Doncaster Rovers £200,000 under-spend revealed + recruitment tweaks in the pipeline

Manager Grant McCann, owner Terry Bramall and chief executive Gavin Baldwin fielded a flurry of questions. One intriguing subject that was broached was the club's recruitment.

Baldwin has announced that Rovers will look to slightly tweak this area of the club just as they did with the medical department last year.

"After being challenged by Grant to improve the medical department, we are looking to invest in tools to help the recruitment department," Baldwin told the audience.

"Lee Glover (head of recruitment) is talking to analytics firms to see what data tools we can use to support recruitment, to make it easier for the staff. What Lee and Grant and virtually all the staff do - sometimes four nights a week - is go out and watch matches, watching players.

"And from our perspective we've got to make that easier because we want Grant resting at home preparing for the next match and not out all the time looking at players. And that goes for his staff too. We believe we've got excellent people in the building to do the recruitment. It's just we may have to give them more tools to do it so that they can be more specific in which players we go and watch.

"We'll look at whether we need more scouts for example. Like we did with medical, a 'root and branch' approach is something that needs to happen with recruitment as well - not to make it better, just to make it easier for these guys so they've got more tools to focus on the players they want to bring in and then give them a bit more rest time as well."

Other interesting titbits to come out of Monday's event, with regards off-the-field matters, included an eye-raising admission from Baldwin about just how efficient the medical team at Rovers is performing.

Since Dave Rennie's (head of medical) arrival in late 2023, Rovers have seen a huge upturn in the number of injuries sustained or picked up by senior players.

Adding more meat to the bone, Baldwin said: "We're actually bottom of one league and it's one that we're celebrating and that is medical spend. Grant challenged us to improve the medical facilities and off the back of it said that the player availability would be increased. That's been proven if you look at the number of injuries this season as opposed to previous. It's testament to the work that Dave and his team have done.

"We're allowed to spend £220,000 on medical costs such as scans or operations as part of the insurance and we've spent just £20,000 so far this season. If we spend under the £220,000 then hopefully they reduce our premium the following year. We've had years where it is has been way higher than £220,000 and that hurts the business model and obviously means the players aren't available on a Saturday.

"The work that Dave and his team needs to be recognised because it's been really good."

It was also announced that a plan is in place to move the big screen in the stadium from its current home in the south-west and place it directly opposite in the north-east section of the Eco-Power Stadium. No specific timeline was given for that decision, which Rovers say will allow them to open up more seating in the popular south stand area.