CITY number two Glynn Snodin admits Monday’s opponents Doncaster gave him an “eye-opening” introduction to coaching.

Simon Grayson’s long-time lieutenant started as a player at Rovers where he made over 300 appearances.

But it was Snodin’s return as assistant manager in 1998 when younger brother Ian took charge that helped forge his career on the sidelines.

Doncaster were at their lowest ebb after dropping out the league in the wake of the controversial Ken Richardson era.

“The club were dead,” said Snodin. “They had totally gone.

“I was originally going to Barnsley with John Hendrie. He’d just got the job and asked me if I wanted to go there.

“But in the mean time our kid rang and said he was going to take the Donny job. It was a very brave thing to do.

“I said I’d been asked to go to Barnsley but because he was family, that just took over.

“Well, what an eye-opener. There were no pens, no papers, no cones, no training ground – there were nothing.

“I was wondering what I was doing coming back. John Hendrie was on the phone saying the same thing!

“We were starting from scratch. I didn’t go for the first three games and Ian was picking players up going down to Dover who hadn’t trained or he even knew about.”

The Snodins used their contacts to bring in established names like Neville Southall, John Sheridan, Tommy Wright, Steve Nicol and Mike Newell.

“We learned really quick. We had to do.

“We tried to make it as professional as we could and got the club going.

“Other clubs were that up for it facing these players, it was like a cup final every week.

“The crowds were coming home and away. The support was fantastic even at that lower level.”

The brothers failed to win promotion but did land a trophy in front of the club’s biggest home crowd for 14 years.

More than 7,000 fans turned up for the second leg of the Conference League Cup final to see Doncaster beat Farnborough 3-0.

Snodin said: “Belle Vue was full and there seemed like another 2,000 locked out.

“We were asked to put the kick-off back and everything. We couldn’t believe it.

“But it was great to give them something to celebrate after such bad times.”

Billy Bremner had been Snodin’s first manager at Rovers and he felt privileged to play under the Leeds and Scotland legend.

“What a great man to learn off. His football knowledge was brilliant – he had the desire and gave you the passion to go and win every game.

“Even at 2-0 down, he made you feel you could come back and win 3-2.

“It must have been difficult for him after playing with all those internationals and then coming to little Doncaster. He must have looked at us and thought ‘what a difference this is’.

“But he soon turned it round because of who he was. He made our brains work quickly and within months you could see how we’d changed.”

Snodin’s close affinity with Doncaster remains – although it won’t extend to the upcoming televised encounter as the new management look for their first Bantams win.

But he is delighted to see Rovers on the way back from where they had been 20 years ago.

“It’s brilliant for them,” he added. “I used to love going down to watch them during the Sean O’Driscoll days because of the type of football.

“They’ve been up and down a bit this season and maybe thought they’d be doing better. But they’ve had a lot of injuries to the back four and have struggled because of it.”