Rotherham United's roots go back to 1870, the club being known as Thornhill United at the time. They were playing in the Sheffield and Hallamshire League and they were a less than successful cousins of Rotherham Town FC. However, Rotherham Town's luck suddenly plummeted and they resigned from the League, eventually joining the Midland League.

Thornhill were having a decent run of things before changing their name to Rotherham County FC. Both County and Town competed in the Midland League, finishing as the top two in the 1911/12 season. Rotherham County were promoted to Football League Division Two after winning the Midland League in 1915. However, they struggled and were relegated in 1923, finishing bottom of the entire Football League two years later.

Both sides were struggling on and off the field before the clubs merged to form the modern day Rotherham United FC. Their first kit was a yellow and black kit but they changed to the current red and white in 1928. United finished third in Division Three North three seasons in a row, finally winning the division in 1951. It was just four years before they achieved their highest ever placing, finishing third in Division Two.

Only a inferior goal average denied them promotion, losing out to Birmingham City and Luton Town. The spell in Division Two lasted until 1968 and they were down in Division Four by 1973. Another title win in 1975 saw a promotion to the Third Division before winning that in 1981. Rotherham again missing out on promotion by four points in 1981/2, not bad considering they were in the relegation zone at the turn of the year.

Rotherham were relegated a season later and they were back in Division Four again, winning the title at the first attempt. Promotions and relegations regularly followed each other in the 1990's, this time frame also included a Football League Trophy final in 1996, winning the trophy with a 2-1 victory over Shrewsbury Town.

Ronnie Moore returned the side to Division Two as Division Three champions in 1999/2000, and the 2000/1 saw a second successive promotion, elevating the Millers to Division One. Rotherham only had one half-decent spell in Division One, the 2002/3 season seeing them compete for the Playoffs for most of the season.

Rotherham's spell in the Championship lasted until the 2004/5 season, a season in which they were in bottom place for virtually the entire season and that's when all of Rotherham's problems started.

Mick Harford was appointed as the Rotherham manager and got off to a decent start. However, a 17 game winless run saw Harford relieved of his position. Rotherham were losing around £140,000 per month. The club couldn't enter administration at the time due to having no tangible assets. A consortium avoided the dissolution of the club but it wasn't long before financial problems returned.

They started the 2006/7 season with a -10 points total due to a CVA, but they had a reasonable opening to that season with form that would have meant they were challenging for a Playoff place. However, a 3-2 win over Yeovil turned out to be the turning point and Rotherham quickly started to lose ground on those above them, leaving them too far adrift to ever catch up on the teams above them. They were unsurprisingly relegated to League Two in time for the 2007/8. They were heading for a potential Playoff season before the club entered administration again and were deducted a further 10 points.

During this summer, Rotherham have had to leave their Millmoor home and they will compete in the Don Valley stadium next season.

DID YOU KNOW? : West Ham's players refused to use the changing rooms at Millmoor in 2003.

DID YOU KNOW? : Rotherham haven't won an FA Cup match since the 2001/2 season. They beat Southampton 2-1 in the third round that season, losing every single tie since.