I went to watch Rotherham once or twice last season and each time I was impressed with them, their passing was magnificant and they seemed to have a squad capable of pulling away from the relegation zone following their 10 point deduction.

The last time I saw them play was when they faced Yeovil Town. Rotherham destroyed them and a 3-2 scoreline didn't reflect Rotherham's dominance. I praised Rotherham afterwards and just to show me up, they failed to win again for four months and only won 3 games from December 2nd to the end of the season.

They started the season very well, and had it not been for their points deduction then they would have been in the Playoff places. However, that run absolutely destroyed their chances of staying up and that 10 point deduction was irrelevant as they would have been relegated anyway.

It was probably that mental aspect of knowing that the 10 points would never be given back that eventually got to the players, that sort of deduction can play on your mind and you're screwed from that point on. It's similar to what happened to Wrexham in the 2004/5 season, they got deducted in November and were still outside the relegation zone, but what happened caused them to get relegated. Then again, Rotherham's problems could have been selling a few of their best players in the transfer window,

One thing that Rotherham have to their advantage is that Millmoor certainly isn't friendly to visiting fans, whether it be an away end that can't create an atmosphere or the alley you have to walk down to get to it. You are also greeted with a very vocal and hostile home atmosphere, something that I have not experienced at any ground in League 2 to the extent that the fans in south Yorkshire do it.

Rotherham secured one of the biggest coups in the division when they secured the signature of Graham Coughlan from Sheffield Wednesday. The defender is one of the best defenders in the lower leagues and could still play at the Championship level.

He is one of many players who have experienced promotion in the past. Andy Warrington, the aforementioned Coughlan, Andy Todd, Peter Holmes, Derek Holmes, Mark Hudson and Marc Joseph have all won promotion in their careers, including a fair few of those winning promotion from this division.

However, they have left Delroy Facey leave and this has caused me to change the prediction I was going to give them originally of Champions. I still think they will relatively easily secure promotion despite finishing 3rd.

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