Gary McSheffrey has given Doncaster Rovers a fighting chance, says Rovers legend Glynn Snodin

Five of Rovers’ eight league wins this season have come since McSheffrey took charge in December, initially as caretaker. Victory at home to Gillingham on Saturday will move them above Neil Harris’s side.

Snodin has been delighted to see the improvement in the club he played more than 300 games for before returning as assistant manager to his brother Ian in 1998.

“They’ve given themselves a chance,” says Snodin, who also played left-back for Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds United, Rotherham United, Barnsley and Gainsborough Trinity, and coached at Leeds, Bradford City and Huddersfield Town.

“I thought four weeks ago they were down, I couldn’t see them getting out of it. He’s done well, Sheff, with the results he’s got and I just hope he continues it.

“When it’s the club I started with from 15, 16-year-old, you don’t want to see them in the bottom league.”

Snodin knows McSheffrey having been Simon Grayson’s assistant when the winger joined Leeds on loan in 2010. The 39-year-old has been coaching in Rovers’ academy since 2018, but this is his first management job in senior football.

“He’s a great kid, he’s got a chance to learn about the management side of it and he’ll get better as he gets older, like we did,” says Snodin. “You learn as a player, learn as a coach and learn as a manager. He’ll get better and realise what’s right and what’s wrong.

“When you’re coaching youth teams it’s about bringing kids through to the first team and you don’t worry so much about results unless you get smashed five or 6-0 every week and there’s something wrong, the kids aren’t going to be able to perform. But if you’ve got a structure for those kids to get into the first team and they know how the first team play, that’s your job.

“The first team is a results business, especially nowadays. Before you had time but it’s very rare you can bring a kid through.

“I hope Sheff stays at Donny a couple of years and does a good job for us.”

Snodin was speaking at an event to raise money for the family of former Doncaster defender Brendon Ormsby, who suffers from dementia. You can donate at https://tinyurl.com/yza8juvs