Doncaster Rovers boss on why he sold League One’s ‘best midfielder’

Whiteman leaves for Preston North End as League One’s best midfielder, and Moore says he is as good as the former Premier League and international players he worked with as West Bromwich Albion manager. The fee is thought to be in excess of £1.5m.

Moore has warned he will need to reinforce his squad with at least 29 games between now and the end of the season – more if they reach the play-offs or knock West Ham United out of the FA Cup – but with Doncaster suffering badly as most lower-league clubs are through the Covid-19 pandemic, the money will be used as much to safeguard the club’s future, and any additions will be free signings or loans.

“I’m just pleased because it’s a good move for Ben and the club and it just settles everybody down because the supporters would have been speculating about it,” said Moore.

“Some will be happy with the deal, some will be disappointed but we’ve just got to look at how we move forward.

“I cannot speak highly of Ben as an impeccable human being and we thank him for the time and service he gave the football club.

“We know we’ve sold the No 1 midfield player in the league because we’ve seen all the stats in terms of creativity, passing, goals.

“I’ve worked in the Premier League, at Championship level and with some top international players and Ben is every bit as good.

“I hope he fulfils his ambitions to play in the Premier League. I’m glad I had the opportunity to work with him. He sent me and my staff a text message to thank us all for improving his game and later on this (Thursday) evening I will ring him to wish him well and give him bits to his game he still needs to improve on,” added Moore.

Last week Doncaster gave a good display of what they can achieve without Whiteman and Madger Gomes, who has played once since October because of injury, when they knocked Blackburn Rovers out of the FA Cup with a midfield comprised of right-back Brad Halliday and left-back Reece James supplemented by Taylor Richards dropping in from behind Tyreece John-Jules. But Moore was unable to name a full substitutes bench.

“The squad is not big enough, we need more depth because of the 28 (league) fixtures,” he stressed. “The one thing that’s going to catch Doncaster Rovers is having the physicality to reproduce in a short space of time. I have to say that to supporters.”

As to how many he might bring in, he said: “It depends how creative I can be. I won’t bring anyone in for a transfer fee.

“We can look at that position but the tactics I’ve used show you different people can play that position. They all know their roles and responsibility because it’s what we pride ourselves on and work towards on a daily basis.

“If you look at the Opta stats Ben’s the No 1 midfield player but I’d like to think our style of play has brought those stats up. That system’s still there.

“I’ll be looking at players in the squad then putting the feelers out as to what is available.”

Moore is a master of the loan market, but League One clubs can only field five borrowed players at a time. Doncaster already have Richards, John-Jules, Ellery Balcombe, Matt Smith and Barnsley’s Elliot Simoes on loan, but Moore could still look for others.

“If I feel I need to stockpile and use a rotation system, I will,” he said. “I usually do like to go with six, more could be a real challenge in any other season but in the season we’ve got rotation could work.”

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