Gary McSheffrey on how much he wanted the manager job at Doncaster Rovers after initially appearing reluctant

The 39-year-old was placed in caretaker charge of the side earlier this month and over the last few weeks painted a picture of himself as a man reluctant to take on the role - even saying he would only submit an application for the permanent placing because the board had asked him to.

But after securing the permanent position, he has admitted he wanted the job very soon into his temporary tenure.

“I had a bit of a strategic route to it,” he said,

“I’ve been at clubs and I was a player for a long time and I’ve played under two or three interim managers throughout my career.

“I think the moment you go out in the press and say I want the job, I think you’re opening yourself up a little bit.

“You’re also potentially putting more pressure on the players because they might feel they have to perform that bit extra for you.

“What tends to happen, and I’ve seen it myself happen before, an interim manager has not got the job, a new manager has come in and straight away doesn’t trust that coach because they wanted the job.

“More often than not that coach ends up out of the door.

“I had a bit of a strategic plan towards it.

“Once the first goal went in against Mansfield when Branden Horton scored, that feeling I got inside, I definitely knew I wanted the job. I just had to go about it in a bit of a different way.

“I didn’t want to put myself out there too much to be looked at and probably not trusted if I didn’t get the job.”

McSheffrey says he was determined to keep faith and stick with his usual approach to coaching in order to try to impress the Rovers hierarchy, rather than going for the hard sell.

“When you’re an interim, every day is like an interview - how you represent the club, how you speak to the press, your mannerisms pitchside, how you lead the group in training,” he said.

“They’ve obviously been impressed with how I’ve gone about things.

“I don’t think I’ve done anything different from how I would do my daily role with the club, whether that’s with the youth team or the U23s previously. I go about my business in the same way, in a professional manner.

“I’m approachable, my feet are on the ground and I’m down to earth.

“They’ve obviously seen that as qualities they like and want representing the club.

“I’ll be honest, I was shocked initially to be interim. I didn’t expect it one bit.

“I have been a bit surprised to land it with so many candidates and so many with a lot more experience than myself.

“I’ve done something right for them to be impressed and trust me to lead the club forward.”

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