'If it happens' comment was 'taken out of context', says Doncaster Rovers boss Gary McSheffrey

The 39-year-old, speaking ahead of this weekend’s do-or-die home clash with Crewe Alexandra, was almost certainly referring to a particular quote which later gained traction on social media among Rovers fans.

Following the defeat to the Addicks, McSheffrey said: “We won’t accept it [relegation] until the proof is in the pudding and if it does happen it happens.”

Rovers’ boss also said after the Charlton game that his side needed to win at least four of their last six games to avoid relegation.

Following last weekend’s defeat at Wycombe Wanderers, he now feels they need to win all five of their remaining games to stay up.

McSheffrey, who has won five of his 22 games in charge, was asked this week if five wins out of five was plausible given Rovers’ dreadful season.

“We go into every game believing we can win it,” he said.

“The other week I expressed it’s not impossible in football to get relegated but it was taken out of context and the way people read or hear things was taken a little bit out of context.

“We prepare well. We go into this game trying to win it as usual and I feel we need to win all of our games.

“We take one game at a time and that starts on Saturday.

“It’s a big opportunity to get a good win. We’re favourites to win the game, we’re above them in the league so the lads have got to deal with that expectancy level.”

Earlier in the press conference McSheffrey had stated his belief that Rovers should have 12 more points to their name.

Rovers currently have 30 points from 41 games and lie eight points adrift of safety. They have failed to score in their last five games.

“In my eyes now we’ve got to win every game,” he said.

“I’ve went out there and said it, we’ve had more than enough opportunities to get out of the mess we’re in.

“From performance level, and games we should’ve won, we should have 12 more points. That’s from our own performance level.

“And then there’s been weeks we’ve played poor and other teams haven’t capitalised on it.

“There was constant opportunities to close the gap.

“So we should have more points but at the same time we’ve not been good enough and consistent enough to close the gap when other teams have given us that opportunity.”

Has Gary McSheffrey been given assurances about his future as Doncaster Rovers boss?