RotherhamUnited

Rotherham’s Paul Warne: ‘At times I think, what am I doing this for?’

18-Feb-2022 08:00:06 | The Guardian

Manager of the League One leaders on the job’s extreme emotions, the day he feared he might collapse and Championship ambitions

In the eyes of Antonio Conte, ketchup and mayonnaise are strictly forbidden. Pep Guardiola is supposedly not keen on his squad eating pizza and David Moyes has voiced concerns about chips finding their way into a player’s diet. At Rotherham United, the League One leaders, there is one simple rule at the training ground: mobile phones are banned. “Some lads will definitely have their phones in their toiletry bags but apart from doing a military strip search there is not much I can do on that,” says their affable manager, Paul Warne. “Sometimes I do like to casually walk through their dressing room and just catch someone. I think if they’re not on their phones all the time, they might actually speak to each other, which is quite a nice thing.”

Conversation flows with Warne, whether he is discussing dressing up for the Super Bowl, being a big James Bond fan – “although the Timothy Dalton phase was a bit cheesy” – his mother tuning into every Rotherham game on iFollow, comparing the nauseating feeling of wanting his players to succeed to watching your child play the lead role in the school pantomime, or taking his labrador, Chief, for a walk to decompress after a game.