Doncaster Rovers are heading back to League One next season after a hugely successful 2024/25.

Grant McCann's side lifted the League Two title after timing their run perfectly. The staff and players have since enjoyed some well-earned celebrations but as ever in football the next task and the next goal is never too far away.

The new season will be on the horizon before we know it. With that in mind, we take a look at the items in Rovers' in-tray ahead of a busy summer:

Contracts

Rovers are likely to have a busy summer on and off the field as they prepare for a return to life in League One. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

placeholder image — Rovers are likely to have a busy summer on and off the field as they prepare for a return to life in League One. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Arguably the most prominent area of concern right now. Rovers have lodged contract offers to five players - Ian Lawlor, Joseph Olowu, Bobby Faulkner, Tom Anderson and Billy Sharp - and will be looking for answers relatively soon now that the squad have returned from a title-celebrating jaunt abroad.

Players are now effectively on their summer breaks but manager Grant McCann will be keen to press on and get answers from the aforementioned quintet. He will want to know what they have decided so that he can move forward with his summer recruitment as the club plots out their return to League One.

New kits

Rovers' players will be tackling a new division armed with new threads. The club are usually prompt at unveiling their updated kits for the new season and it's thought that the newly-designed home kit for 25/26 will be revealed before the end of May.

New front-of-shirt sponsors Pass Logistics will be emblazoned on the front after the Doncaster-based company signed a two-year deal. It's unclear whether Rovers will once again have a third kit, as they have done for a number of years, although it's likely to be the case that they'll have a one-off kit for their annual community day. The home game against Wimbledon in April was when they sported the latest of these, in what was essentially their fourth shirt for the 2024-25 season.

Summer schedule

Rovers headed to Portugal last year for a warm weather training camp that saw them train twice daily in sweltering heat. They then embarked on a seven-game run of friendlies back on home soil against varying levels of opposition.

They faced Championship duo Middlesbrough and Hull at home and ended with a trip to local rivals Rotherham in a game that also acted as Richard Wood's testimonial.

The club are shortly expected to release details of their summer plan, with the expectation being a similar-ish schedule and at least one home game pencilled in against higher-league opponents. The only game announced so far – albeit only by their opponents - is a fixture between a ‘Rovers XI’ and Club Thorne Colliery. That game is listed as being down for Friday, July 11 at Thorne's Moorends ground.

Pre-season return

As mentioned, players are now in well-earned holiday mode after a superb effort last term.

But in the modern day world of professional sports, they're never truly switched off. Last summer saw head of medical Dave Rennie devise bespoke plans for every member of the squad to ensure they kept themselves ticking over during the off-season. McCann spoke highly of that, saying: "The off-season plan that David has set for the players is one of the best I've seen. We showed it to the players and how it looks is they'll get a couple of weeks off and then be straight back at it and onto the plans."

The evidence is there for all to see after a memorable 2024-25 season and once again players will have been sent off into the summer armed with individual fitness routines.

The Free Press understands that players are due to return to training at Cantley in the final week of June, although they'll likely be back in just prior to that for the dreaded pre-season testing.

New season fixtures

The all-important date on the calendar for Rovers fans. They'll discover their League One schedule on Thursday, June 26 although it's at the slightly later than usual time of 12pm. The same day will see the cup draws take place for both the Carabao Cup and the EFL Trophy.

Rovers will discover their three opponents for the group stage of the Trophy at 2.30pm and then their League Cup first round foes at 4.30pm.

The big kick-off

The League One season gets underway in the first weekend in August (2-3) although it's highly likely that there'll be at least one match taking place on Friday, August 1 owing to Sky Sports' spread-out scheduling of the opening weekend. Last season was the first year in the new TV deal, with every single opening weekend fixture shown live even those taking place during the traditional 3pm Saturday blackout slot.