Blackburn Rovers will be looking for a more incident-free year when the 2009/10 season starts. With Paul Ince having replaced the Eastlands-bound Mark Hughes in the summer, results did not materialise and Ince was replaced by former Bolton and Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce. Big Sam steadied the ship but the lower reaches of the Premier League are not familiar waters to the 1995 Champions.

A major influence in the ability of Allardyce to guide Rovers into the upper echelons of English football will be his ability to both retain and attract players to Ewood Park. The future of striker Roque Santa Cruz is still very much uncertain and recent comments reportedly made by the 27-year old South American on Paraguayan radio re-stating his intent to leave the club for whom he has netted 29 times since joining in 2007 will not have endeared him to his manager.

The flirtation with the relegation zone was a little too close for comfort and Allardyce’s aim must be to re-assert Rovers as a top ten club. Three consecutive top half finishes ending in 7^th on 2007/8 is the type of season supporters will be looking once again for their team to produce.