Richard Wood: Wood You Believe it?

It was up the M18 at Rotherham where Wood enjoyed his longest and most successful stint. However, last month, manager Matt Taylor informed him that 2022/23 would be his last season as a Millers player.

He is perhaps best remembered for scoring both goals in the 2018 League One Play-Off Final as the Millers saw off Shrewsbury Town 2-1 to win promotion under the arch.

Wood rippled the net in extra-time with the match-winner and it still goes down as the best day of the two-goal Wembley hero’s playing days.

“Easily, it’s the highlight of my career,” he insists. “When the second goal went in, my first thought was to get to my family, so I was sprinting back and the manager (Paul Warne) thought I was sprinting back to him.

“He’s stood on the halfway line waiting for me and he’s got his arm up expecting a high five, but I went straight past him. My youngest boy is 12 and he has it recorded; he knows every word of the commentary.”

In 2015, Wood headed out on three separate loan spells after falling out of favour. He dropped down a division from the Championship for temporary stints with Crawley Town, Fleetwood Town and Chesterfield before he was eventually called back by then-boss Neil Warnock.

“Loads of times, I thought I had to go,” he says. “It’s weird how football can change so quickly. I never gave up and always had the mentality to stay professional and keep going. They were definitely low points.”

When the time does come for the experienced centre-half to hang up his boots, a path may have already presented itself to him.

In September last year, Wood stepped in alongside Rotherham team-mate Lee Peltier as caretaker manager following the departure of Paul Warne. The duo took charge of a 2-0 defeat to Wigan Athletic, but it did whet the appetite for Wood.

“I definitely want to try my hand at it,” he states. “I really enjoyed that week, even though the result didn’t go our way. I don’t know if I’ll be any good but I’m working on it in the background.

“Looking back in hindsight now, maybe I shouldn’t have played and been on the side to see how the game was going to make changes, but my form up to that point was really good, so I couldn’t not play myself. I got too into it trying to be a manager on the pitch, whereas I should’ve just been a captain on the pitch.”

Having not been involved between January and April, he was introduced back into the fold for the final six games of the season as Rotherham secured safety against Middlesbrough in their penultimate fixture and the final home game of the season.

Wood and his famous magic hat that Millers fans sing about completed an emotional lap of honour around the AESSEAL New York Stadium – the perfect way to sign off.

“I knew it was coming around Christmastime that I wasn’t going to stay,” he explains. “I’d sort of got it in my head that I’d keep playing at Rotherham until I actually do retire and hopefully go into coaching that way. You can never guarantee anything in football, can you?

“It was hard to keep it in. I had to have a moment a few times and just hold it back. I’m not one to milk anything. When my song gets sung, some of the lads love it and they’re jumping up and down encouraging the crowd, but that isn’t my character. I just stand there and take it in.”

This season, Wood will embark on a completely new challenge, competing in League Two for the first time in his career, and he’s certainly showing no signs of slowing down.

This feature originally appeared in the summer 2023 edition of the EFL Magazine.