Rotherham United
Formed 1877. Merged with Rotherham Town in 1925 to form Rotherham United.
Elected to Division Two 1919
Kit History
Thornhill United
1877
1900-1901 a
1901-1902 p
Rotherham County
1905
Formerly Thornhill United
1906-1907 a
1911-1912 n
1912-1916 a
1922-1923 a
1924-1925 a
1925-1926 b
1928-1934 b
1934-1937 a
1946-1947 a
1947-1948 a
1950-1951 a
1951-1957 a l
1958-1959 a
1959-1960 a
1960-1962 a
1963-1966 a
1966-Feb 1968 a
March 1968 o
March '68-'72 a e g k o
1972-1973 a g k o
1973-1974 o
1975-1976 a g k o
1976-1977 k o
1977-1980 k o
1980-1981 a
1981-1982 j
1982-1983 a
1983-1986 f
1986-1987 h
1987-1988 h
1989-1990 a h
1990-1991 h
1991-1992 a h i
1993-1995 c h
1995-1996 a
1997-1998 c
1998-2000 c
2000-2002 c
2002-2003 c
2003-2004 c
2004-2005 c
2005-2006 d
2006-2007 d
2007-2008 d
2008-2010 d l
Background
The club was formed as Thornhill
United. For many years the leading team in the area was Rotherham Town,
who spent three seasons in the Football League while Thornhill United
were still playing in the Sheffield & Hallamshire League. By the turn
of the century, however, Rotherham Town had resigned from the Football
League and briefly gone out of business before joining the Midland League.
Meanwhile, Thornhill's fortunes were on the rise to the extent that in
1905 they laid claim to being the pre-eminent club in the town and changed
their name to Rotherham County. For a period both clubs competed in the
Midland League, finishing first and second in 1911-12. When the Great
War ended, it was decided to extend The Football League by creating four
new places in Division Two. Rotherham County, who had been champions of
the Midland League in 1915 before the competition was suspended, were
elected to one of the vacancies.
The Second Division was rather too tough for the Yorkshire side and in 1923 they were relegated to Division Three (North). In 1925 the club finished bottom and had to apply for re-election. Rotherham Town were themselves struggling and it was clear that to have two professional clubs in the town was not sustainable. Talks had begun in February 1925 and in early May the two clubs merged to form Rotherham United. Days later the reformed club was formally re-elected under its new name.
In a new amber and black strip, United may have begun with optimism but the new club fared little better than the old one. The now familiar red and white was adopted around 1928 but there was no improvement in the club's fortunes: in 1931 they again had to apply for re-election. Immediately after the Second World War things looked up. After adopting Arsenal-style white sleeved shirts, United finished as runners-up three time in succession between 1947 and 1949 and then were champions of Division Three (North) in 1951. In 1955 they finished third in Division Two, the closest they have ever come to winning promotion to the top level. The club held on to its place in Division Two until 1968 and then went into a decline that took them down to Division Four in 1973. In 1975 they were promoted back to the Third Division winning the championship in 1981 and returning briefly to Division Two. By 1988, United were again in Division Four but won the Division title at the first attempt. During the 1990s Rotherham were promoted and relegated between the lowest two divisions with some regularity but successive promotions in 2000 and 2001 took them back to what had now become Nationwide Division One.
Financial problems continued to plague the club and in 2006 they narrowly avoided going into liquidation but lost their League One status as a result of being docked ten points. In March 2008, Rotherham, now playing in League Two (the lowest tier of the Football League) went into financial administration again, a decision that cost them ten points and any chance of reaching the play-offs. A number of bidders came forward but the threat of legal action to prevent the sale by the club's landlords, the Booth family, put at least one Russian billionaire buyer off. Ken Booth, the club's wealthy Honorary President and landlord, wanted to preserve his family's perks, which included access to the club physiotherapist, free tickets, VIP access to games and free tickets to the FA Cup final. As a result, the club's new owner, Tony Stewart, decided to sever connections with the Booth family, quit Millmoor and play their home games at the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield until new facilities could be built in Rotherham. After the club failed to agree a Company Voluntary Agreement with its creditors, who rejected an offer of 5p in the pound, the Football League imposed a 17-point penalty at the beginning of the 2008-09 season and threatened the club with expulsion if they failed to return to Rotherham within four years.
Sources
- (a) Rotherham United FC (Images of Sport: G Somerton & C Robinson)
- (b) Classic Kits
- (c) empics
- (d) Rotherham United Official Website
- (e) Football Focus
- (f) Mark Duffy
- (g) Pete's Picture Palace
- (h) David King
- (i) Gareth Elliott
- (j) Mark Etches
- (k) Alick Milne
- (l) Simon Monks
- (m) Neil Adamson
- (n) My photo library
- (o) Paul Urwin
- (p) British Film Institute Archive (Youtube)