Doncaster have rejected a Town £2.6 million joint-bid for striker Billy Sharp and midfielder James Coppinger. Rovers chairman John Ryan has confirmed that his club has turned down £2.3 million for Sharp and £300,000 for Coppinger.

Ryan says the South Yorkshire club have no plans to sell the pair: “[Manager] Sean O’Driscoll is determined to build a quality squad to go into next season and these two players are pivotal to that desire.

“The club remains ambitious and feels that with a bit more luck with injuries and refereeing decisions we can be a real force in the Championship next season.

“Sharp and Coppinger are without doubt wonderful players that are getting better and better. I’m very confident, if they both remain fit, they will influence our campaign in a very positive way.

“I’m confident Billy can notch 25 goals next season, with James providing the bullets for him, along with others.

“Myself, the directors, the management team and the players are looking forward to a great season next term - and we’re looking up rather than down.”

A number of this morning’s national newspapers reported Town’s move for Sharp, who TWTD revealed had been watched by manager Paul Jewell in March, and Coppinger, who we mentioned was strongly tipped for a Town move on Monday.

Sharp, 25, started his career with hometown club Sheffield United, spending time on loan at Rushden and Diamonds during the second half of 2004/05.

That summer, the 5ft 9in tall frontman moved on to Scunthorpe for £100,000 and it was at Glanford Park where Sharp made his name netting 24 times in his first season and on 32 occasions in his second — the most for the club for 45 years - as he helped the Iron into the League One title.

A return to Bramall Lane followed via a £2 million deal but Sharp’s second spell with the Blades never really got going, his first two seasons yielding six goals apiece.

Doncaster took him on loan a month into 2009/10 and the goals began to flow again, 15 following on from an early season strike for the Blades.

Rovers boss O’Driscoll made the switch a permanent one last summer when paid his club’s South Yorkshire neighbours £1.1 million, the striker signing a three-year deal.

This season, Sharp scored another 16 goals, including two against the Blues in Town’s 3-2 win in January. Overall, Sharp has netted 109 times in 219 starts and 24 sub appearances during his career.

Coppinger, 30, began his footballing life with Darlington but Newcastle United signed him for £250,000 while the Guisborough-born player was still a teenager.

Two loans at Hartlepool followed with a single Premier League game from the bench for the Magpies and an appearance-less spell at QPR in between them.

Coppinger joined Exeter on a free transfer in the summer of 2002 and spent two years at the other St James’ Park before moving on to Doncaster for £30,000 in June 2004. This season the 5ft 7in tall midfielder has scored seven goals but also helped Sharp to many of his.

Over his career, Coppinger, who like Sharp is contracted to Rovers until 2013, has made 359 starts and 53 sub appearances, scoring 52 goals.

Earlier in the week, Rovers defender George Friend was also mentioned in connection with the Blues.

Photo: Action Images

blues1 added 14:21 - May 13 sitfc. dont know wot u mean by that, but yet again there are people on here slagging clegg off 4 not closing deals. when will these people get it in2 their skulls that clegg only negotiates on terms set by m.evans. so how he supposed 2 complete a signing if the player asking 4 more than M.E. id willing 2 pay. sorry but u cannot put the blame on clegg 4 that. im not saying clegg is great or nething, in fact ive no real opinion of him, but i wont just slag him off 4 sake of it. many on here do tho.

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brian_a_mul added 14:27 - May 13 “I'm confident Billy can notch 25 goals next season, with James providing the bullets for him, along with others" I think O Driscoll knows if a good offer is received than the players will be sold. I think this statement is him trying to drive up the price beyong 3 mil. A 20 goal striker = 2.5 -3 mil in Championship. A 25 goal striker = 3.5 - 4 mil.
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casanovacrow added 14:31 - May 13 300k for Coppinger ...are we trying to take the piss?
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midastouch added 14:34 - May 13 We don't seem to get much luck in transfer negotiations, we never seem to be able to tease any bargains out of other teams (and often have to pay top dollar) whereas other teams often seem to have the knack of bagging bargains! And as for players going out the other end, we have often been guilty of letting players go for less than they should have done, or for free!!! :-( Oh well, at least we're trying to get deals done quickly so that at least is positive :-)

