ROVERS boss Tony Mowbray says decisions over incomings and outgoings at the club will lie with him.

Mowbray sought assurances from owners Venky’s before agreeing to continue in his role after relegation that he wouldn’t be forced in to selling Rovers’ under contract players.

He has also been promised financial resources to strengthen his ranks, with recruitment now falling at his feet following the departure of Director of Football and Operations Paul Senior.

Senior resigned in the wake of relegation from the Championship, with recruitment previously coming under his portfolio.

But Mowbray told the Lancashire Telegraph: “The role of recruitment, I find myself picking up that mantle and I have to try and get on with it.

“I have been doing it for many years and it is a very time consuming job. You have millions of agents on the phone telling you how brilliant their players are.

“I am sure Paul had been working on that but now I am just getting on with it from scratch and looking to work diligently.”

Mowbray says his decision to travel to India, and become the first Rovers boss to do so since Gary Bowyer in 2013, was to seek assurances over his current squad and prospective signings.

Rovers have recouped £12m in transfer fees during the last two windows with Grant Hanley, Shane Duffy and Ben Marshall departing. But they spent just £250,000, with player of the year Derrick Williams the only man Rovers paid money for during the 2016/17 campaign.

The India trip was Mowbray’s first face-to-face meeting with the owners, and he says that was important to get the answers he wanted ahead of what is likely to be a busy summer of activity.

He added: “That was the reason to go and speak to the owners and look across the table.

“They are the owners of the football club and they have to trust the manager of the club.

“After all, I will be spending their money and I have got to try and get it right.”

Meanwhile, Rovers have added two more scholars to their Academy ranks.

Sixteen-year-old pair Kyle Connell and Callum Dolan have agreed two year deals and will join up with Billy Barr’s Under-18s side next season.

Dolan played twice for the Under-18s at the back end of this season having left Manchester United while Glasgow-born Connell joins from Scottish Premier League side Motherwell.

The duo join Sam Barnes, George Wilson, Matthew Chan, Louis Khoury, Ben Winterbottom and Jack Vale in signing two-year scholarships at Rovers.