Midfielder delighted that hard work has paid off.
Harry Middleton described putting pen to paper on a three and a half year contract extension as “an unbelievable feeling” as the 20 year old midfielder looks to the next chapter in his Doncaster Rovers career.Middleton has come through the ranks at Keepmoat Stadium and hopes to be an inspiration to the aspiring Youth Team players.
“We’ve put a lot of hard work in and it’s nice to get a reward for doing well,” he said.
“We started with the one year contract and you take it as it is and try and impress enough to get another year.
“I never thought I’d be sat here with a three and a half year deal and playing a lot of the games so it’s a strange but good feeling.
“I think it’s going to give the younger lads a lot of confidence. The Youth Team now, we’re seeing that if you’re good enough, the gaffer will give you a sot regardless of your age and that should give confidence to all the young lads at Doncaster at the minute.
“The chance to progress from the Youth Team to the first team is higher now than it probably ever has been.”
Middleton cited his determination to better himself year upon year as one of the reasons why he’s one of few standing from the 2012 Youth Alliance Cup win.
“We had a good Youth Team, a lot of the lads got professional contracts at my age,” he said.
“There was a good standard, obviously a few of them aren’t here now but its been a good couple of years for me and I’ve improved every year with more appearances and more game time and I think, as a player, I’ve got a lot better so I want to keep improving and keep learning.
“I just wanted to better the year before and have more of an impact this year than last year and then it’ll be up to me to do the same next year.
“It’s been a massive change since the gaffer has come in, all around the place. The belief and the confidence you can see in our form. There has been a lot of changes and everything is looking up.”