Doncaster Rovers want 19 players under contract for pre-season

Twelve players are currently contracted to Rovers for the 2023/24 campaign, with 11 out of contract this summer.

Speaking at Doncaster's Meet the Owners event on Monday, Coppinger revealed he wants to start pre-season with up to 19 players under contract.

He said: “The players here, in my opinion, are only going to improve. League Two is very, very tight in terms of what we can recruit as a football club.

"A lot of the times when we have recruited we haven’t necessarily brought in better players for more money. For me it’s about stability in terms of having a core group of players that can stay together for a longer period of time to give us the best chance of being successful."

Coppinger added: “We had it under Sean O'Driscoll and we didn’t necessarilly have the best squad of players in League One.

"But what we did have was a way, an identity, and an understanding. We built trust and a connection with each other that every time we went on the pitch it was bigger and better than individual players.”

Club Doncaster chief executive Gavin Baldwin asked Coppinger how important he felt continuity was after the latter revealed 65 players have played for the club since 2020.

Coppinger said: “Moving forward, continuity for me is success for this football club."

The pair were due to meet with major shareholder David Blunt on Wednesday to discuss plans for next season.

Coppinger also revealed contract talks are ‘far down the line’ with some players.