Which Doncaster Rovers player has 'a point to prove' in League One curtain-raiser?
· Ricky Charlesworth · 2026-08-14T12:31:11+00:00 · nguồn gốc
Which Doncaster Rovers player has 'a point to prove' in League One curtain-raiser at Mansfield?
Rovers head to Mansfield on Saturday in their first league match of the new season
Doncaster Rovers boss Grant McCann believes Alfie May is a player other League One teams would "love to have" ahead of the season opener this weekend.
Day one sees Rovers travel to Mansfield, whose manager Nigel Clough this week admitted had "enquired" about May in the summer only to see the 33-year-old opt for a fairytale return to Rovers after being allowed to leave parent club Huddersfield on loan.
May has recently spoken with the Free Press about how he feels his is looking to make up for lost time given his first spell at Rovers only delivered 23 goals in 118 games. Since then he has become a goalscoring machine with more than a century of strikes in the ensuing years for a flurry of clubs. Ahead of the Field Mill clash, McCann said: "I think any team at this level would love to have Alfie.
"I think in three or maybe four of the last five years he's been one of the leading goalscorers, if not the leading scorer in the division. So he knows his way around the league. He knows how to find himself in positions to score and we're pleased we've got him here.
"I think my relationship with Alfie the first time around helped us and the fact that he lives in Doncaster and he wanted to come back and play here. I think Alfie has a bit of a point to prove also because maybe when he was here he wasn't getting the minutes he wanted or the goals he wanted to get. He still scored some, but not as many as the likes of (John) Marquis or (Mallik) Wilks. When I was first here, he was probably behind those a wee bit in terms of his goals. But he's a point to prove here. He left the club under a dark cloud, I would say, for very little money. And then he went and proved what he is about, really.”
McCann’s thin-veiled reference is to the relatively derisory transfer fee that Rovers recouped for May when they allowed him to move to Cheltenham in early 2020. Numerous reports quote the figure as a mere £5,000.
McCann added: “He wouldn't have have left for the sort of money (fee) he left for if I was here, let me tell you. But it is what it is. He's gone and done what he's done over the last five or six years and he's shown everybody what he really is capable of."
Rovers' first home game of the season comes a week later, when South Yorkshire rivals Barnsley visit DN4 for a 12.30pm kick-off.