James Coppinger praise as Doncaster Rovers' behind-the-scenes upgrades are explained
Grant McCann has heaped praise on James Coppinger, who he says is "developing into a really good coach".
The Doncaster Rovers legend, the club's all-time leading appearance maker, hung up his boots three years ago after an outstanding contribution to the club. Since then he has worked in different off-field roles and is currently head of recruitment at the League Two club.
He combines this with coaching, and during pre-season it's been evident that this aspect has been stepped up slightly given more involvement in pre-match drills prior to friendlies.
Manager McCann says that Coppinger enjoys the hybrid nature of his role and that working across the age spectrums is furthering his development as a coach.
"Copps is developing into a really good coach. He's enjoying it out on the grass," McCann told the Free Press.
"He's coming in and out of our sessions and he's getting a lot more confident and you can see he's going to be a really good coach.
"He's doing a lot of work with the younger and senior players and is delivering sessions. I feel we've got a real good coaching group here."
With the new season just days away, McCann also offered a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes work that goes on to ensure players are in tip-top condition.
He added: "The club has given us support for another physio to Dave (Rennie, head of medical) and we've another sports scientist, possibly another coming in. We've also got a yoga teacher coming in for the boys and we'll be making use of cryo-therapy chambers which we used last season.
"We're lucky we have the facilities and gyms that we use. We've got the green light to improve the Cantley performance centre. It just makes the place all better. The pitches up there have been re-laid - they're like a bowling green.
"There's no excuses now. The club has backed us and given us everything that we need. Now the players and us staff need to deliver."
Rovers begin the season at home to Accrington Stanley on Saturday (3pm).