Rovers manager sets his stall out in transfer window.
Paul Dickov has issued a warning to players and clubs wanting to ‘rip him off’ ahead of the impending takeover.
The Doncaster Rovers manager said: “This time of the year is notoriously difficult because you’ve got agents and players talking to about six different clubs and playing them off against each other.
“The one thing we won’t do will be held to ransom. All of a sudden with the takeover looming, people on the outside looking in, assume we have all of this money to spend.”
Dickov was speaking ahead of his side’s first pre-season game, a friendly against Bradford Park Avenue of the Conference North.
“We want to win the game but what we’ll be doing is two separate teams for 45 minutes each purely based on fitness, game time and getting fitness in to them.
“The sooner we can get them in to that way of thinking and get the body structured in a way that it can handle the games, the better.
“Results in pre-season aren’t the be all and end all, I’ve played in sides that have won all their pre-season games and got off to a bad start and vice versa, the main thing is building the fitness up.”
With just 31 days until Rovers kick off their campaign at Huish Park against Yeovil Town, Dickov wants his players to put in the ‘hard yards’ now ahead of the gruelling League 1 campaign.
“It’s a lot more structured now than when I played and you used to run around until you were sick.
“The sports science behind it now means that the pre-season is tailored and planned in a lot of different ways now and the one thing I can guarantee is that come the 9th August, the players will be flying.”
Live text updates from Bradford Park Avenue v Doncaster Rovers (7:45pm) at the Horsfall Stadium will be available via @drfc_official throughout the evening.