Matt Crooks interview: Rotherham midfielder grafting to keep Jordan Sinnott's memory alive
Sky Sports exclusive: Matt Crooks discusses Rotherham's recent turnaround and how he is helping to keep his best friend's memory alive through The Jordan Sinnott Foundation Trust; Watch Bournemouth vs Rotherham live on Sky Sports Football from 8pm on Wednesday; kick off 8.15pm
Wednesday 17 February 2021 16:22, UK
Two weeks ago, there was an unexpected visitor on the Rotherham team bus.
Just before the Millers embarked on their trip west to Deepdale to face Preston, a robin somehow made its way on alongside the players and had to be gently ushered back into the fresh air before they could begin their journey.
For Matt Crooks, it was a welcome sign.
"I was saying recently to one of the local journalists that my friend 'Sin' [Jordan Sinnott] passed away in January last year," he tells Sky Sports in an exclusive interview.
Sinnott - whom Crooks played with during his youth career at Huddersfield - died aged 25 on January 25 2020, following a serious assault in Retford, Nottinghamshire.
In the wake of his death, his family appealed for football clubs to donate shirts with 'Sinnott 25' printed on the back and on March 4, more than 800 were displayed for his funeral at Bradford City's Valley Parade Stadium.
"The gaffer said he thought it was his grandad but I took it that it was Sin watching over us. It's almost as if he's been looking over me this past month and giving me some good luck."
With four goals in his last six games - and having won January's Sky Bet Championship Player of the Month award - the 27-year-old has every reason to believe that's the case.
Paul Warne's side are gradually creeping away from the relegation zone after a difficult run of nine defeats from 12 games throughout November and December. Since their first league game of 2021 on January 16 the tide has begun to turn.
And, ahead of Wednesday night's trip to the Vitality Stadium to face Bournemouth, they have won four of the last seven games and scored 14 goals along the way, only losing on trips to Wales to face Swansea and Cardiff.
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"It's been a real collaborative effort," he continues. "We've all dug in as a group and that's including the playing staff and the coaching staff. We've just given it a right good go and it has paid dividends for us.
"I think there have always been signs inside the squad that we were capable of producing results. Earlier in the season, every time we won a game we said to ourselves that we could go on a run but it never seemed to come to fruition.
"It seems to have clicked a little bit more over the last month. We've changed formation slightly and maybe that's what has helped us tick over a bit better. The belief has always been there in the squad, it's just that people can see it now.
"I hope I don't take too much of my grandma's pension, though - she still gives me a quid for every goal I score, though I don't think she was expecting so many at the start of 2021. She might have to slow down soon!"
The Millers' current position, in and around the relegation dogfight, is a familiar one.
After they were promoted in 2014, they finished 21st during the next two seasons, escaping the drop by five and nine points respectively, before relegation at the end of the 2016/17 campaign with just five wins to their name.
In 2018/19, they returned to League One once more before achieving automatic promotion again last season. There's no doubt Warne, who has overseen the two promotions and two relegations, is targeting a second successive season in the second tier for the first time in his tenure.
Crooks is hopeful that the experience gained by all parties along the way will help their cause.
"First and foremost, the management have got a better knowledge of the league, so that stands us in good stead. Everyone knows we don't have the biggest budget but he [Warne] has been promoted from League One twice now and that speaks volumes.
"I'm guessing now he wants to prove himself in this league as well. It's much more difficult; the quality of the players is much higher and maybe sometimes Rotherham United struggle to attract the higher quality and more expensive players.
"The players who were here around that time [of the last relegation] have got the knowledge of games and can see where they went wrong; I joined in January 2019, so I've got some experience too.
"Everything gets so tight in this division, for some reason. At one stage it was looking like there was going to be a group of us packed away, but it's all bunched together again.
"We were looking at our games in hand before the game against Cardiff and we could've gone 14th or something. It is a mad league but we have to keep picking up points and see where it takes us."
While the business end of the season is edging closer, off the pitch, Crooks is doing everything he can to build the profile of The Jordan Sinnott Foundation Trust, a charity set up in the months following his friend's passing.
The Covid-19 pandemic has, naturally, restricted the ability to fundraise, yet while he is clearly grateful for the initial response, he knows it is the beginning of a lifelong commitment to keeping Sinnott's memory alive.
"There has been an unbelievable response from the outset and the money that we have raised - over £30,000 in the first year - through people's generosity has been fantastic, it really has," he concludes.
"We've been helping food banks and the homeless and just trying to do our bit, where we can, through his name. It's just the beginning. In the coming years when we are able to do everything again, we'll be able to look at different fundraising ideas. For me personally, it's going to be a big thing in my life after football.
"The shirts got me through that first month and took my mind away from what was actually happening. We're now raising money and helping other people through him. It's really heart-warming. Though he's not here with us in physical form, he's here in other ways and we'll make sure that carries on forever."
