Jordan Thomas on proving people wrong, joining Doncaster Rovers, and desire to ‘get fans off their seats’

Summer signing Jordan Thomas says he was attracted to Doncaster Rovers by Grant McCann’s forward-thinking attacking mindset, adding that it is very much something that suits him down the ground.

Thomas arrived on a free transfer from League Two outfit Cheltenham Town despite heavy speculation linking him with a move to hometown club Oxford United where he’d spent a fair portion of his life during his youth team days.

It’s the first time Thomas has had to relocate in his career so far having often commuted during his spells in non-league with Didcot Town, North Leigh, Bath City and most recently Cheltenham in League Two.

“Yeah, it's been a lot of change,” Thomas explained.

“It's kind of the first time I've kind of moved away and stuff as a player. So it took me probably a month or so to kind of adapt to that. But yeah, I feel a lot more settled now. And yeah, they've been really welcoming as a club and the players and the staff and everyone here.”

The 25-year-old is a player that’s very much been on the rise for a while now. Having thrived in the lower divisions before becoming an integral part of the team at Cheltenham, with his most recent campaign seeing him register eight goals and six assists across all competitions.

Naturally this led to a few clubs taking notice of Thomas, particularly when he became available on a free transfer.

“I had a couple of conversations with Grant,” he explained.

“I always got drawn to coming here because I know obviously playing against his teams, how intense they are, how they play would suit me.

“And he's always had so much drive to help, especially like, not just obviously he helps defenders, but he's really attacking and driven. And that's something I've really always looked into.

“And yeah, I just think he's a brilliant manager and it kind of just drifted me towards this way.”

McCann has often made a point of trying to sign young and hungry players, who have perhaps at times had to overcome adversity or setbacks earlier in their career.

Owen Bailey, for example, joined from Gateshead and had to rebuild his career after an injury-ravaged end to his time in the Newcastle United academy. Jack Senior was released by Luton Town and was brought in from Halifax Town after thriving in the National League, while Neill Byrne came to the club from Bradford City having also worked his way back into the Football League after being released from Nottingham Forest.

Thomas added: “Yeah, it's helped all the time to be fair because I think it just gives you a lot of experience in having to prove people wrong.Having to showcase ability and what you can do and doing it that way because it's always difficult going through non-league.”

The winger has so far had a stop-start to life in DN4 but has shown flickers of promise, notably assisting Isaac Hutchinson against Peterborough in a 2-0 win last month, with the new signing duo showing exactly what made them both such a hit at Whaddon Road last term.

Describing his play style, Thomas said: “I've always liked getting people off their seats, trying to make things happen, create things in the final third and yeah, just as an attacker try and go and be effective as possible whether that's taking on somebody or getting a crossing and or just adding to goals as well. That's where I say I would try and thrive off.”