Doncaster Rovers fired former player and manager Richie Wellens yesterday after only 199 days at the club.
With only one league victory since October 16th, the Doncaster board decided to cut ties with Wellens after the club’s crushing 2-0 away defeat to the hands of Crewe Alexandra on Wednesday in the Papa John’s Trophy.
The move comes ahead of Doncaster’s second round FA Cup tie against Mansfield Town on Saturday, with U18 boss Gary McSheffrey set to take charge.
Former manager of Oldham, Swindon and Salford, Wellens was at the helm in Doncaster for just under 7 months after being appointed in May.
This is now the second time Wellens has been sacked this calendar year with the 41-year-old having been fired by Salford City in March.
Wellens won the League Two title with Swindon Town in 2019-20, but only managed to rack up three total wins this season, none of these appearing away from the Keepmoat Stadium.
In all competitions, Wellens managed Rovers for 26 games, winning 6, drawing 5 and losing 15.
According to BetVictor, the current bookies favourite to replace Richie Wellens are Jonathan Woodgate (5/1), Simon Grayson (6/1), Michael Flynn (8/1) and Graham Coughlan (10/1).
Doncaster Rovers issued a statement saying: “Doncaster Rovers can confirm that Richie Wellens has left the club with immediate effect.
“The club’s board have taken the decision that a change is required at this time in order for a permanent appointment to be made in time for the opening of the January transfer window.”
“The club would like to thank Richie for his efforts and wish him well in the future.”
Aaron Challoner, from the Forever Football DRFC Youtube Channel said: “I consider Richie Wellens to be a close friend of mine, but in a results based business, if we keep going the way we’re going then he wasn’t going to stay long.
“The Papa Johns Trophy (defeat vs Crewe) was the final straw.”
“I think Jonathan Woodgate would be a great appointment, because he’s worked with and built up a lot of young players, he would be an interesting appointment.”
“However, Nigel Adkins and Simon Grayson would be the most realistic we could go for.”
