Fourteen years ago we were playing each other for the Third Division title - football has changed a lot since then
I seem to remember Rotherham's last stint in the Championship vividly. It all started when Jonny Hollins' Swansea played a title-decider at Millmoor in Division Three - a match made almost inconsequential following the death of Swansea fan Terry Coles. The Swans won the title, but it almost felt like a hollow victory given the tragic events that unfolded that day.
As for Rotherham? They went up as runners-up and they found themselves embarking upon a purple patch which would see them, firstly, promoted for the second consecutive season as runners up, and secondly hold their place in the Championship for three seasons before their fourth became a stretch too far. They finished bottom the next season and this was around the time things things started to fall apart for the Millers.
There followed a very scary few years, more than a touch reminiscent of the Swans during the Tony Petty era. Relegation back to League One coincided with serious financial trouble, and the prior sale of their ground to clear £3million worth of debt left them without assets, and unable to go into administration. Fans and other football clubs campaigned to find the £2million believed to be necessary save the club, but it took a last minute intervention by a consortium of local businessmen (sound familiar?) to save the ailing club.
They started their second season in League One with a ten point deficit due to the ongoing financial problems, and despite briefly looking good (and possibly because they sold their two best players) they ended up getting relegated again to League Two. There followed a crazy period which saw more administration, more points deductions, but ultimately they've come good. New chairman Tony Stewart has built them a stadium, overseen two consecutive promotions, and Rotherham came to the Liberty very much a team in with a shout of maintaining their Championship status.
The reason I've given this abbreviated history is because, for the first few years of their rise, everything seemed to be going really well, and I as a young fan was very jealous. All of a sudden though they were losing £140k per month and the wheels came off - around the time we were starting our own sudden climb through the leagues. The difference is we started out having to build from financial prudence, because we'd already seen what happens when all the money has been paid out and people are still crying for more. Quite simply, we're just a few years ahead of where they could be with a bit of luck and a lot of hard work.
I can't say I know too much about financial management at professional football clubs, but having a funding gap of £140k per month at Championship level, to me, indicates perhaps you'd agreed to certain contracts you shouldn't have. If that's the case, our rise to the Premier League ahead of Rotherham's recent rise through the divisions just serves to emphasise how important proper financial management and planning can prove to be.
Something else which struck me at the game yesterday is just how far both our football clubs have come, and how much football has changed in general. When we played at Millmoor on that tragic day in 2000 there were ten arrests and twenty fans of both teams were charged with public order offences, amid scenes which fans will certainly never want to see repeated. Thankfully, football is a much safer environment these days - you just have to look at the lack of trouble at recent South Wales derbies for proof of that. While I often lambast many modernisations of the game I love, ensuring the safety of fans is something which is absolutely paramount, and thankfully we've seen football move in a safer, more family-friendly direction.
This might grate on some fans who long for terraces, smoking, and drinking in the stadium proper, but it's a tiny - absolutely tiny - price to pay if it means we can guarantee the safety of every football fan who comes to see Swansea City.
Just don't get me started on naff pop music blaring over the loudspeakers...