millmoor, fans have been demanding an update on the latest situation both on and off the field. Talking to BBC Radio Sheffield tonight, Peter Ruchniewicz gave us his take on the plight of Rotherham United.

Talking firstly about the sides poor run of results, he commented: "It's been very frustrating for everybody connected with the club and after the early season promise it's been very disappointing. We have enough belief in the squad that we have the quality to recapture that early season form which pleased us all so much." Speaking about the club's exit from both major cup competitions, he added: "Financially it's been very damaging i won't pull the wool over anybodies eyes, we didn't budget for cup runs and it's one of those things, you hope one of the competitions will give you something as you go along. Unfortunately thats what happens in football and we are not wallowing in our misfortune, we are ready to meet the many forthcoming challenges just as we have so far."

Not Far Away

With regards the new stand and asked if the budget may have to be tightened further, Peter continued: "Yes it does mean that, when we started the new stand season tickets were promising and then the last 500 didn't come in, and that's one thing we'll have to plug. We thought attendances would pick up and they haven't, that's not to blame anybody, those are economic facts and it's our job to make the best of what we've got. The promiseland is to get the stand up and get to the end of the season, but at the same time putting out the most competitive team we can. Overall that's worked quite well so far."

A hot topic on the mad boards has been the debate regarding where priorities should be, the team or the stand. This is Peter's take on the situation: "The stand money is completely seperate to the playing side, the stand money was only available for the stand, it never touches the till and never gets anywhere near the playing side. We took the money in the summer and people say, 'you have the money so where's the stand?' we didn't raise enough as it happens and there's still some money to come in from that but the rest comes from grant money and specific loans, never for players, people must keep that clear. On the operational side, we had a budget that is designed to move players on from the Championship era who are on wages that are unsustainable at this level. People have to remember what Sheffield Wednesday have gone through, Barnsley, Bradford, Leeds United some of those clubs have gone into administration, in our case it would be liquidation. We have kept the club going and avoided all that."

Pleased With Harford

On the player and management front, Ruchniewicz expressed his thoughts about Mick Harford and the team in general: "Mick has done a great job at dealing with the squad and we can all have feauds about what players have been successful, you are always faced with that. It's a difficult job trading down and rejuvenating the squad and on the whole there's a lot of promise that's working." He also commented about how the transfer window has made Mick's job ultimately harder in the grand scheme of things.

Finally, when asked about the completion date for the stand he explained that the work was initially about four weeks behind schedule and added: "We started later as we didn't raise as much money as we hoped, but it's pretty well on course now after that and we should have some seats in by Christmas for the big games against Huddersfield and Donny."

Ruchniewicz also said it is hoped that around 1200 seats are in place by the festive period and that the roof may be constructed by the end of January. Mick Harford will also have to generate his own money, working on a "one in and one out basis" with regards to improving the squad.

Hope this provides a few answers folks, and no doubt more debate on the boards will commence.