Grant McCann on why Doncaster Rovers' sights are on the Championship and not renewing old rivalries in League One

His ability to back up words with deeds should not be under-estimated either.

Immediately after Doncaster Rovers’ shattering League Two play-off elimination to Crewe Alexandra at a disbelieving Eco-Power Stadium almost 12 months ago, McCann issued a defiant title vow when virtually everyone else of a Rovers persuasion was metaphorically on the floor.

After going up to the third tier on home soil on a redemptive afternoon against Yorkshire rivals Bradford City last weekend, Doncaster are in the box seat to guild promotion with silverware heading into their final-day trip to Notts County.

Amid a very different atmosphere among home supporters, the polar opposite to what greeted him after that aforementioned game against Crewe, McCann - in the same press room - had another bold post-match message.

He referenced Rovers not just returning to League One to ‘make up the numbers’ in a division top heavy with White Rose clubs. McCann won’t settle on a ‘14th or 15th place’ in 2025-26, he stated.

Doncaster will renew rivalries with the club most of their followers consider to be their biggest rivals in Rotherham United, followed pretty closely by their other historically main one in Barnsley.

Then there’s Huddersfield Town and quite possibly Bradford City and Hull City.

Progress, not parochialism is McCann’s concern.

He views Rovers as a second-tier outfit; he went close to getting there in his first spell as manager in 2018-19 and was one successful shoot-out away from having a crack at that in a play-off showpiece at Wembley - only for those hopes to be dashed after a brilliant semi-final second leg performance at Charlton took the tie to penalties.

McCann, with a definite hint of unfinished business, said: "It’s a Championship club. I have said it before that it’s a Championship club.

"It is going to be a journey to get there. But we will try our best to put this football club back there.

"Because if you look at the stadium, fans and training ground that we are having built and facilities, a lot of Championship clubs would be well pleased with them.

"First things first, we will take League One head on next year and it will be tough, but we will see how we go.

"We have got a really good age bracket in the group and some really good, young and exciting players and some players who are ready for the next step and level in League One and some nice experience sitting in around it.

"I think that has been key this year - the Billy Sharp’s, Joe Ironside’s, Richard Wood’s, Tom Anderson’s. Even when they are not playing, they are outstanding. Any successful team needs that mixture in the group."

Three of those four players in Sharp, Wood and Anderson are out of contract shortly, while key loanees such as Rob Street, Teddy Sharman-Lowe, Charlie Crew and Patrick Kelly will return to their parent clubs soon - with Rovers assigned with utilising the loan market as adeptly as they did this year in 25-26.

McCann’s sense of unfinished business regarding the Championship is not purely down to his disappointment, first time around, at Rovers on that spring night at The Valley.

In the immediate aftermath of that loss, McCann heeded east to Hull. That 2019-20 season saw McCann haul the Tigers into play-off contention only for the crown jewels to be sold off in January 2020 in Jarrod Bowen and Kamil Grosicki and their fates to unravel completely amid significant club issues behind the scenes in the Covid era. It ended in relegation.

McCann’s magnificent response was to lead Hull to promotion straight back from League One in 2020-21, when no fans were present. You sense what happened before still sticks in his craw a bit.

For the Northern Irishman, the lack of fans being present due to Covid made that previous triumph feel not quite as special as what everyone at Rovers shared in last weekend.

He added: "I have to say it is as when we got promoted at Hull, there was nobody in the stadium and it was in Covid.

"It came after probably a frustrating time in my career really (in 19-20). Where I again had the team around the top seven or eight and probably seventh come January and then the owners then held their hands up and said: ‘yes, we made a mistake’ by selling the club’s two best players.

"When I look back at things and the second half of that season, that made me stronger to come back and bounce back and win the league next year.

"This (season) is a really proud achievement as I see all the hard work everyone does. I am delighted for the supporters, staff and players.

"This was a definitely a proud, proud moment to do it in front of the fans at home and I am proud of everybody.”