Frank Sinclair offers insight into Grant McCann impact at Doncaster Rovers | OneFootball

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Doncaster Rovers boss Grant McCann and assistant Cliff Byrne have "reinvigorated" the League Two club since their arrival, according to development coach Frank Sinclair.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Football League World courtesy of Stocklytics, Sinclair revealed that Doncaster has been "a very solemn place" in recent seasons but has backed McCann to get them back to where they should be.

Doncaster Rovers in 2023/24

Having finished 18th in 2022/23, their first season back in League Two after relegation, and re-appointed McCann ahead of the summer, Rovers will have hoped to be competing at the other end of the table this term.

However, a testing start to the new campaign, which saw them go winless in their first seven league games, losing five of them, saw them languishing near the bottom again.

Rather than pull the plug on McCann, Doncaster kept the faith and have seen it repaid in recent months - winning six of their next 10 games and climbing up the table as a result.

With injured players returning and form drastically improving, the future suddenly looks much brighter for the South Yorkshire club.

Frank Sinclair: Grant McCann has changed the atmosphere at Doncaster

Speaking exclusively to FLW, Sinclair, who has previously served as Rovers' assistant manager but is now a development coach, shed some insight into the atmosphere at the club and the impact that McCann has had.

He said: "From day one when the manager, Grant McCann, and his assistant, Cliff Byrne, came into the football club they reinvigorated the place.

"It has been a very solemn place over the last couple of seasons. I was part of the first team as assistant manager when we got relegated and it's been tough because when you look at the infrastructure of the football club, it's not a League Two club. It's probably a club with League One or Championship infrastructure and foundations.

"I've admired the way the new manager has stayed calm because there have been a lot of things behind the scenes - they've been averaging almost double figures in terms of injured players throughout the season.

"It's no surprise that as the players are slowly returning, the results have picked up. They've gone through a tough time when the team suffered in terms of results at the start of the season. They would have wanted to be higher and challenging in the early part of the campaign.

"Where they're at now, with a good, clever January window, they can push on into the second half of the season and next year."

Doncaster are back in League Two action this weekend as they travel to face fifth-place Crewe Alexandra at the Mornflake Stadium.