Rotherham Boss Apologises to Fans Friday, 20th Oct 2023 21:45 Rotherham boss Matt Taylor has apologised to fans who travelled for tonight’s postponed live-on-Sky fixture between the Millers and Town.
The match was called off at 5pm, three hours before the scheduled start, with the pitch playable but with the River Don having burst its banks making conditions around the ground dangerous for supporters.
“It's so disappointing that the game isn't on,” Taylor, who had already arrived at the ground along with his staff and players, told iFollow Rotherham.
“We understand that the safety of supporters is paramount. First things first, we've got to apologise to all the fans who've made the journey tonight.”
More than 2,000 Town supporters were expected at the New York Stadium, although had the game gone ahead many wouldn’t have made it due to a lack of public transport, official coaches having been unable to reach Portman Road and delays on the roads.
Photo: Sipa USA
Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
TresBonne added 21:54 - Oct 20
Go away. I wanted minimum 5 concourse beers and a 0-3 win not an apology | | |
Suffolkboy added 22:05 - Oct 20
Explain why oh why no intelligent foresight was used !! Rotherham neighbourhoods already under water and more rain forecast .along with increasing flows down the adjacent river . BUT it seems anything can and is sacrificed for TV —- never mind the fans etc etc . Come on EFL Wakey ,Wakey ! Let’s get sensible ! COYB | | |
WeirdFishes added 00:15 - Oct 21
Unfortunately your apology isn’t going to payback the 180 miles worth of petrol or half day annual leave I wouldn’t have lost had someone at Rotherham been sensible enough to consider that excessive rain and rivers tends to generally result in one thing. Pathetic from Rotherham, especially after essentially telling people the game was going ahead. | | |
PhuketPete added 02:31 - Oct 21
This particular long distance away game involving an apparent mismatch in team levels, shouldn’t have been pushed to a Friday night in the first place. It was a bad choice by the Money Men at Sky with an assist from a weak EFL and to be honest a bit of a weak ITFC for not at least complaining on behalf of fans. Now the postponement badly handled…… but maybe a blessing in disguise..?? The pitch would have been heavy and wet making it harder to play our A game and possibly with an elevated injury risk. Then I read about the many Town fans who may not have arrived in time anyway due public transport, coach and road delays. Whatever - I really feel for the 2000 and hope they get some sort of compensation. | | |
jonnysuave added 08:17 - Oct 21
More than 2,000 Town supporters were expected at the New York Stadium, although had the game gone ahead many wouldn’t have made it due to a lack of public transport, official coaches having been unable to reach Portman Road and delays on the roads. Everything about this story is how this country has gone to the dogs | | |
slade1 added 08:39 - Oct 21
Why are people moaning at the Rotherham boss? It's not his fault!! | | |
HALLSJ added 08:45 - Oct 21
With adverse weather that may have been a leveller so potentially a bullet dodged. The supporters who travelled is who I feel for | | |
Dissboyitfc added 09:46 - Oct 21
The decision to play or not to play would not have been his anyway so it’s sky who need to apologise , but they won’t care, the ugly side of the business these days | | |
MickMillsTash added 10:05 - Oct 21
I made a 200 mile journey to Portman Road for the Boxing Day Watford match - called off 1 hour before KO and the Middlesboro game, called off, 20 mins into the match, it was unforgiveable that match was not called off at 9a.m Another scar was Man City away in the League Cup called off after 30 mins due to rain, the re-arranged game though was a belter Its a massive sh1t sandwich but These things happens. Hopefully the club allow you to keep your away match point even if you return the ticket. | | |
Orraman added 10:43 - Oct 21
Obviously we cannot control our weather and there will always be late call offs due to freak storms but this was an obvious postponement from early in the day. Unfortunately our continuing successes make us ripe for Sky intervention and it will only get worse when we move up to PL. Saturday 3pm kick offs will become rarer and rarer and it is our wonderful away supporters who will bear the brunt of ridiculously early rises or very late to bed impacting work and family life. Although too old to travel away now I have great respect for our travelling supporters. Love Ipswich, Love Football, Hate Sky! | | |
Michael101 added 10:54 - Oct 21
he has nothing to a apologise for sure if sly tv had not been poking there nose in it would have been called off a lot sooner | | |
MK1 added 12:07 - Oct 21
Not the managers fault, but Rotherham fc should have made fans aware that things were pretty bad and likely to get worse. To say that the pitch was playable was giving the wrong signals when the area around the ground was getting worse. Poor by all concerned. | | |
