INFLUENTIAL Morecambe skipper Stewart Drummond is at the centre of a new transfer tug-of-war.

Conference leaders Chester City have made an official bid for the midfielder who has been at Morecambe since 1995 and has twice been voted the fans' 'Player of the Year'.

But the offer - described as 'derisory' by the club - has been turned down.

Rumours on the club website suggest that Division Two Blackpool may also be interested in the 28-year-old non-league international, who has made no secret of his ambition to step up into the Football League.

Drummond is out of contract at the end of the season and is at present negotiating terms of a new deal with manager Jim Harvey and chief executive Rod Taylor.

A club spokesman told the Citizen: "There is always speculation when a player of Stewart's calibre is coming towards the end of his contract."

Adding a twist to the tale is the news that Mark Wight's Chester City have rejected a Morecambe offer, believed to be of around £10,000, for Michael Twiss.