Gary McSheffrey sacked as Doncaster Rovers manager due to a lack of playing style and identity and a 'growing concern' over performances

After an encouraging opening to the League Two campaign which saw McSheffrey earn a manager of the month nomination in August, Rovers have under-whelmed during the autumn and were comprehensively beating 3-0 at Carlisle United on Saturday.

It was Doncaster's fifth loss in eight league matches and left them in 12th place in the table.

It proved the final straw for the Rovers hierarchy, with supporters having also been showing disgruntlement with McSheffrey in recent weeks.

Speaking recently, CEO Gavin Baldwin said the club's board would be ‘disappointed’ if they are not in contention for promotion at the end of the season.

Assistant manager Steve Eyre has also left the club, with Rovers - now looking for their sixth head coach/manager since the summer of 2018.

Chairman David Blunt said: “While results so far in Sky Bet League Two have been largely positive, there has been a growing concern over the standard of performances in matches and a lack of progress between games.

“We feel this is threatening our ability to achieve our stated goals for the season.

"We have also been disappointed that our wishes for a particular style of play and overall identity, which were clearly laid out over the summer, have not been brought into effect in competitive matches.

“These factors have combined to lead us to take this difficult decision to relieve Gary and Steve of their posts.

“We are confident the squad that has been assembled is more than capable of challenging for promotion with an entertaining and attacking approach, and have reached a consensus that change is required in order to ensure we have the best chance of doing so.

“The process of securing a replacement is already well underway and we are hopeful for a swift resolution to our recruitment process. We expect to conclude interviews this week with an appointment to be made soon afterwards.

Head professional development phase coach Chad Gribble and youth development phase transition coach Paul Green will oversee first team training until a new appointment has been made.

Doncaster are the fifth EFL club in Yorkshire to change managers this season.