Doncaster Rovers have already shown ambition to attack League One with off-field reshuffle | OneFootball

Doncaster Rovers have shown an early sign of intent as they prepare for a return to Sky Bet League One.

Doncaster Rovers have shown an early sign of intent as they prepare for a return to Sky Bet League One.

After three years away, the South Yorkshire outfit will play their football in the third tier once again following a title-winning campaign in League Two.

Grant McCann led his Doncaster side first to promotion and then to the top spot, sealing the latter on the final day of the season against Notts County.

Attention, though, has very quickly turned to the summer merry-go-round of rumours and signings with new recruits earmarked and current employees moving elsewhere.

While focus has been elsewhere, changes off the field have given an indication of the real ambition Rovers have.

Doncaster Rovers legend James Coppinger part of reshuffle

After recruiting former Leeds United midfielder Robbie Gotts following an impressive spell at Barrow and re-signing the experienced Billy Sharp in a move that will see the striker play beyond his 40th birthday, eyes have shifted to the backroom staff at the Eco-Power Stadium.

As the Doncaster FreePress outlined, alongside McCann’s sturdy number two Cliff Byrne, there has been some movement.

Rovers club legend James Coppinger, who has a stand named after him at the club’s home ground as recognition for close to 700 appearances in Doncaster colours, has been shifted to the role of first-team coach.

The former attacking midfielder had spent his time further in the background, including as the club’s head of recruitment, after his playing days came to an end, but will now transition into a coaching role.

Barry Richardson, who is another former Doncaster player, has been freshly appointed as a first-team coach too. A former goalkeeper, he will not take up the ‘keeper’s coaching role, as that remains with Welshman Kyle Letheren.

Richardson has bulked up the Rovers' backroom staff, adding an extra figure in a move that represents an ambition for the season ahead. There is no resting on laurels for McCann, who has added to his coaching compliment as opposed to keeping it unchanged from the title-winning campaign.

Signs of ambition ahead of League One return

The move of Coppinger from a more background role to a frontline coaching position will understandably be the main attraction of the news for supporters. A certified Doncaster club legend, the 44-year-old always had an eye for a goal or an assist, something that will surely compliment the more defensively focused men in the coaching staff.

Coppinger scored 78 times in Rovers colours, including many a memorable strike alongside his more than a century of assists for the club. Perhaps the highlight of his 17-year stint in South Yorkshire was the finishing touch on the last-gasp winner which saw Doncaster win the third tier crown back in 2013 after Brentford struck the bar from a penalty seconds prior.

It is Richardson, meanwhile, who has provided the signal that there is an ambition at the club.

The 55-year-old, who has already spent time in Doncaster as a player and a coach, adds to the coaching staff around McCann. It evidences a show of intent in not wanting to sit back and keep things moving at the same kilter that saw Rovers to promotion out of League Two, but instead a keen desire to push forwards and continually build.