"We're like Texas hold 'em" - Rotherham boss on EFL's remarkable yo-yo kings

If football management really is a rollercoaster then Paul Warne must be an adrenaline junkie.

The Rotherham United boss is on course for a scarcely-believable sixth consecutive promotion or relegation - confirming his club as the yo-yo kings of English football.

Last month saw Warne bring up five years in the post but despite the constant state of flux in this particular corner of South Yorkshire you are unlikely to find a more grounded and well-backed manager. Or one with as much charisma as the 48-year-old possesses.

Warne's side are top of League One and are on the crest of a wave, fuelled by a 21-match unbeaten run. It is a club record that stretches across all competitions and began after a humbling home defeat to Fleetwood in mid-September.

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Warne and his tight-knit squad are benefiting from the familiarity of being together for so long.

That, plus a slight tactical tweak and a smattering of new faces over the summer, has combined to create a team that looks a good bet to be back in the Championship next term.

Warne cites the continuity as one of the key reasons behind his side's extraordinary run.

"It's not as if we're a steamrolling team knocking everyone out of the way," Warne tells Mirror Sport.

"But the continuity definitely helps. A lot of these players have been here a long time. They sort of need less coaching and everyone knows their roles.

"We've sort of come into this season thinking we don't want to draw games, we just want to out-score teams. I'm not saying I'm Kevin Keegan but we're just trying to win games and fortunately we've been doing really well so far."

Last season, a second Championship demotion in the space of three seasons, hit Warne and the whole club hard.

His side took the fight to stay up to the last day, but a 1-1 draw at Cardiff wasn't enough and so the pattern of switching divisions continued.

"It's never dull!" he admits.

"In fairness I take full responsibility for two of those relegations but I still did absolutely nothing to help in that first one so I'm not saying it's not my fault as well!

"The first season we went up we won with a diving volley from my captain and then the last time we went up was through PPG so we don't know how that season would have ended.

"People think I'm crazy when I say this but both seasons we were in the Championship we were really good. The Covid stuff affected us last year."

Indeed, two separate outbreaks within the Rotherham camp saw them face a farcical schedule towards the end of the season.

Games were shoehorned into the final few months and Warne's men struggled, understandably, with a punishing workload.

Cruelly, it seems that the only thing capable of stopping Rotherham's charge towards promotion right now would be another Covid-enforced stoppage.

The rising tide of positive cases, fuelled by the Omicron variant, has seen numerous games in the Premier League and EFL postponed over the last few weeks.

In the hours after our interview, another handful of Boxing Day games are added to that growing list.

One suggestion has been to introduce a circuit-breaker with clubs given a fortnight to try and shake off lingering cases and stem any further outbreaks.

But Warne, whose side are pencilled in to travel to Accrington Stanley on Sunday, does not believe that would serve a worthy purpose.

"I can't see the benefit of a break," he said. "At the moment I've got no injuries or anyone coughing.

"But I could turn up tomorrow and I could have six or seven out. However, we might not have any Covid in the next few weeks, then we have a winter break, we come back and then we suddenly get it.

"I think every game should be looked at individually."

Warne, who confirmed all but three of his squad are fully vaccinated, hopes the show goes on and that he can indeed seal a third straight promotion out of League One.

"I'm very fortunate because to take a team down twice and not lose your job, it's something that does make me smile," he reflected.

"Most managers would have lost their jobs after that. And I don't dispute that there would be some Rotherham fans who do want me to lose my job. I get that.

"But I'm lucky that I have an owner who appreciates every thing we do.

"It has been a roller-coaster. I wouldn't mind a nice mid-table Championship season! That would be hugely enjoyable.

"But it probably sums us up and that's how we play. We're all in, like Texas hold 'em.

"We either win big or lose big and hopefully this year we win big."