Doncaster Rovers: Pre-season destination confirmed and training ground deadline revealed

Grant McCann's side will spend a week together abroad, just as they did last summer in Portugal. The hope is that a flurry of new arrivals will be in situ by the time of the trip in late June/early July.

It's understood that, at this stage, no warm-up game will take place in Spain as McCann and his coaching staff put the group through their paces in intense heat before embarking on a flurry of friendlies once back on these shores.

"The players have had last week and then this week off and then they'll get into the pre-season plans that Dave (Rennie) has set for them," McCann explained.

"The beauty of those plans last year was that about 98 or 99 per cent squad stuck to it. The ones that didn't do it ended up getting injured in pre-season. And the players are well aware that if they don't stick to these plans then they'll be found out once pre-season starts on June 25.

"We'll have three or four days together when we come back in, at the training ground. And then we'll have a week together out in Spain. That'll be really beneficial to get the new lads in and settled."

Rovers are set to drip-feed details of their friendly schedule over the coming weeks. So far just two fixtures have been announced, albeit they refer to a 'Rovers XI' taking in fixtures against Retford (July 4) and Club Thorne Colliery (July 11).

Meanwhile, McCann also provided an update on the planned upgrades to the club's training facilities at Cantley Park. The green light was given earlier this year for an extension of the existing building, which will house a new gym and medical facility.

"The training ground new build is in progress and will be done by November time," McCann confirmed. "That will give us a massive bonus as well, having a bigger gym area and a bigger physio and treatment area - hopefully there's no players in there! - and it'll make a massive difference for us.

"The pitches are being renovated at Cantley and at the stadium, too. So we're moving in the right direction."