Team of an era: Ronnie Moore's XI

Despite his money grabbing tendencies and his fear of coming for crosses, Pollitt was an immense figure for us in between the sticks in his two spells with us. His shot stopping ability was outstanding and earned him praise as "the best goalkeeper outside the Premiership" from Ronnie. He made many big saves at crucial times and in his last season was a lone contender for player of the season pulling off some great saves. Of course he wanted his big pay day and is now "the worst goalkeeper in the Premiership" at Wigan.

It was a tight decision to go with Barker instead of Rob Scott but the defining factor was that I have gone with a 4-4-2 and Scott's better days at the club were at centre half. Barker was thrown in to the first team as a young lad following an injury crisis and immediately settled in nicely. Good in the air and quick in to the tackle Barker held his own in a strong second tier division and also offered versatility and had a huge long throw which represented goal scoring opportunities. He left the club as an established centre back . But Shaun, bring back the mullet!

'Swaz' was signed after our promotion to Division One and started off very shakily but soon find his level when playing with his buddy Martin McIntosh and went on to become a real warrior in the heart of our defence for four years. His time at Rotherham can be best epitomised by seeing him play on many times with a head band and bloody face. He was a real threat at set plays and just stood for everything that Rotherham represented in our time in Division One/Championship. He became a fan's favourite and will always be fondly remembered by the fans at Millmoor.

I couldn't have Swaz in there without having Macca next to him. As a pair and individually they were the backbone of our resistance in Division One. Macca had a bit more class than Swaz and was better on the ball. He was close to an international call up and was possibly Ronnie's best signing. He was a tallisman for us and was also very valuable in the opposition penalty area scoring many goals for us. Unfortunately he suffered a serious injury that affected his last 18 months as a Roth player and ultimately led to his departure.

Where's the mullet??

Guy Branston

Branston has made this team for several reasons. I wasn't keen on any of regulation left backs (Hurst, Minto, Beech, Dillon) and felt that he deserved a place in the side somewhere for the great service he gave us in our two promotion seasons. Known affectionately as 'Pschyo' he became a real terrace hero. On his day he was commanding, strong in the air and also strong in the tackle. He unfortunately was a victim of our quick rise up the leagues and was found wanting too often with quicker and cleverer forwards. Branston notched almost as many red cards for us as he did goals and famously punched the referee's door after being sent off at Hull not knowing it was lined with glass and nearly split an artery. He was a wholehearted, committed player who was loveable on and off the pitch.

Sedgy is the only real contender to play right hand side of midfield as he occupied the role for the majority of Ronnie's era. In his early days he was an exciting young winger who liked to beat his man and get balls in to the box (not always very good). After our promotion he had to learn a defensive side as well and became a solid second tier player. It's always nice to see lads coming through the youth system, so Sedgwick was always a favourite with fans. His best performance was undoubtedly against Nottingham Forest in 2002/03 when he produced a display that I still rate as the best individual performance I have ever seen. He was absolutely class. Eventually he became our really only saleable asset and we had to cash in and sell him but he left with the best wishes of all Rotherham fans. So much so that they cheered his goal when he scored against us for Preston!

A fairly astonishing selection in that he only played for us for three months but he had such an impact on our team during his loan spell that he has to be in there. Signed on loan from Portsmouth immediately after our 5-0 thumping at the Lane in 03/04 when we were adrift at the bottom of the league having amassed four points and scored all of one goal. Out of the 16 league games he played we lost only three and he was so important in that run, it wasn't even funny. He controlled games from the midfield, played the easy ball, had great calmness and had a great ability to turn defence in to attack with one pass. I have never seen a midfielder like him at Millmoor before and we certainly haven't seen one since. It's a shame we only had him for those 16 games, who knows where we'd be if he had stayed longer.

The second central midfield berth was a close call and Thommo had stiff competition from Stewart Talbot and Kevin Watson but ultimately was awarded his place in the XI for his contribution to our promotion to Division Two in 2000. He was also a vital player in the 97/98 season playing a prominent role in stopping the rot in Ronnie's first season after the Bergara era. Thommo was a great passer of the ball and pulled all the strings in our midfield. He was the link man for us and in that promotion season was Sedgy's best mate as the ball for Sedgwick to run on to was the first one he looked for and it created many goals for us. He also scored quite a few long range goals for us, some of them falling nothing short of spectacular and was appreciated well by the Rotherham fans. Eventually not deemed worth retaining for Division Two but did enough to earn his place in this XI.

Admittedly this is a very generous selection and to be fair he has only made it in this XI because of the lack of alternative choices and my apparent dislike for Andy Monkhouse.

JCR came at a snip after we had sold Sedgy and was deemed to be a great signing for us considering he had ripped us to shreds when playing for the Dires in the league cup earlier that season. Campbell-Ryce started off with a bang for us and set himself a really high standard, which he ultimately could not keep to as we sank to new depths at the back end of last season. His best performance came away at Leicester where he was superb and created many chances for us before having a scrap with Junior. That said, he's in by default and
must count himself very lucky after the way he left the club!

Legend