Grant McCann on how Doncaster Rovers' plans for next season are already taking shape

A clutch of players missed large periods of the summer and therefore the opening stages of the campaign. That co-incided with a poor start to the season with McCann’s side not registering their first league win until the eighth attempt. It's been a season dominated by injuries, highlighted by the fact that only six players have started 20 league games or more so far.

With the situation finally starting to clear up, McCann says that the appointment of David Rennie will prove crucial to changing their luck when it comes to players reporting back in the summer ahead of next season.

Rennie, appointed as the club's head of medical after two decades working at Leicester City, joined in December.

"What we're looking forward to really is the break and making sure the players get onto their own plans," McCann told the Free Press, following a third straight home win against Crewe Alexandra last weekend.

"I feel we didn't start pre-season right last year. A lot of big players were missing for large chunks of pre-season which hindered us in terms of our start.

"We have to make sure we get that right next time, and we will. It's a big reason we hired David Rennie in terms of his experience and putting programmes together for players so that when we come back in the summer we can hit the ground running."

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