Gillingham v Doncaster Rovers: Dickov eager to start planning for next season

DONCASTER ROVERS’ seasonal fate may be in the balance, but Paul Dickov says forward planning for next season will be undertaken shortly – with initial talks planned with out-of-contract players in the next two to three weeks.
Paul DickovPaul Dickov
Paul Dickov

The future of a host of players is set to go under the microscope, with Dickov – whose side visit in-form Gillingham today – anxious to avoid the scenario of the past two summers.

That has seen players waiting on terms and recruitment and contract renewals frustratingly hitting the slow lane.

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Nathan Tyson, Kyle Bennett, Dean Furman, Reece Wabara and Theo Robinson will all be out of contract at the end of the season.

Dickov said: “There’s been that many games recently and it’s not an excuse. It’s been difficult to sit down. Within good time, we will sit down and do that (talk).

“Purely because we don’t want to be stuck in the situation we have been in the past few summers.

“The players we want to keep, we want to try and offer them deals as soon as we can. If they don’t want to stay, they can let us know as early as they can.”

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Meanwhile, Dickov feels that Rovers are truly starting to see the best of Curtis Main and believes there is plenty more to come between now and the end of the season.

Main was outstanding on a goalscoring debut against Yeovil in August, but soon suffered an injury setback which seriously curtailed his progress.

Now he is making up for lost time, having netted nine times in total this term, including goals against high-fliers Bristol City and Preston.

And after what has been an, at times, frustrating season for the player, Dickov’s message to the Geordie is simple: just relax.

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He added: “Curtis is so desperate to do well that sometimes he tries too hard and I have spoken to him about it.

“His attitude is simply top-class. He is a perfectionist when things aren’t going quite right and he beats himself up about it. But we have just told him to play and relax.”

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