Although it was only the Auto Windscreens Shield this was a chance for the town to get behind the team, the bask in the limelight and to have a day out. The team had done their bit by getting to the final after a long run in the tournament and the town did their bit when an estimated 20,000 people travelled down the M1 to watch the club's first- and only visit to Wembley.
Outnumbering the Shrewsbury fans roughly 2-1, the fans in a sea of red and white had a day to remember as two Nigel Jemson goals helped Rotherham to a 2-1 victory to give the club it's most historic day. Not only that but their celebrity team in the pre match festivities that contained Z listers like Shane Richie and Garth Crooks also won!!
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It felt as if the whole town was at Wembley to cheer the team to victory and on the back of an average gate of around 4000 this should have served as notice to the club that the potential support was far greater if there was a successful team on the pitch. The team, although languishing in the lower middle part of Division Two had potential. The spine of the team was young and talented. Around them there were wily pros and solid lower league players with the odd donkeys thrown in to make the numbers up.
Players like Matt Clarke, Ian Breckin and Shaun Goater were destined for better things proven by the fact that between the three of them they would attract £3.2 million in transfer fees over their careers to date, of which Rotherham only saw £600,000.
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On the back of an average league campaign where the team were to finish 16th in Division Two the club had an opportunity. The potential to catch the floating fans on the back of the success at Wembley was huge. The team needed strengthening, a bit of investment was required, not only on the pitch but also in the facilities at Millmoor. Rotherham had the chance to move in a positive direction.
The management team although not great and overly popular should have been given the chance to build a team around Goater and around Clarke. Strengthening the team on the back of Wembley could have paid dividends and could theoretically have seen the team potentially restore their second tier status which they had not held since 1983.
So what did happen. Well, instead of building a team around the young and talented nucleus the club cashed in on them. Goalkeeper, club captain and former youth trainee Clarke went to local neighbours Sheffield Wednesday for £325k a then club record. Shaun Goater, goalscoring tallisman bagging 80 goals for the Millers in 200 starts went for a paltry £175k. Clarke was replaced by Steve Cherry in goal who came in on a free and Goater was replaced by a woefully under achieving Lee Glover. £500,000 brought in on outgoing players replaced by £150,000.
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Add to this that the likes of Jemson could not be wooed to make his move permenant and went to Oxford and the club was forced to recruit players like Nathan Pell, Bradley Sandeman and Steve Slawson. The 96-97 season did not see a league win until the 28th September. Archie Gemmil and John McGovern were replaced by oddball Uruguayan Danny Bergara (who incidentally after becoming the first foreign manager in the English game claims to have led the way for the likes of Mourinho, Wenger and Eriksson) and the season from hell ensued.
One year on from Wembley the club were second bottom of Division Two on 34 points having just lost to Brentford at home. With four games left and 15 points adrift, the Millers were consigned to relegation. The same weekend, one year previously the team won a major trophy for the first time in front of 20,000 fans, 18,000 more than watched the Brentford defeat. Instead of Clarke, Jemson and Goater the team had Pilkington, McDougald and loanee Richard Landon playing.
The club was in despair and had just suffered it's worst ever season- the season that had promised so much. Ironically, the disasterous season allowed the club to rebuild under Ronnie Moore who four years later did return to the second tier against all odds. Games against Man City, Leeds, West Ham, West Brom, Southampton, Nottingham Forest all came. The team and stadium was crying out for investment as the results and attendances swelled. Did it come though, well that's another story.