James Coppinger interview part one - 'Doncaster Rovers are a self-funding club and we're proud of that'

Over the coming days, we’ll bring you everything he said in a 30-minute interview with Free Press sports writer Paul Goodwin covering various topics.

In part one Coppinger outlines his own view on Doncaster Rovers’ culture and identity – and why he is so proud of it.

The Rovers legend is also asked about his first few weeks in the job and responds to questions about the club’s nightmare last 18 months.

He is quizzed about fans’ expectations and also defends under fire chief executive Gavin Baldwin.

PG: You’ve been in the job for about seven weeks, what’s been your immediate priority?

JC: It’s understanding where we’re at. Taking things step by step. Looking at what’s already there and what we need to do.

A big part of it is culture and identity. Looking at my 18 years at the club, my successful spells and what that consisted of.

Not running before I can walk, really. But at the same time making sure that the framework and identity of how we want to play and getting back to what that looks like has been a big thing for me.

PG: There was a lot of talk last summer about playing entertaining football and scoring goals and that obviously fell flat. Is it about entertaining or is it about getting a winning culture back into this club?

JC: Both things you mention there is what everybody wants. But ultimately you have to strip it back and go back to basics and ask ‘how are we going to do that?’.

It’s all right saying that but underneath it you need foundations and infrastructure and understand what that looks like.

My wife takes the Mickey out of me because I say that all time – ‘what it looks like’. But you need to actually see what it looks like and almost understand how to communicate it to the likes of the press, the players, the staff and the fans.

PG: Do you still subscribe to the whole ‘Doncaster Rovers DNA’ thing and the way the team played under Sean O’Driscoll, for instance? Or does that need to be parked now?

JC: There’s parts of that we want to take but it has to be a new way of doings things. You can’t constantly look into the past. The Sean O’Driscoll era was arguably the most successful time in the club’s history, not just my time. I think we finished 12th in the Championship. We’ve only ever finished 7th in the Championship and that was 1901 I think [Rovers’ highest ever league position was 7th in Division Two in 1902].

So in terms of recent success there’s no better example but at the same time we’ve moved forward and we have different players, different staff and a different manager. So it’s about understanding what success looks like, being patient, taking small steps and being together. Forming that culture and identity isn’t going to happen overnight.

PG: What is the culture of the club now and what do you want it to be?

JC: I think there’s been a crossover in culture and identity, which I think happens at most clubs with different things happening like older players leaving, certain players leaving, managers leaving and it can happen with the ownership.

This is what it looks like – we’re a self-funding club, for example, and I don’t know if that’s been spoken about enough but we’re proud of that. There’s not many clubs that can boast that kind of structure and way of doing things.

The last six or seven weeks I’ve seen how hard people are working within the structure to give Doncaster Rovers the best chance on the football pitch. I don’t think that’s appreciated enough.

So going back to identity and culture I want to be proud of that and I want people to be proud of that and I want the players, fans and staff to be proud of it.

Effectively, we’re a community club. So we need the community to buy into how we do things. That’s almost taking ownership of that and not being afraid of being proud of that.

PG: How do you reflect on the last 18 months? You don’t need reminding but it’s 17 wins out of the last 77 games. How do you explain that to the supporters?

JC: I think you’re right, I don’t need reminding of it because I’ve been part of it. We can’t go backwards. We can learn from what’s happened but we want to concentrate on what we can do moving forwards.

The biggest thing for me is understanding how we can improve, how we can build, how we can make people feel valued and almost drive forward. There’s been too many times we’ve looked back and too many times people have been critical of certain things. That isn’t what I’m about. We can’t affect that. What we can affect is what we do every single day moving forward.

We’ll make people accountable for what they’re supposed to be doing. I’ve always made myself accountable and led by example and it’s something I want to do in this role.

PG: In terms of the strategy though there has to be things from the last 18 months, two years, three years, however long, that just haven’t worked. Like the number of short term signings, the number of loan signings, for example. My own take is that the foundations just weren’t there and it’s fallen apart. Are you looking at bringing players in that will grow with the club, rather than these short term signings? The last time Rovers went down to League Two Darren Ferguson brought in players of a certain age who would grow and develop with the club. Is that something you’re looking at and something you acknowledge hasn’t been quite right?

JC: It’s exactly what I’ve just said. There hasn’t been a clear direction and focus of what this club is about. What is Doncaster Rovers? We are a self-funding club which limits us to what we can do. We know that. Don’t shirk away from that. We’re proud of that. Build on top of that.

We have got a framework and we’ve spent the last seven weeks working really hard on what that looks like and how we build on that, how we recruit and how we profile players.

So there’s a lot of work that’s gone into it and it’s exciting. It’s exciting for me because it’s something I’m really passionate about in terms of making it a success.

PG: When you say it ‘limits what you can do’, is it the case that the expectations of the fans don’t quite match up to what this club is capable of?

It’s never been communicated. There’s never been a clear line of communication of what this club is. Over time that will be apparent, starting today. We are a self-funding club. So many clubs want to know how we do it. It’s something we should be really proud of.

We can’t control how much money somebody puts into a football club but what we can control is what we’ve got and what we’ve made.

I’ve been blown away by Gavin Baldwin and how hard he works to give us the best chance on the pitch. The people within this stadium, the ticket ladies, the ground staff, everyone I see is working so hard for the football club and the football team to give us the best chance.

As a player or a staff member at the training ground you don’t see that. As a fan you don’t see that. But actually seeing it, I’m thinking ‘why aren’t we talking about how hard people are working within the football club to give us the best chance on the football pitch?’

That’s the identity. That’s the culture. The fans who pay money for season tickets and buy shirts, they’re playing a part in the football club. They’ve been unbelievable in terms of their backing of this football club since I’ve been here. Communicating it and making them a big part of what we do is a big thing for me.

PG: You feel the criticism of Gavin Baldwin has been particularly unjust then?

JC: If it wasn’t for Gavin I don’t think I’d still be at the football club. What he does for this football club and what he’s done for the football club, I’ve never seen anybody work so hard. He has got family but I don’t think he spends that much time with them if I’m being honest and he doesn’t want to go on holiday. I don’t think he’s taken his holidays for the last two or three years.

We’re talking about somebody that lives and breathes this football club and I don’t think people see that.

From a fan’s perspective I do get it, I do get the frustrations. You want to watch attractive football and you want to watch a winning team and that’s what we want to try and give the fans.

I don’t feel like things have happened on purpose. I don’t think people have purposefully not done this or purposefully not done that.

I just think it’s a combination of things and almost missing that person in the middle – the bridge between the business and stadium side and the training and the football side.

That’s what I’ve noticed over the last seven or eight weeks. I’m trying to build really strong relationships with people to make sure they do feel valued and they do understand that we appreciate how hard they are working for the football.