James Coppinger signs new deal with Doncaster Rovers - but it will be his final season

Coppinger has put pen to paper on a new one-year contract to extend his stay at the club into a 17th season.

But it will be a case of 17 and out for the 39-year-old, as he revealed first to the Free Press.

“This will be 100 per cent my final year,” Coppinger said.

“This will be my last season at Doncaster and in professional football I would imagine.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about different bits and pieces and I think that next season would be a good time to finish.

“I feel strong, I feel good and I’d like to finish that way.”

The 17-week break due to the Covid-19 pandemic has given Coppinger time to consider his future and also work on his other ventures outside football.

But he admits his thoughts about hanging up his boots after the 2020/21 season have been growing in the past year.

“Over the last season or so, it’s not always been easy with having a family and living that far away,” he said. “There’s only so much you can do it.

“I don’t want to drag it out. I don’t want it to get to the stage where I’m just a part of the furniture - even though I’m already part of the furniture.

“I don’t want it to get to the point where people are thinking ‘when is he going to pack in?’

“I just don’t want that to happen.

“I feel like it’s not fair on other people, like my wife and kids, when I’m giving a lot of time.

“When you are playing in a normal season, you’re there 100 per cent of the time. Your focus and your energy is on that constantly.

“I think for me, having all these weeks to think about it, I’ve really thought that it is time to say this season is going to be my last.”

While he has been sure for a while of his decision to end his playing career next summer, he insists he had always intended to play on through the 20/21 campaign - regardless of last season being brought to an early conclusion by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“One hundred per cent I was going to play on,” he said.

“We were in talks about them offering a new contract back in January.

“If anything, this situation has had a detrimental effect on the talks. I feel like this would have been done sooner had the financial implications been different.”

Coppinger signed for Rovers in May 2004 and has made more than 600 appearances for the club across 16 seasons.

Barring a half season loan spell with Nottingham Forest during the 2012/13 season, his time at the club has been uninterrupted and seen him become Rovers’ all-time leading appearance maker.

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