ROVERS new boy Bradley Dack says he has joined a club that match his ambitions as he eyes promotion in his first year at Ewood Park.

Dack joined Rovers for an initial £750,000 from Gillingham last month and will get his first outing with his team-mates at National League side Barrow in Saturday’s pre-season friendly.

The Gills turned down bids of around £2million for Dack from Championship side Bristol City as recently as January 2016, the season before the 23-year-old would go on to be named League One player of the year.

But 18 months on, Dack believes that Rovers can be the team to give him Championship football as they target promotion from League One at the first time of asking.

“They match my ambitions where they want to be and where they want to go,” Dack told the Lancashire Telegraph.

“That’s exactly what I said to the gaffer and that’s why I signed.

“It’s something that appealed to me to play at a team that’s going to be challenging at the top of the league and I think it’s a good way to get in to the Championship and a club that maybe is a big club in the Championship.”

Rovers will be operating in the third tier of English football for the first time in 37 years next season.

But as former Premier League champions, and a top-flight club as recently as 2012, Dack says the club remain a big draw.

And that is why he resisted the advances of second tier sides to sign for Rovers following positive conversations with head coach Tony Mowbray.

He added: “It was quite an easy decision.

“At the end of the day it’s a long way from home but I’m sure that I will settle quite quickly. The boys seem really nice, I will find a place up here.

“If Blackburn Rovers come calling then you can’t really turn them down.”

Dack met his team-mates for the first time last week as Rovers returned for pre-season training.

The players will be put through double sessions in the lead up to their training camp in Austria which starts on Monday, following hot on the heels of Saturday’s trip to Barrow.

Dack didn’t travel to the Gills’ pre-season training camp in Northern Ireland last month as he completed his move to Ewood Park on an initial three-year deal.

His signing was greeted with great enthusiasm among the Rovers fans, and the midfielder admitted having his move sorted ahead of pre-season was a big draw.

“It’s the best way to do it,” he said of securing his move early in the summer. “It gives you a month and a half to get to know the boys before the season starts so it’s definitely the right way to do it.

“The first day walking in to the place was a great feeling.

“As soon as I got here, walking in to the training ground and seeing the stadium it just shows how big the club is. I’m raring to go.”