Grant McCann’s pledge to ‘turn it around’ at Doncaster Rovers – and do things in reverse in 2023-24
This time last year, his Peterborough United side found themselves in the play-off positions of League One.
At the same juncture of 2020-21, Hull City were sitting pretty in the automatic promotion spots and looking good in their pursuit of an instant return to the Championship under him.
This time last year, his Peterborough United side found themselves in the play-off positions of League One.
At the same juncture of 2020-21, Hull City were sitting pretty in the automatic promotion spots and looking good in their pursuit of an instant return to the Championship under him.
Rewind a little further to 2018-19 and his first spell at Doncaster Rovers, when the club were also healthily placed in the top four of the third tier in October 2018.v
This time around, things are somewhat different at Rovers, who find themselves at the wrong end of the fourth tier.
McCann said: “It’s always nice to start the season well. I think this is the only job I have probably had where we are going to do it the other way around.
“At every club I have been at, I have always seemed to have started well (in a season).
“I am looking forward to this challenge. It is sort of in a reverse a little bit.”
The fact that the Rovers chief is genuinely energised by the task in hand, as opposed to being down in the dumps and bemoaning his lot – he has some justifiable reasons to do so – says plenty about him.
If people write him and his Rovers side off, then so much the better. The Northern Irishman has made his critics eat their words before, after all. He positively revels in it.
His Rovers side have struggled for form and personnel in the first few months of the campaign.
“I am looking forward to this challenge. It is sort of in a reverse a little bit.”
The fact that the Rovers chief is genuinely energised by the task in hand, as opposed to being down in the dumps and bemoaning his lot – he has some justifiable reasons to do so – says plenty about him.
If people write him and his Rovers side off, then so much the better. The Northern Irishman has made his critics eat their words before, after all. He positively revels in it.
His Rovers side have struggled for form and personnel in the first few months of the campaign.
“I am looking forward to this challenge. It is sort of in a reverse a little bit.”
The fact that the Rovers chief is genuinely energised by the task in hand, as opposed to being down in the dumps and bemoaning his lot – he has some justifiable reasons to do so – says plenty about him.
If people write him and his Rovers side off, then so much the better. The Northern Irishman has made his critics eat their words before, after all. He positively revels in it.
His Rovers side have struggled for form and personnel in the first few months of the campaign.
The number of players unavailable for Saturday’s League Two home game with Sutton United is into double figures, with the latest injury additions being young duo Louie Marsh and Bobby Faulkner.
McCann admits he has never known ‘anything like this’. Equally, he is not labouring on the point and is cracking on.
His Rovers side, tipped by many to be among the movers and shakers in the fourth tier in 2023-24, are in a lowly 20th place and are just four points above the bottom two, as it stands.
Their next opponents in Sutton currently occupy the second and final relegation spot. A defeat would constitute another low point for Rovers, but McCann is looking at the bigger picture and is laser-focused.v
