Honest thoughts on Danny Schofield's departure!

Waking up to the news that Danny Schofield has been relieved of his position at Doncaster Rovers this morning, one word immediately sprung to mind.

INEVITABLE.

Danny Schofield: Isolated, alone and given little in the way of support.
(Photo: Getty Images).

It was clear from the Harrogate Town game the other week, where he was hounded by fans from behind the dugout and was on the receiving end of some of the most vitriolic abuse I’ve ever seen, that his position had become completely untenable.

Something had to give and news of his departure isn’t a shock - even in spite of James Coppinger’s passionate defence of ‘the process’ and ‘his man’ when somebody forgot to turn off the microphones after the Newport commentary had finished the other week and his criticisms of fans, the budget and a few other confidential issues were accidentally broadcast live on air to everyone still listening.

To be honest, I don’t think Danny Schofield was ever going to succeed from the start given the hand he was dealt and what he had to contend with.

The interference he faced (dubbed the ‘collaborative approach’) was a nod to the fact he didn’t have total control on some key issues and when you look back at the statement announcing his arrival in October when promotion was still the aim and today’s statement confirming his departure, which acknowledged the fact he wasn’t able to ‘build his own team’, the cracks are there for everyone to see for themselves.

It didn’t help that he was lumbered with an assistant in Chad Gribble (appointed because he was already inside the club; thus being cheaper than an outside appointment) who offered absolutely nothing in the way of first team experience. When Danny Schofield started struggling to achieve results, he had no experienced head to turn to for guidance, and the rough patch became a terminal malaise - eventually culminating in an 18th position finish in League Two which is the lowest spot Rovers have occupied since promotion back to the Football League in 2003.

‘Bounce back decisively’ it certainly wasn’t after last year’s relegation from League One!

A lot of factors went against Danny Schofield during his reign.

The budget didn’t help - especially when it was reduced in January and one of his best players in Kyle Knoyle was sold from beneath him, injuries just made things harder, and by the end there was no rhyme or any real logical reason for him to stay in his post for the 2023/24 season.

I heard before Easter, prior to the Gillingham game, that he’d been given ‘seven games to keep his job’. That was reflected with a sense of anxiety which I picked up on listening to his post-match interviews where he just became a figure of ridicule more than anything else, and those seven games heralded just four points and included five defeats.

And if you look at Danny Schofield’s reign as a whole and overall results in League Two since his appointment then Doncaster Rovers would be in the relegation zone with the fewest goals scored for good measure. 

How the League Two table looks during Danny Schofield's reign.

It was just a sorry state of affairs and, ultimately, the likelihood now is that this sorry seven-month reign littered with problems has most likely put paid to the end of his hopes of ever managing in the EFL again. If you’re dubbed a ‘failure’ in League Two, it’s hard to get a second chance and his future probably lies elsewhere in a coaching capacity.

Personally, up to a certain point - and despite being hammered for it on social media, I actually didn’t mind Danny Schofield’s stubbornness.

Every leader has to have an element of it to succeed - even if you can draw a direct link between the lack of goals and his persistence to play just one up top. From what some players have said, his coaching methods and the environment he tried to create at Cantley Park was very-much suited to players who’ve recently been in and around an U23s set-up and many players will actually speak positively of his coaching methods and sessions. But in the rough and ready world of League Two, that work on the training ground just wasn’t transferred onto the pitch on matchday - and the fans were never buying into it.

As one former player said a few months ago; ‘this club badly needs experience’.

Nobody will ever know what Danny Schofield might have achieved with a stronger budget, more time, less interference, an experienced man alongside him and the ability to recruit his own players - all of which are crucial towards success, but now the decision has been made and the club has announced it at last, it's time to move on and look forward.

So what is next for DRFC?

For me, one of the most interesting and intriguing points with the next appointment is whether the successor is given the title ‘Manager’ or ‘Head Coach’ and then who they bring in as their assistant - or whether they’re even allowed to bring someone in with them.

If it’s a manager, with Grant McCann strongly rumoured to be a possibility (and everyone knows that he comes as part of a package with Cliff Byrne), it would indicate a step away from this season and you’d hope he’d be allowed complete control regarding recruitment.

If it’s a ‘Head Coach’ it would indicate that Mr Coppinger and the ‘collaborative approach’ is still seen as the best way forward by the hierarchy.

For me, that will be the most interesting, and revealing, aspect of the next appointment.

Grant McCann during his previous reign at DRFC.
(Photo: Getty Images).

What is for certain is that given his words during ‘microphone-gate’, the decision to part company with Danny Schofield has been taken at boardroom level and not by Mr Coppinger.

And whilst I have a cynical side because there’s a need to shift Season Tickets with sales having pretty much stalled, it does partly prove the board (led by Terry Bramall who commands all the ‘power’ in these situations because he's the man with the money; not the other two) are monitoring things and is prepared to act if and when it’s needed.

And for a club that has persistently done things on the cheap for the past few season, it can only be a good thing. The decision has obviously been made now in order to give Danny Schofield’s successor the maximum amount of time to prepare for next season.

If that successor proves to be Grant McCann, it would certainly help to build bridges between the club and a large chunk of the fanbase who’ve become disillusioned by what they’ve witnessed over the past few seasons.

It would create a buzz not seen at the stadium for a while and, as stated, it would also help to boost Season Ticket sales (down by approximately 50% and currently around the 2,000 mark in information revealed by the Ticket Office last week). The recent announcement that the Early Bird deadline was being extended until the end of this month, meant today’s news was even less of a surprise.

But my overriding feeling is that this is genuinely a positive step forward for DRFC at long last.

It’s still not perfect - and to be blunt there’s still a few problems that need to be rectified at a club where so many people have left in the past year it makes you really question the culture inside the place, but it could be the start of a step in the right direction.

The club have to get it right this summer to avoid the scary prospect of a relegation battle next season and after three years of tripe - from constant budget cuts to unpaid youth team expenses, relegation, a revolving door with staff turnover, and just one utter shambles after another where even the script-writers for Coronation Street would think events at Doncaster Rovers aren't realistic enough for a soap opera, it’s easy to cling onto today’s news and see it as a reason to be hopeful and optimistic.

When people have had nothing for so long, that hope is everything!

The board could have just stuck with the status quo and gone down, down, deeper and down over the next few months, leading to an atmosphere which would have been even more toxic than anything seen yet at games next season.

With plenty of skepticism and a hell of a lot more convincing still needed by the club to win me back over, we’ll see what happens in the next few weeks and months, but - even as a cynic not trusting whatsoever of football clubs, this is the chance for some optimism and positivity and (at last) there appears to be a light at the end of what's been a dark tunnel.