O’Driscoll now faces up to his ‘biggest challenge’

But now, after three years defying footballing gravity, Doncaster Rovers are facing a reality check.

The new season, according to Sean O’Driscoll, will represent the ‘biggest challenge’ to the club since his arrival as manager five years ago.

The pressure of keeping up with others in better financial positions is starting to tell and Rovers may soon have to take a step back in order to move forward again.

Apart from the economic inequality of the situation, injuries are starting to bite, too.

Seven of the club’s 22 senior professionals will miss the first month of the season, including captain Brian Stock and defender James O’Connor.

O’Driscoll will do everything in his power to keep the club in the second tier but pragmatism is the order of the day.

“On the face of it, this is going to be the biggest challenge the club has had for some time,” said O’Driscoll. “It is getting harder and harder.

“Last season I said that the squad was not strong enough and we are not as strong as we were last season. It’s proving to be really difficult to try and manage the football club with the resources we have got, to try and be competitive in the division.”

Chairman John Ryan has increased Rovers’ wage bill to £7.5m this season but that will still be one of the lowest in the Championship.

And while Rovers’ average gate of 10,000 is as high as it has been since the early Eighties, only Peterborough United are likely to have a lower total in the division this season.

“There are 14 teams who will deem themselves with a chance of getting promotion to the Premier division or play-offs,” he reflected. “All those clubs will see it is worth a gamble spending £5m, £10m, or £15m. If they spend that, they have a better chance than most other clubs and the rewards are massive. So you can understand why the division is as difficult as it is.

“I read things that say we have our biggest budget ever – but you could say that about every other team in the Championship. Every team in the Championship gets £4m from Sky so that’s a bit misleading,” he pointed out.

“This is our fourth season in the Championship and you end up with a Championship wage bill. In our first two seasons, we had a League One wage bill. Now we have a Championship wage bill – but a club with League One finances. It’s nobody’s fault. It is just what we have.

“It will prove difficult for us,” he admitted. “The momentum we had is not there any more because we have been in the division three seasons and we don’t have the financial backing to compete.”

O’Driscoll believes the best way forward for Rovers (in the absence of new investment) is to press on with a ‘footballing ethos’ and attract more players who, with the right coaching, can use the club as a stepping stone to the Premier League. These could be loanees currently on the fringes of Premier squads or players with careers in need of a boost.

That policy may soon pay dividends in the case of striker Billy Sharp.

Members of the Rovers board dipped into their own pockets last summer to buy Sharp for a club record £1.1m from Sheffield United. This summer, Southampton have offered £3.2m for his services and the player is currently keeping his options open.

“In hindsight, Billy may have been ruled by his heart rather than his head when he joined Sheffield United from Scunthorpe,” said O’Driscoll. “He’s a much more mature individual now and will go when it suits him, when he finds the club that he thinks he can do well in.

“I am a little bit surprised more clubs have not bid for him. He ended last season injured but his goals per games ratio was still better than Danny Graham who went to Swansea (from Watford for £3.5m).

“We don’t live in fear of him leaving and we always have one eye on who we would like if we have a certain amount of finance to replace him.

“If we do get £3m, we will have an opportunity to use some of that finance to get a player of equal quality or someone we can develop to be as good.”

Defender Tommy Spurr joined Rovers in a £200,000 deal from Sheffield Wednesday this summer and is another who the club believe will be sold on for a profit.

Midfielder Ryan Mason has moved on loan from Tottenham Hotspur and will be a major asset in the club’s survival fight. It is unlikely he would have joined a club like Rovers but for O’Driscoll’s reputation as a coach.

“We are in a difficult situation but we have to find our way through or find a niche in the market where we can compete. That’s what we are trying to do,” said O’Driscoll.

“We would like to make sure we maintain our identity this season and not let results and outcomes dictate it. In the long run, that’s our niche in the market. We are not going to compete with clubs for financial resources so what we do and how we do it has to stand us in good stead.”

Planning for the long term, unfortunately, will not always improve a manager’s job security. Football club chairmen are notorious for demanding instant results.

Does O’Driscoll fear for his own future?

“Staying in a job is your biggest challenge in football (as a manager),” he said. “No matter what resources you have – and we have seen it in the past – managers can be dismissed and you can’t understand why.

“When you are in this job, you have to accept that and, sooner or later, it is going to happen.

“But you have to focus on things and not be distracted,” he continued. “You have to make sure the players are well prepared, that we have players to develop, and, hopefully, that will prove to be a successful formula.

“It has proved to be in the past. But it’s getting even more difficult for clubs the size of Doncaster to survive or be successful in the Championship.”

Tomorrow: Hull City owner Assem Allam.