Paul Dickov – Doncaster Rovers
Ex-Oldham chief Paul Dickov has enjoyed a promising debut season in Championship management, and March saw Doncaster extend the gap between themselves and the bottom three to eight points, which should comfortably see Rovers survive in their first season back at this level.
After Dickov was sacked by relegation-threatened Oldham Athletic, even he wouldn’t have dreamed that he would be managing in the league above just months later. However, then Chairman John Ryan took the surprise the decision to appoint the Scotsman, following Brian Flynn who led Doncaster over the promotion line and managed to win the title in hugely successful stint as caretaker manger. Dickov had big boots to fill, 
and fill them he has. His brief at the start of the season would have been to keep a very small squad in the Championship, and it looks like he will pass the test with flying colours.
The Yorkshiremen’s form in March strengthened their position massively, although the month got off to an abysmal start, as they suffered a 5-0 defeat at Bournemouth, another club who have had their gaffer nominated for manager of the month. The Scotsman publicly slammed the players after that hammering on the South Coast, claiming that their ‘Livelihoods are at stake’ if they were to get relegated.
That explicit warning yielded a wonderful response, as Rovers secured vital wins against Huddersfield, Watford and Sheffield Wednesday; the latter two sandwiched a well earned point at Nottingham Forest. Dickov’s men did lose at Burnley, but they improved their dire away form with a win at crisis club Leeds, a week later, handing the former Manchester City frontman a first victory on the road since September’s victory over local rivals Sheffield Wednesday.
Wins against relegation rivals Birmingham and Millwall in coming weeks should ensure that Doncaster will be playing second-tier football for another season at least, which will look pretty impressive on Dickov’s relatively young managerial CV.
