Jim Parmenter turned down multiple offers for Ricky Miller from more than one Football League club on deadline day because ‘it’s not about the money.’

The 27-year-old was the subject of frenzied speculation before the Football League transfer window closed at 11pm on Tuesday but despite reports of six-figure bids for the former Luton man, Whites chairman Mr Parmenter did not receive an offer he deemed acceptable for the league’s leading scorer with 27 goals this season and 32 in all competitions.

After being bombarded with messages from Bristol Rovers fans hoping he would replace Bristol City-bound Matty Taylor on Tuesday, rumours spread online that Miller had turned down a switch to the Memorial Ground in favour of waiting until his Dover contract expires at the end of the season.

Mr Parmenter said: “Bristol Rovers never made a verbal or written offer, I’d like to make that clear in defence of Ricky Miller.

“There were other, substantial offers made for Ricky - more than one from more than one club in the Football League - but I turned them down.

“Some people will think I’m mad for doing it, but for my wife and I it’s never been about the money. We are in a great place to try and get promoted to the Football League and Ricky Miller is a big part of that.”

Mr Parmenter said ‘it wouldn’t be right’ to reveal how much he had turned down or from whom, but added: “I was never going to sell him. I was never going to sell any of our players. Ok, I might have done for £1m but the bids were not £1m.”

He revealed: “Ricky’s agent was aware of the offers and aware of our stance. I said to him that if Ricky keeps playing well, scoring goals and gets us promoted then he’ll have his choice of clubs in the summer and I personally believe any deal would be much better for him then than he could have had now.”

After learning that Miller had vowed to score the goals to get Dover back in the National League play-offs this season, Mr Parmenter described him as a ‘great boy.’

He added: “It’s not all about him, he’d be the first to tell you, this is about the team we have put together here.

“I like the group we have got here now, and the management team, and I think we have got a chance to get into the Football League, so I suppose this is a statement of intent.

"We are also trying to strengthen in a couple of key areas to give ourselves the best possible chance.

“If we’d sold Ricky Miller it would have been a different kind of statement, not one that I wished to make.”