Why Doncaster Rovers and Harrogate Town are determined to keep the door open to non-league talent

The last transfer window showed different approaches at opposite ends of the Football League.

Whilst Sheffield United used artificial intelligence to scout and sign 19-year-old Nigerian Christian Nwachukwu from the Bulgarian league and 22-year-old Peruvian Jefferson Caceres, Harrogate manager Simon Weaver was getting up close and personal to sign Northern Premier League striker Tom Cursons.

"It was brilliant on the back of a win on a Friday to go and watch a game at Ilkeston," says Weaver. "I had two spells there and I loved it.

"I loved travelling down, there's some great people. Everyone's down to earth. There was a bit of banter with the referee and he smiled back, there was no ego in it.

"I came back with a few names. It's really exciting. You think, 'There's some growth in that player.'

"I loved the chase for the lad on the Sunday and Monday."

Having brought the Sulphurites up from sixth-tier football, Weaver and his club are fully aware of the talent lurking below the 92 as late-developing players drop down after being released by professional academies, or miss that boat altogether.

Stocksbridge Park Steels product Jamie Vardy, Michail Antonio, Jarrod Bowen, Che Adams (another who played for Ilkeston Town), Troy Deeney, Joe Hart, Chris Waddle, Stuart, Pearce, Les Ferdinand and Ian Wright, are exceptions but gems like that are worth looking out for.

One wonders if footballing snobbishness can come into play.

"Sometimes it might be overlooked," says Weaver. "There's lots locked into the academy system but the ones that aren't on the radar, you think, 'If we can pinch him...'

"Sometimes they can use the disappointment of being released or think it's their time."

He likes to recruit the old-fashioned way.

"There's so many different scouting networks and metrics but above all you've got to see them play," he argues. "It might be something you see in the warm-up or the way they celebrate with team-mates. There's so much you don't see on video clips generated by agents, or data. You don't get a gut feeling from metrics, you get it from seeing people."

As well as having players signed from Premier League academies, Scotland and the League of Ireland in his League Two promotion-chasing squad, McCann has picked up Owen Bailey (Gateshead), Jack Senior (Halifax Town) and Joe Sbarra (Solihull Moors) from non-league.

He was also scouting Cursons before Harrogate got in first.

"We have people at all the leagues with Gloves (first-team coach Lee Glover), Copps (James Coppinger, head of recruitment/coach) and all the scouts," he says, proudly. "It's good to see people.

"The best example was Jamie Vardy so it's great see players who do well at Northern Premier or National League level get the opportunity.

"We've got quite a few in our team who have come through non-league but we've also got players who have come down from higher levels.

"Non-league boys have got a point to prove but the players who come from the bigger clubs have to adapt as well. It's not as easy as you think.

"I wouldn't say there's any difference in the level of hunger, it's just a different hunger."

Even with the quality of the Conference so high in 2025 it is arguing for a deserved extra promotion spot, the step-up is still noticeable, says Sbarra.

"Some games you've really seen a difference in terms of the way the game's played but sometimes it's fairly similar," he says of his first season back at Football League level since leaving Burton Albion in 2020.

"The non-league system's evolved a lot from 'head it and kick it' and who could push others around.

"But all the games have been a step up in terms of intensity and physicality – the speed of the games. Sometimes its been like a basketball game but you've got to be able to stamp your authority."

With only four League Two starts for Rovers, Sbarra – one of the stars of last season's Conference – has had to bide his time, and Cursons will need to as well. Last night at Port Vale was his first Harrogate start.

"We'll have to show a level of patience," cautions Weaver, whose playing CV included Scarborough, York City and Harrogate after being released by Sheffield Wednesday.

"You have to make quicker decisions and the ones that stand out make quick decisions very well. But it's about battling and getting your heart pumping first and foremost. I don't want Tom to overthink it.

"It takes time, it's three leagues, but we wouldn't have brought him in now if we didn't think he could make the step up quickly.

"He'd scored 24 by the time we signed him in January so he'll want to score more."