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TractorMan added 14:42 - May 13 Infineteregress - Long is being talked of as a £6million move for Everton or Newcastle so we won't be after him. Sharp will be here by the end of next week. Cue handing in transfer request and chairman blaming player and that it was out of his hands.
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floridaboy added 14:52 - May 13 Most players have clauses in their contracts with regards to transfer fees. If a club offer a certain amount then that will trigger the clause which the club cannot do anything about. I too think the pair will be here by the end of the next week
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Keaneish added 15:10 - May 13 Nthstd - couldn't agree more! If i was coppinger or sharp and i read that i'd be straight on the phone to O'Driscoll requesting a move! This is a decent offer though, doubt we can go too much higher than this so hopefully Sharp and Coppinger will start a bit of impetus their side. My feeling is that they won't though and these will both be dead ends.
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dan_itfc55 added 15:15 - May 13 Bid the £2.6m for only Sharp - or £3.25m for the pair. If I was them, I'd definitely want to mvoe to a team with a much better chance of promotion, Doncaster although they play good football, will never really be challenging for promotion
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oldtimer3 added 15:43 - May 13 i argree with blues1 its Marcus Evans money so he will make the bids not clegg he looks after the office so too speak! Hope we can sign these two but if we cant we move on.
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DiamondGezzer added 16:35 - May 13 I was hoping that the deal would be done this afternoon to avoid getting into a dutch auction with another interested club. Someone mentioned about offering them Scotland - that would really scupper the deal !
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Infineteregress added 16:58 - May 13 TractorMan- Fair point about Long although I love to see a player of his proven calibre at Championship level at the club. If we do sign Sharp then obviously he'll get my full backing, but I still think we should be vying with the likes of Leicester for Maynard's signature.
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blue_moon09 added 17:37 - May 13 Even if Doncaseter wanted to sell why would Billy Sharp want to sign for Ipswich when he last played at Portman Road all he got was abuse all game same for Nugent! don't suppose none of you lot know that because you don't go to Home games. Some sections of so called Town fans are proper burkes.
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Dowson added 17:40 - May 13 CMON UP THE BID !!!!!!!
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ITFCMonk added 18:01 - May 13 well thats a shame, why dont we just offer 2.5 mill for sharp on his own. Thats how much doncaster want for him and they can keep coppinger if they want to keep him that bad?
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ITFC4daprem added 18:04 - May 13 how much do they want for a good championship player at a poor player
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fourth added 18:16 - May 13 It's all rather difficult isn't it, sorting things out AFTER two significant players have decided to leave? i think the best approach is to continue the idea that our midfield genius will stay to encourage a big talented centre forward in. Let's do that in the next month. Then others will see the potential. If Jimmy news is bad, we are completely without a team and will find it impossible to convince players of real potential. We are at a crucial point.

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Keaneish added 18:27 - May 13 I think the signing of Bullard is key. Not only a talisman to build the team around but also a statement to other potential targets of our ambition. I agree with some other posts. Maybe Scotland or Priskin could become part of this deal. Interesting if we do sign Coppinger to see where this would leave Civelli and Martin. Martin playing up front or just off a striker?

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Ebantiass added 18:42 - May 13 Lets hope Clegg can get some quaility signed this summer, realistically I would be delighted with a marked improvement on last season. I think a top six slot would be too much just yet,as Jewell has said its a long term process and could take a few years yet.
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 18:46 - May 13 This is obviously Plan A. But I wouldn't hold out too many hopes, especially if another club come in with a bid (clearly what D/caster are hoping for). Plan B probably involves teams like D & R and Tranmere, while Brantham is Plan C. If I were holding the purse strings now, and with a man like PJ in charge, I would put my trust in him and go for it: make a bit more money available than expected and get some real quality in. COYB!

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Tillz9 added 19:08 - May 13 Hopefully we can tempt them with a bigger offer. My only concern would be that Billy Sharp seems to be a northern bloke. Would be gutted to have a bid accepted only to be turned down as he wanted to stay up north. If that does happen we will all just have a moan at Clegg and move on !!
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Guthrum added 19:31 - May 13 All part of the negotiation process. We made an offer. It's in the right ball-park (note, he didn't say "it's not enough" he said "we aren't selling"). Maybe we'll adjust our bid, or offer some add-ons. Maybe someone else will put in a counter offer. Then either it becomes too expensive and we lose interest, or a deal is done. Either that, or he really is determined to keep them at all costs.

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bagofpants added 19:44 - May 13 Publicising the offer and the amount, I would say, is the action of a team/owner trying to up the price rather than hold on to the players.
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TractorCam added 19:56 - May 13 Offer 3.5 million
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theblueginger added 20:01 - May 13 YES YES these two are perfect for us. Coppinger to load Billy's ammo. I heard that Sharps' contract buyout is 2.5 mill. , when Donny cannot reject. Coppinger i imagine will then be inclined to sign afterwards. Sharp has been prolific at a below average team for this division. He only had a bad spell at sheff united because he and blackwell hated each other, and that they bought crap like henderson and C evans in. Despite this, his career total is 1 in 2 overall. Sharp and Wickham... bye misskin/scotlard, with the other in reserve. One thing is that if Coppinger is our new rm, is Edwards going rb permanatly? Didnt mind him personally, but i know what some peoples opinion is...

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Mungo added 20:19 - May 13 I would be slghtly wary about increasing our bid. £2m is a lot for one player given our current situation. Would be interested to know what plan b is before throwing all our resources at plan a... A lot of people were also saying Norris was past his best but Coppinger is the same age. A positive start to the summer's transfer dealings - A statement of intent if nothing else...

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