I WOULDN’T want him to remind me but I played against Paul Lambert in the 1987 Scottish Cup final. He was 17 then and his St Mirren side beat my Dundee United side.

We played against each other regularly and we eventually became international team-mates.

I moved down to England and he eventually went away to Germany where he became a far better player.

He was a winger who ended up a holding midfielder and, as I say, he became a very good player – one of the best in the position.

He learned from a lot of good players at Borussia Dortmund and Germany played a big part in his development.

He always had it in his mind to go into coaching and he went back to Germany to do his badges and he likes to go back there to watch people and learn.

He’s had a good career and now he’s got the Blackburn job and I’m just hoping he can move the club up a few steps.

As I said last week after he left the club, I thought Gary Bowyer did fantastically well to bring back stability to the club. After so many changes, it’s what was desperately needed.

Now we need to see a bit more consistency and, having listened to Paul’s initial interviews, he sounds quietly confident he can do that.

Blackburn have got real experience now in Paul, Alan Irvine and Rob Kelly. They are good coaches who have been about and I’m just hoping they can get the side to make that next step.

And the good thing is that Paul now has a couple of months to stamp his mark.

He can work with the players he’s got and he can see what ones want to play for him and what ones don’t. If they don’t, they will be moved on.

He’s not here to befriend the players, he’s here to make them and the team better, and I’m sure he can do that.

But first things first, there’s Preston. It should be a good game to get started.