Doncaster Rovers exclusive part one: James Coppinger urges fans to stick with League Two club

In Coppinger's time as a Rovers player they got used to bouncing back immediately after relegations, doing so in 2013 and 2017, but hopes of a repeat this season are fading fast after one win in eight.

That is spilling out into frustration on the terraces, with chants against the board heard as early as the second minute of Saturday's 2-0 defeat at home to Northampton Town, and discontent towards head coach Danny Schofield.

“I sympathise with the supporters but it's the reality of where League Two clubs – not just us – are,” said head of football operations Coppinger. “We've struggled since Covid as a football club.

“I understand the frustrations and the performances and results haven't been as consistent as they'd want but that's football. There are 12 teams (in League Two) performing worse than us.

“I've been in this situation as a player and you must stick together.

“Things could be a lot worse and I genuinely believe that togetherness is why it's not. We're not genuinely competing for promotion but we're not in danger of relegation.

“There's teams below us with better resources fighting to stay in this league because of how they've been managed. We don't want to allow that to happen and that's my role.”

Since Grant McCann took Rovers into the League One play-offs in 2019, the trajectory has been downwards. McCann left for Hull City that summer and in the first completed season after football's Covid lockdown it looked like Darren Moore might lead Doncaster into the top six only for him to leave for Sheffield Wednesday in March 2021.

Last April Rovers were relegated to League Two, where they are 12th.

Doncaster average crowds of 6,500 this season but the discontent is palpable. Coppinger has asked supporters to stand by their team.

“You want to come in on Saturday looking forward to the game and it's working the other way,” he commented.

“I had someone at a forum the other month tell me his son didn't want to support the team because it wasn't winning and I was thinking, 'How does that work?' You support your club through thick and thin.

“When you come out of the hard times it feels so much better.

“People can't see what happens daily, they only see what happens at the weekend.

“We've had some good results but people reflect on the negative ones.

“Our three worst performances were probably King's Lynn, Hartlepool and Harrogate and after every one we won. If we were rotten inside, that wouldn't happen.”

Coppinger also took issue with The Yorkshire Post's assessment that the team lacks identity.

"I feel like we're on the road to creating a playing style and an identity," he argued. "We're not playing as well as we would like but you don't rip it up and start again, you try and improve.

"You want to play attractive and winning football. There's been really good performances and not so good but that is where we are.

"We're Doncaster Rovers in League Two. We're not Doncaster Rovers in the Championship."