Doncaster Rovers chairman John Ryan says he expects Town owner and chairman Marcus Evans to return with new offers for striker Billy Sharp and midfielder James Coppinger. Yesterday, Ryan revealed that his club had rejected bids of £2.3 million for Sharp and £300,000 for Coppinger, the latter a figure he describes as “laughable”.

Ryan has told Town they will be wasting their time if they return with a new proposal: “They did say they would [come back with another offer] but I said to Marcus Evans not to bother. We’re trying to build a team for next season like he’s trying to build a team.

“We want it to be a powerful squad and I reckon Billy Sharp is good for 25 goals a season if he stays fit and James has had the best season of his career and is very optimistic that he can do even better. Even he can weigh in with 10 goals but mainly create the bullets for Billy to fire.”

The Rovers chief says the Blues are well short in their £300,000 valuation of Coppinger, who like Sharp has two years left on his contract: “It’s laughable, isn’t it? It was explained to me that he’s 30 and he’ll be worth nothing at the end of his contract, but that was an easy one to turn down. It wouldn’t have mattered if it was a million, we would still have turned it down.”

Ryan has spoken to both players and says they are in no hurry to move on: “The nice thing is that Billy indicated that he wasn’t really bothered about going and Copps is quite happy to stay as well, which is a big influence because if players want to go it’s very difficult to hang on to them.

“But the situation is that we’ve said there’s no way we would accept these offers and everyone agreed. We’ve told Ipswich that we don’t want to sell, we’re very pleased that you rate our players but as far as we’re concerned we don’t want to sell.

“[Manager] Sean O’Driscoll is trying to build a squad for next season to try and be at the upper end of the league and the last thing we want to do is lose players like Billy and Copps.”

Photo: Action Images

titanicclown added 14:59 - May 14 Looks like a non starter this one. Give it one more go then move on to Nicky Maynard.
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keebs_itfc added 15:07 - May 14 agreed, seems like a dead end, especially if neither of the players are pushing their manager or chairman to go. get players who want to play for the club, not ones that aren't bothered.
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norfsufblue added 15:13 - May 14 We are obviously dealing with a very canny chairman!...not convinced a deal cant be done for in my opinion he doth protest too much!!
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DiamondGezzer added 15:16 - May 14 Lets's see if they change their minds if another offer is submitted and higher wages are intimated for both of them.
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Sindre94 added 15:20 - May 14 :( Hopefully they don't want to stay there, and that will make them go to us.. Come on Marcus, get a decent bid in!
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RYITFC added 15:21 - May 14 Move on to the next target's weve offered good money, The only way of getting these 2 is if we pay well over the odds. 1 Million for coppinger that's laughable, A good player but at 30 years old not worth 1 Million. We could get a younger player in with more quality for that price. We should have a look around before going back in for these two.
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bedsitfc added 15:22 - May 14 if the players had said they want to go he would have still said they want to stay so that itfc increased the bid
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daniel2302 added 15:23 - May 14 ''the latter a figure he describes as “laughable”. what's laughable about that? i think its a generally good offer concidering they are doncaster rovers... maxium bid i'd put in for these two players is 3 million for both. They could get some decent players next season to stay up in the championship..
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RetroBlue added 15:23 - May 14 wonder if Town will be so adament when clubs come calling for Wickham?
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BLUEBEAT added 15:27 - May 14 funny how the chairman keeps mentioning he's good for 25 goals a season when PJ keeps mentioning he wants a striker who is good for 25 goals a season. he will come
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jas0999 added 15:30 - May 14 Although disappointing, perhaps we need to move on. Sounds as though Doncaster don't want to sell and the players don't want to move. I also agree the bid for Coppinger is laughable. He must be worth more than that. What ME has to understand is although Coppinger could leave for nothing at the end of his contract, it's unlikely Doncaster will let it get to that stage. Few clubs would .... Hopefully PJ has a plan B, C and D. We need experienced players at Championship level. These players would have been ideal, but sounds as though it won't happen which is a shame.

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RetroBlue added 15:30 - May 14 bet he doesnt
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Calmingwind added 15:35 - May 14 As norfsufblue says - i think hes piping up to much about it, he could just say they turned down the offers not run around waving his arms in the air screaming its not enough. just trying to drum up interest. everyone has a price, and i would say 500k for a 30 somethings mid, and around 2.5 for sharp would be a good deal for them. but i think one more bid, 3mil for both. if that doesnt work.... time to move onto plan B.

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Tillz9 added 15:35 - May 14 Not quite sure whether to believe there chairman about not selling. There will be a point when bids are accepted but I feel it will be way above what we will pay. Would not go over £3.5 max for the pair. Not sure of Doncasters financial position to say if they need that sort of cash or would rather hang onto the players !!
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pazelle added 15:38 - May 14 Forget about them they aren't that good! If we spent that much on the continent I'm sure we'd find much better quality - plus Wickham will be our 20 goal a season man next year anyway!
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RYITFC added 15:40 - May 14 Peters, Priskin and 2 Million done!
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Bluearmy added 15:40 - May 14 go to £ 3 million i say and as some one said no more than £ 3.5 million and people keep saying move on but if you keep doing that after your first rejecting you won't have many players to choose from i say make another offer or 2 and if no then we move on
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Lamby95 added 15:41 - May 14 Sharp 2.5mil. Copps 750k max.
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neilvanlimbeek added 15:43 - May 14 Offer 2.75 for Sharp with another 1.25 if we go up in the next two years - I never really rated Coppinger anyway
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ITFC4daprem added 15:57 - May 14 does this mean they want us to buy him from them
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gypo added 15:59 - May 14 forget about it like is said in last post about this . Get nugent on a free, Vaughan from everton 1-1.5 million and play connor just off them. Then that would save us a couple of million on donny transfers.
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ITFC4daprem added 16:04 - May 14 dont spend 2 much on em when could get others eg tubbs would be cheap
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pepperot123 added 16:10 - May 14 Why dont the players just come out & say they dont want to come to ITFC if that is the case, then we all know where we stand and we can move on to other business. If they don't I think its worth upping the bid.
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svendust added 16:10 - May 14 Can't decide if their chairman is making all this noise because he's so confident they will stay or because he's trying to raise they price and get more interest. He could be confident they're staying and coming out with these comments to raise season ticket sales
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ItfcLoyal added 16:15 - May 14 “The nice thing is that Billy indicated that he wasn't really bothered about going and Copps is quite happy to stay as well'. 'Wasn't really botherd' 'quite happy' hardly convincing..
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