Doncaster Rovers manager Sean O’Driscoll has come a long way with the club after guiding them from League One to a stable position in the Championship and the club will move into second place in the table if they go on to beat Leeds United in the Friday night clash at Keepmoat Stadium.

It was just two years ago when Rovers trumped a Leeds side in the League One play-off final to reach the Championship ahead of their rivals, but O’Driscoll is still refusing to look too far ahead and consider his side promotion candidates this season and was clear on what his own ambition for the team was.

“Our ambition is to win the next game.” the Rovers boss told the Daily Mail.

“I don’t know (what the club’s ambition is), you better ask the board. My influence is on the football team and I’ll implement the culture I think will win games. But in a 46-game season you’re not going to win every game.”

The former Bournemouth boss also argued that all too often, the focus for managers in the division – forced onto by their clubs – is to win every game and aim for promotion to the Premier League. O’Driscoll bemoaned the lack of thought that coaches and players put into the game every day.

“Nobody gets time, so you focus on results. You end up coaching like that.” O’Driscoll said.

“All you’re doing is breeding managers you don’t want to breed. The culture breeds the personalities within it.

“To stay in this division and avoid relegation you need to do certain things. To win promotion you need to do certain things. Write a list and they’d be no different — except for money.

“They’d be things like organisation, attitude, discipline, so why treat it differently? But you have to articulate it: what does organisation look like to a Championship team?

“All I can do is send out a team with certain values and the players operate within that. They can agree or disagree but if they disagree it needs to be logical.

“They can’t just disagree because someone in the stands or on the telly said something. But there’s no thought, people do things because they’ve always been done.”

The coach – who has been in charge at Keepmoat since 2006 – also demands the same curiousity in his own players, especially the older and more experienced ones: “I don’t know what players know, I’m gobsmacked at times by what they don’t know. They’re never asked to think. We breed players from eight years old who never ask “Why are we doing this?” or “How does this work?” — thinking players, who evolve.

“All our coaching philosophies here are about understanding your responsibilities. Some players fly with it, some find it difficult, some of the older ones want to be told.

“We want them to be the decision-makers, we want them to understand their role in the team.

“Suddenly they’ re thinking players.

“It’s pointless if I’m fixated on promotion.

“I’m under no illusions that I have to win matches but for me the best way to do that is to have a team that is flexible, made of players who understand why we do what we do.

“And when we do that well, we’re as good as anybody.”

Tags: Doncaster Rovers, English League Championship, football managers, Leeds United, Match Preview, Sean O'Driscoll