- Rovers add Winterburn to coaching staff Official site

- Friedel speculation mounts Mail on Sunday

- Bentley swap deal with Spurs could see Robinson replace Friedel? Metro

- Derbyshire (click) and Fowler desperate to impress Sky Sports

Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler has linked up with the Rovers squad ahead of the pre season campaign. A player of immense quality; pace, vision, skill and a superb finish.

The above describes Robbie Fowler at his peak, around ten years ago. Now he is an unfit, past it Championship quality striker who mustn’t be able to believe his luck.

Having gone down to Championship level with last seasons FA Cup finalists Cardiff City, it appeared as if Fowler’s Premiership career was coming to an end. He, like so many others, would move down the divisions as his age caught up with him. But no.

Paul Ince’s first ’signing’ (he hasn’t been offered a contract yet) doesn’t show a great deal of ambition. Yes, he will be on a free, but I can all but guarantee he will get an excellent wage. His addition to the payroll is just unnecessary!

A new manager was supposed to see us trying to improve on last season. Even if we were to consolidate our 7th place finish, it would surely get us a European spot next season. But if players of Fowler’s calibre are the ones on Ince’s radar I can see us struggling.

The Guvnor has made a right back his priority, so who is he going to look at to fill this role? Dennis Irwin is still a free agent I believe…

- Backroom team taking shape Blackburn Citizen

- Rovers rule out Friedel exit Eat Sleep Sport

- Santa Cruz misses training - to recuperate Vital Football

- Ladies to take on Rotherham at home in cup first round Official site

- Players keen to impress new guvnor at first training session Lancashire Telegraph

- Brand new Rovers store to open on Saturday, kit launch delayed Official site

Home

Away

Looks like we are going to need a third strip, can’t have two blue kits. Although I really like this new away one.

The Jack Walker trustees are to put their £3 million into Blackburn Rovers again this season giving Paul Ince a welcome extra bit of transfer money.

The news comes as a relief after the trustees withdrew their funding last year as the club became self sufficient because of the TV money now available.

When Uncle Jack passed away in 2000, he left the trustees with strict instructions to continue the investment for the foreseeable future, to continue the short term prosperity of the club.

Once the trustees saw that their money was no longer 100% necessary, they pulled out, stating that they would review this decision on an annual basis.

Their decision to once again put in their investment comes as a welcome one.

However, this club needs to be sold, and won’t be unless the trustees lower their asking price. Although the club is technically worth £65 million, no potential buyer can feasibly put that much capital into the initial takeover, giving them enough money to investment the required amount to take us on to the next level.

Nabeel Chowdery is offering £40 million. If the club is sold for that amount, it means he will have sufficient means to put more cash into the transfer kitty. Chris Ronnie of JJB was reportedly only prepared to offer £25 million, he must be joking.

It’s all gone very quiet at Ewood since Ince’s arrival, money needs to be spent, one way or another, to take us forward…

As I continue the development of this Rovers blog, a new feature will be a list of links to what people are saying about the mighty Rovers.

Tonights inaugral post of this nature is all about transfers!

- Youth player given loan move to local side Accy Stanley Sky Sports

- Hughes wants to take Friedel to City Sunday Mirror

- Lennon not to be used by Spurs in offer for Bentley Sky Sports

- Rovers in for McFadden Blue Blog

- Fulham’s Davis on his way to Ewood? Fans Online

- Samba set to stay Sky Sports

- Championship defender Orr linked to Rovers Telegraph

After a short hiatus (I have now left university to return home in the hunt of a ‘proper job’ instead of slaving away at Asda’) I am back to continue my ramblings about the greatest football club that the world Blackburn has ever seen!

So Paul Ince has been named as Mark Hughes successor in the Rovers hotseat. Another Alex Ferguson protege and, as the media so often reminds me, the Premiership’s first black British manager… Because that really matters, you know!

I can’t offer my verdict on Ince at the moment. Without a proven track record at the top level I am unsure how this one will go, it is very similar to the situation when Hughes joined, having only managed the Welsh national team. Obviously I will remain ridiculously optimistic as I always do and fingers crossed we can get into Europe next season having hung on to Roque Santa Cruz.

Ince has made his first mission to persuade David Bentley to stay at Ewood. This won’t happen. The petulant ungrateful little child has already made his mind up and if we can get £15 million for him then that’s fantastic business from our point of view. If today’s story in the papers are to be believed then the addition of Aaron Lennon to any possible deal will also offer us a good replacement.