dirtydingusmagee added 13:08 - Oct 21
the weather warnings all week were clear ,along with travel disruption . As was stated even if pitch was playable, the wider problems were always going to come into the decision, If people gamble on it thats their choice, im sure i am not alone in deciding there was a very real possibility of the game not going ahead and therefor did not attempt the journey. Cant blame anyone else. imo | | |
maninashed added 13:57 - Oct 21
All the club was interested in was getting the game played so they got the money from Sky. They did not consider the travelling fans until things got so bad they had no choice. Pathetic. | | |
blues1 added 14:49 - Oct 21
Phuket Pete. What are you on about? No reason thezgame,shouldn't have,been chosen for sky? Or do you think omlycteams doing well should get their chance of being on tv? As for itfc being weak in not complaining about it? Are you for real? I'm sure the club will have made their feelings known on the lateness of the call off. | | |
mathiemagic added 15:04 - Oct 21
I am not defending RUFC but RUFC did there bit and improved the pitch drainage and/or undersoil heating over the summer to make sure games go ahead so you cant really point the finger at them totally. As I understand it, the Safety Advisory Group/Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council and club safety personnel and the EFL were the decision makers and decided to wait until most of the travelling support were either in Rotherham or struggling up the motorways before calling it off. All round a disgraceful lack of decision making and quite typical of the EFL. Had it been Sheffield Wednesday or Leeds for instance as the visitors, then a late call off is not too much a hinderance for the away fans. Given it was Ipswich and the distances involved then common sense should have been made with RUFC/ITFC/EFL agreeing to postpone way in advance of fans travelling and the river breaching its banks. As for fans asking for their travel money back, unfortunately you made the choice to travel despite having all the travel/weather info to hand which pointed, quite clearly, to make the sensible option of taking a hit on the ticket and watching it back in a pub in Ipswich if it did go ahead. All that said, roll on Bristol away ... COYB | | |
Flight_of_Shefki added 08:02 - Oct 22
This won't be a popular opinion - but did people not show a bit more awareness and kind of think this could have happened? The entire country blanketed in continuous rain for nearly 48hrs prior, with train/travel/weather warnings being blurted out like it was the apocalypse. This coupled with this country's renowned poor handling of inclement weather; would you not have checked before you left? I'm seeing a lot of moaning at club and authority here, but it's really not their fault. Sorry. | | |
Carberry added 10:07 - Oct 22
Shefki, that's very harsh. All the news coming out of South Yorkshire was that the game was on. Rotherham said the pitch was playable and there was to be no inspection scheduled, so what do you expect fans to do? They weren't travelling along B roads to get there, it is up the M1/A1 for goodness sake. So if you did check before you left it was 'on'. Rotherham wanted it on because it was their best chance of getting points off us by playing it on a very wet surface, they also wanted the Sky money, so they were never going to postpone well in advance. And I doubt Sky were putting undue pressure on them to keep it on as they wouldn't have wanted a very late change or a farce of a match. | | |
chepstowblue added 10:56 - Oct 22
From a personal point of view it was disappointing but also a blessing. Travelling from South Wales in horrendous traffic we hadn't even reached the NEC when my mates lad broke the news at about 5.20 that it was off. Turned around at Shirley and back in the house at 7. Yes there was half a tank of fuel wasted and an annoyance in myself that I'd not listened to my inner voice/gut feeling, that all morning had been telling me....."don't bother". There are many reasons why I'll pack it all in at the end of the season.....days like this confirm to me that whilst my bond and connection with the club will always remain strong, my money could be better spent buying a dog and having an extra holiday each year. I've always said I'd never attend the premier league circus.Hope we get there, but I'll be cheering from afar. Fallen out of love with the sport and the morons who govern the sport and our lives. | | |
Rozeeboy74 added 10:04 - Oct 23
RUFC will have been damned if they called the game off and there been no issues with the roads. In fairness, they were in a no-win situation. As for controlling the weather? According to this joke of a government, of course we can. Just switch for TV of at the wall at night and buy an electric car with a massive carbon footprint from its production and the rains will stop :-D | | |
You need to login in order to post your comments
|
Blogs 298 bloggersIpswich Town Polls |