Doncaster Rovers: 'High calibre of names' express interest in manager's job

Rovers are hunting for a new manager for the second successive year after Grant McCann left the club to take charge at Hull City on Friday.

Baldwin says he began to receive expressions of interest even before McCann’s departure was confirmed and has been impressed by the standard of coaches keen on taking the role.

“Football moves so quickly that I had people ringing me before we had any vacancy to make it clear they would be interested in joining us,” Baldwin said.

“The early interest includes some very high calibre names so we know we will have good options."

The Rovers board will adopt a very similar recruitment process to the one which saw McCann take charge a year ago.

And Baldwin believes the success on the pitch last season shows the process delivered the right man.

““We felt the process which led to our last appointment worked well in that it saw us recruit someone who led us to the fifth round of the FA Cup and the semi-finals of the play-offs,” he said.

“We always have succession and contingency plans, so we were able to implement them as soon as it became clear we may need to recruit.”

Baldwin says, despite McCann’s departure along with assistant manager Cliff Byrne, the message will be business as usual once the players return for pre-season training from Thursday.

And he insists the aim will be to challenge for promotion again.

He said: “[Grant] obviously laid out a lot of our pre-season plans, but at the same time we have a structure to the club that means we can continue with business as usual and our staff are at Cantley Park from Monday making preparations for the new season.

“Our aims remain to push for promotion, and I’ve every faith we have the players and staff to achieve that.”

Baldwin sent his thanks to McCann and Byrne for their contribution over the last 12 months.

He said: “We were clear from the off that we didn’t want Grant and Cliff to leave us, they delivered on our target to secure a top-six finish and we were so close to reaching the play-off final.

“I’d like to thank them both for their efforts while at the club and wish them well for the future.”