James Coppinger is set to take on a new role at Doncaster Rovers as the club’s head of recruitment, according to Doncaster’s official website.
Coppinger is a familiar face at the Eco-Power Stadium and is the club’s all time record appearance maker. The 42-year old made 692 appearances for the Rovers in a incredible 17 year stint with the club.
Following his retirement in 2021, it was obvious that Coppinger wanted to stay in the game and he would return to Doncaster in April 2022 as the club’s head of football operations. New manager Grant McCann has however abolished the role of head of football operations, leading Coppinger to take on a hybrid role as head of recruitment that will also include some first-team coaching.
McCann’s overhaul will look to reinvigorate Donny after a poor return to League Two, which saw them finish a lowly 18th place. As a result, manager Danny Schofield who had only just joined in October, was relieved of his duties. With McCann already completing an overhaul of his side as well as his backroom staff, Rovers will be looking to be much more competitive next season.
Who is James Coppinger?
Coppinger is a club legend and holds the all time record of appearances for Doncaster. The 42-year-old began his senior career with Newcastle who he would make one Premier League appearance for in 2000 before being loaned to Hartlepool on two separate occasions. The midfielder would leave the toon in 2002 in search of regular football and would join Exeter for two seasons before arriving at Doncaster in 2004. He would spend the remaining 17 seasons with Doncaster although would join Nottingham Forest on loan in 2012 for half of the season. After retirement, Coppinger has been active as the head of football operations at the club and has just completed his UEFA B license. It would be no surprise to see him play a bigger part in the coaching set up in years to come.
What’s been said?
Speaking on his new role, Coppinger said:
“It’s something I’m excited about. The recruitment side is something that I’ve been doing probably more than anything else over the last 12 months – in terms of going to games, and working with the recruitment staff on bringing players in.
“As well as that, I’ll be out on the grass a couple of days a week supporting the coaching staff. I’ve done my UEFA B licence over the summer and I’ve really got a taste for coaching. I’ve really enjoyed it and I’ve obviously worked with a lot of the players so I’m really excited in getting back on the grass.”
Manager Grant McCann said:
“We want to make sure Copps is around the training ground with us and on the pitch with the players but also working on the recruitment side of things, preparing dossiers and databases on players.
“He mentioned that he wanted to do a bit more on the grass and we’ll be helping and supporting him to go as far as he wants with that.
“He’ll be taking a lot of burden off me in talking to agents and representatives as well as compiling the lists of potential targets for us.”
Writer’s view
Doncaster will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing year last season, and the reshuffling of staff could help iron out some of the problems at the club. Very few know Doncaster better than Coppinger and it is great to see him offered a new position, he will be hoping for better success next season, but also in the long term as head of recruitment.
