HE'S the original straight-talking, cigar-chomping football club chairman.
Loud, larger than life, and full of energy, Tony Stewart is a man who gets things done.
The ex-miner, former cross-country champion and a self-made millionaire has taken charge of Rotherham United with the mantra: "I will not tolerate failure".
Five minutes in his company and you know what he means.
Whether he's out on the balcony for a smoke, leaning back in his chair with his leather-soled loafers perched on the desk or pacing the room, he is a force of nature dispensing well-honed philosophies with the polish and confidence of a night-club compere.
It's all sensible stuff, but it might not go down well with everybody.
"I don't know anything about football," said the 62-year old, originally from High Green, Sheffield.
"For me, this season is about learning football and the business of football.
"I think we all have to buy into an idea of success and people have to believe in the future. That's the culture I am trying to create – like I have here."
Here is ASD Lighting in Rotherham – a business built from a one-man band to a £20million-a-year operation by Tony Stewart.
And the future, pardon the pun, is bright.
"In four months since I have been here we have moved from Millmoor to Don Valley stadium, which is a positive stride, not a huge leap.
"Millmoor is history now, dead. It is natural that the fans wanted to stay there but the deal could not be done. It's as simple as that.
"The Booths are decent, hard-working people and they think they were given a hard time and treated unfairly by the fans at Millmoor and I would not contest that.
"But Millmoor would be going back to the 20th century. I could only see a static future for the club there.
"I could not have gone on for the next four years thinking that teams from all over the country were coming to Rotherham to climb up scruffy scaffolding steps to have a shower in Portakabin changing rooms.
"It was denigrating to the team to play in a place like that and to the fans to watch there.
"We will be in the championship in five years and I don't think Millmoor was the ground to support that.
"Don Valley Stadum was the only real alternative and offers much more in terms of sponsorship, hospitality and advertising.
"I enjoy success and will work towards that – I will not tolerate failure."
Tony Stewart grew up in Shiregreen, left Shiregreen Secondary School with no qualifications and became an apprentice electrician at the NCB central training workshops at Birdwell, Barnsley.
At the age of 26 he started his own electrical contracting business and got his big break when he became the first to use infra-red burglar alarm sensor technology in security lighting – you move and the light comes on.
"Since I was an apprentice electrician I have always strived to impress people. If you work to impress others you are going to be successful," he said.
"If people in Rotherham get behind the team and believe in the club we can attract customers and bring other things to the town," he said.
"People will want to know what's happening and we have to tell them, get them hooked on all aspects of Rotherham United.
"I think Doncaster Rovers have done brilliantly to achieve what they have in recent years, but I want to improve on that at Rotherham United.
"I am used to taking responsibility and the numbers don't scare me.
"I run a £20million business so a £3million business isn't a big deal.
"When we do get ourselves moving and get to the Championship in five years it will be the rise of the phoenix."
That really would be something.
After the blow of a 17-point deduction the club will do well to still be in the Football League next season and the five-year plan will need real investment.
Other successful businessmen have walked into football's money-sucking web thinking they knew how to sort things out and become horribly lost.
Whether Tony Stewart comes to understand the subtle illogicalities of a business where even money, expertise and effort don't always get results remains to be seen.
Whether the full complexity of the unique relationship between the club and its 'customers' will become apparent to him only time will tell. But, as the man says, failure is simply not an option for Tony Stewart – or Rotherham United.
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FeaturesMore Rotherham newsMore Doncaster newsMore Barnsley newsCheck out the very latest on South Yorkshire's roads - including live traffic cameras on Sheffield's commuter routes - with our Traffic sectionLatest sport. The full article contains 823 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
