Derby County’s new Head Coach Paul Warne knows a thing or two about getting out of League One.
In the last five years alone, he has won three promotions from the division with his former club Rotherham United. On top of that, he also achieved two promotions as a player with the Millers from League Two in 1999/2000 and from League One in 2000/01.
Here’s a look at those very seasons that were headed up by the new man in the Rams’ hot seat.
2017/18 – Play-Off Winners
Following his official appointment in April 2017, the 2017/18 season was the first full season in first team management for Paul Warne.
After replacing Kenny Jackett in November 2016, first as Caretaker Manager on a temporary basis and then until the end of the campaign, Warne was rewarded the full-time management position before the campaign was out. The summer of 2017 saw him tasked with rebuilding a squad capable of bouncing straight back to the Championship.
And that’s exactly what he did.
Semi Ajayi and Michael Smith were the pick of the summer signings and helped the Millers achieve a fourth-place finish with 79 points during their first season back in England’s third tier.
Wigan Athletic and Blackburn Rovers secured automatic promotion that season, while Rotherham’s divisional-best seven-game winning run during late January and throughout February saw them go from play-off contenders to automatic promotion chasers.
The Millers were competing with the likes of the Sky Blues, Wycombe Wanderers, Oxford United, Portsmouth, Fleetwood Town, Peterborough United and Sunderland for promotion at the time the season was brought to a premature end.
The decision was made across the board to calculate the final league standings in Leagues One and Two based on points per game – a decision which ultimately saw Rotherham achieve automatic promotion back to the Championship with an average of 1.77 PPG across 35 games.
2021/22 – League One Runners-Up
The Rams’ new boss achieved his most recent promotion just a few months ago. As Derby were unfortunately relegated to League One after bravely battling against the odds all season long, Ware was celebrating his side being promoted automatically back to the Championship at the first time of asking.
Rotherham hit an extremely impressive 90 points over the course of the season, finishing second only to Wigan Athletic who hit 92.
The Millers’ promotion was helped by a fantastic run of form between September and December that saw them go on a 16-game unbeaten run with 11 of those games in that time being victories. Their longest winning run was six matches, the best in the division during the season.
In an already overwhelming schedule, Warne was able to also guide his team to Wembley Stadium in April for the Papa Johns Trophy Final. The Millers defeated League Two outfit Sutton United 4-2 after extra time, following a 2-2 draw in normal time, adding another piece of silverware to an already impressive CV.
They achieved promotion on the final day of the season with a 2-0 success at Gillingham and finished above the likes of Sunderland, MK Dons and Sheffield Wednesday to achieve an automatic route back to the second tier.
Over the course of 2021/22 and up to the present day, no team conceded less goals (15) away from home than Rotherham United under Warne, with the Millers also keeping the most clean sheets (17) during this timeframe.
