Mike Sheron hopes to see the benefit of his work after being appointed as Rovers Under-23s boss.

Sheron has been in temporary charge since the departure of Billy Barr last month as he teamed up with Gary Bowyer at Salford City.

The internal appointment will see Sheron step-up from the Under-18s where he previously assisted Barr up until 2019. Barr then took the Under-23s job as Damien Johnson took a role in the first-team, with Sheron having been in charge of the Under-18s for two years, leading them to the FA Youth Cup semi-final in 2020.

Sheron is into his sixth season with Rovers and will continue working with a number of players he has helped nurture through the ranks, and he is delighted to be entrusted with the Under-23s job.

He said: "I’ve always been someone who has found loyalty to be very important and I felt before I came to Rovers, at the start of my coaching career, where I had 18 months here, six months there, you didn't really see the benefits of your work.

"I've been here a long time now and it's been good to see so many lads come through the system to be in and around the first team environment."

The Under-18s flourished under Sheron in the second half of last season, going unbeaten to storm up the league.

He has been in charge for the opening three Premier League 2 fixtures of this season and his first job since landing the job on a permanent basis will be in Monday’s Premier League Cup tie against Nottingham Forest.

His is the latest internal appointment within the Academy, and in a move similar to that of 2019, with Sheron having landed the Under-23s job his assistant at Under-18 level, Ryan Kidd, is expected to take on that role full-time.

The Under-23s have been without a full-time assistant manager since David Dunn left in 2018 and Sheron is set to continue being in sole charge, with different Academy coaches stepping up to work alongside him on matchdays.

"I’m delighted to have been given the chance,” he added.

"I'm grateful for the opportunity and it's important for the coaches as well as the players to see there's a pathway through.

"The environment we have at Rovers, it gives you that chance to improve and evolve as a coach. I feel that I’ve been doing that and there's still room for improvement to come.

"I’m really looking forward to the challenge with the Under-23s. We’re working with better players but we’re also coming up against better players.

"It’s about developing players but also improving from a tactical point of view as well.”

The 49-year-old’s playing career saw him make over 550 appearances for nine clubs, scoring 147 times. He came through the ranks at Manchester City and had three separate seven-figure moves when signed by Norwich City, QPR and Barnsley.

Meanwhile, Rovers will start their defence of the Lancashire Senior Cup against Accrington Stanley.

Rovers will host Stanley at their Academy Base, Brockhall, on Tuesday, September 21 (1pm) and will be looking to win the competition for a third successive year.

They won the 2018/19 competition with victory over Burnley before seeing off Wigan Athletic in July in the re-arranged 2019/20 re-arranged final. That was the 20th time in the club’s history they have lifted the trophy.