Next up is Santa. I reckon he will stay. He has said before that he is happy at Rovers and a change of manager can’t suddenly make him want to leave. Ince has told Ferguson to bugger off and I hope he does, Arsenal are also being linked with the Paraguayan but they are being linked with just about every striker in the western hemisphere…

One quarm I have with Ince is his backrrom staff. Fair enough, bring in your League Two assistant manager. Ray Mathias, I have been led to believe, is a top notch assistant and was instrumental in the successes Ince has had at Macclesfield and MK Dons. However, if this trend continues I can’t help but feel we would be managed by an under qualified team. Hopefully Ince will bring in some quality coaches with top level experience to help him.

I haven’t heard a figure on how much transfer money the now gaffer is going to receive but I expect it will be pretty meagre, the quick sale of Bentley should help this cause.

There are new times ahead. Whether they will be succesful or not, we will have to wait and see. Mr Ince, congratulations on the job. Welcome to Blackburn, we’re a friendly bunch. Most of all, best of luck for next season!

Here is a clip from Rovers v Aston Villa dating all the way back to 1904.

After a while panicking over crap managers like Allardyce or McLaren, the two are now officially out of the running!

McLaren has landed a job at Dutch ‘giants’ FC Twente (Accrington Stanley, who are they? Exactly!) while Allardyce has seen the iceberg and pulled out of the race to succeed Mark Hughes.

I reckon the Facebook group had something to do with it. Who wants to walk into a job knowing 95% of the fans at the club didn’t want you? Would definitely have put me off I know that much!

So now it’s down to two more popular candidates.

Paul Ince is the favourite. Another footballing legend as a player. Succesful stints with Manchester United, Inter Milan and Liverpool saw him become one of the most revered midfielders in the world.

He hasn’t been in management long, but has had moderate success everywhere he has been. Starting at Macclesfield in 2006 he guided them to safety in League Two, they were bottom of the league when he took charge.

In 2007 he became manager of MK Dons. With money behind him and a lot of potential for expansion the Dons won League Two, as well as collecting the Football League Trophy on the way.

The Guvnor has since become hot property, proclaimed as a future management great. I am not 100% sure. He has experience of playing in the Premier League, but hasn’t managed any higher than League Two and would be interested to see how MK fare in a higher division this season.

Michael Laudrup is another football legend. A Danish international and one of their greatest ever players. A former player for Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid, Laudrup has certainly rubbed noses with the greats.

After finishing his playing career he moved in to the assistant managers job at Denmark before moving on to become manager of Danish side Brondby, and then more recently Spanish side Getafe. This does not seem to be huge, but Laurdup pulled off something of a miracle at Getafe. He reached the final of the Copa Del Rey and the quarter finals of the UEFA Cup with Getafe, who are not one of the larger established sides in La Liga.

Of the two, I would go for Laudrup. But either way it will be a gamble for John Williams.

I’ve rated Andre Ooijer for a while, and felt that last season he put in some solid performances at the back without ever being given a fair crack of the whip.

Hughesy often preferred his Nelsen/Samba partnership, even when the two went through indifferent spells, and Ooijer was always considered something of a back up to those two.

Granted, the Dutchman has suffered some injury troubles which hasn’t helped his cause.

My reason for saying this comes after two superb displays for Holland in the Euro 2008 Championships in Austria and Switzerland. The Dutch have really come up trumps so far, hammering both Italy and France with some wonderful attacking performances. Indeed, attack is often the best form of defence, and that is how it has proved for the Netherlands.

However, when the defence has been called upon, Ooijer has been in outstanding form against the likes of Luca Toni, Del Piero, Henry and Anelka.

Recent press speculation linked Ooijer with a move away from Ewood, stating his frustration at a lack of first team opportunities, but I hope whoever the new manager is realises how good Ooijer is and gives him the recognition he deserves.

This leads me on to Chris Samba. A £4 million target for Hughes at City. Hughes, who seems intent on leaving Rovers with as little as possible after his shock move to a club he will probably be sacked from within 12 months, has stated his desire to take the DR Congo centre back to Eastlands with him.

It was Hughes of course who signed the giant defender from German club Hertha Berlin for under half a million and Rovers stand to make a tidy profit if he does move on. Whether he does or not remains to be seen, but it would be sad to see him go.

Back to the management race and, from the current candidates (basically Allardyce or Ince), I would like to see Paul Ince handed the job. Anything to keep that fat corrupt ex-Bolton numpty out of Ewood!