Current Preston North End goalkeeping coach Mike Pollitt played over 300 games for Saturday’s visitors over two spells.
Having firstly joined them from Sunderland in 1998, he played 110 time over the next couple of years, before a move to Chesterfield in 2000, but he returned to Milmoor 12 months later, going on to make nearly 200 more appearances over the next five years, before joining Wigan Athletic.
And during his time with the Millers, the Bolton-born stopper was the room-mate of current Rotherham boss Paul Warne, so he is looking forward to locking horns with then this coming weekend.
Speaking to iFollow PNE, Polly said: “I speak with Warney quite a lot and Richie Barker is assistant manager, who I played with and coached with over the years.
“Warney was my old room-mate and I could probably tell you a few stories he wouldn’t want to hear and we had some smashing times at Rotherham and then we all moved into the coaching side of the game and came back together again, so it is quite ironic.
“Rotherham is a club I was involved in for about ten years, so with Wigan that accounts for about 20 years of my career. I spent a large part of my career with Rotherham and I have nothing but fond memories of the place.”
He played for the South Yorkshire club on numerous occasions at Deepdale, but doesn’t have a particularly fond memory of our latest match to remember, which saw him only last 33 minutes in a game where Richard Cresswell proved the match-winner.
“I remember that weekend quite clearly, because it was my 30th birthday,” explained the PNE goalkeeping coach. “A few of the Rotherham lads were coming up for the weekend to have a party in Bolton, so the plan was to play the game at Deepdale and then go our celebrating on the Saturday night and Sunday.
“I remember it was a cross from the left-hand side and then I landed funnily on my ankle and it was a really bad one and I had to come off.
“I managed to get out Saturday night and do some dancing, but the physios mentioned on Monday morning that it looked like I had been moving out on it.
“Unfortunately, I lost that one, but I also had some good times at Deepdale, but that was one of the occasions that it didn’t go so well.”
The current Rotherham side will arrive in PR1 full of confidence after a big midweek win over Derby County and Mike expects a tough game: “The are physically a strong team; they are good at set pieces, they like to get the ball forward – their motto is ‘play forward, run forward’.
“Against Derby, it was a big cagey in the first ten minutes, but then Derby came into the game and they had the possession without really having any chances. But as long as Rotherham stay in the game, they have a chance.
“Derby had a good opportunity that Lee Gregory should have scored from and then a few minutes later Rotherham had a set piece with a long ball into the box and they scored. After that it deflated Derby a little bit and scored two more goals in the last 15 minutes.
“Nobody is going to have an easy game against Rotherham, you look at the Championship this year and nobody has had a clear run against them and they have done really well and it is going to be a tough encounter,” he added.
There’s loads more from Mike Pollitt, as he reflects on our November trip to the New York Stadium, the form of recent signing Daniel Iversen and his role in Rotherham’s promotion, as well as why he will be blanking Paul Warne’s calls until the weekend – just click on the video at the top of the page to watch the full interview.
This weekend will see former North End defender Michael Jackson in the co-commentary seat at Deepdale alongside commentator Jonathan Breeze. You can sign up for a £10 match pass for iFollow PNE now by clicking here.