TONY Mowbray believes the January transfer window will provide the ideal time for Rovers to strengthen their ranks.

Mowbray says extensive research on potential targets has already been carried out and the appointment this week of Steve Waggott as Chief Executive won’t affect transfer plans.

The Rovers boss has worked hard to implement a new recruitment procedure at the club but feels this window comes too early to see the benefits.

Mowbray has been in contact with owners’ Venky’s and wants Rovers to continue what he felt was ‘decent’ summer business.

“We’re pretty much down the way on January,” Mowbray said. “We’ve been working pretty hard to get a recruitment department in place for a few weeks now, it’s not about dragging a few lads off the streets.

“We’ve been through extensive procedure, it’s not something that is really going to affect this window, but moving forward hopefully the recruitment will be seen as good recruitment and there will be evidence of why we’ve signed players.

“For the owners there will be lots of reports, there will be lots of reasons, statistics, as to why we’ve signed footballers in the future.

“This window, it will be pretty much like it was in the summer I think. It will be difficult for Steve to come in and jump straight in to it.

“I’m pretty confident we’ll get things done. We felt as if we had a pretty decent window in the summer and I see no reason why we can’t do the same kind of work and add some quality to the group and keep pushing on.”

But Mowbray admits it’s not as simple as putting a figure on how many incomings he expects at Ewood Park. And he hopes to see the players already on the club’s books continue to progress as they look to achieve their promotion aim.

A winger is likely to be high on their priority list next month following the long-term injury suffered by Middlesbrough loanee Harry Chapman.

“It’s never quite as easy as that,” Mowbray said of a likely number of arrivals.

“Is anyone going to leave? Is anyone going to arrive? We’ll have those conversations with players and agents.

“I think there are areas we need to strengthen and the best time to strengthen is from a position of strength.

“I thought the club showed some good intent in the summer, spent some money on players, Bradley Dack and Dominic Samuel have both come in and done reasonably well, hopefully there’s more growth in them.

“It’s players of that ilk that we need to invest in, keep bringing to the club and hopefully they can grow and develop with the club.

“Hopefully they can be part of the history as we move forward. That’s what we’re trying to do, strengthen from the position we’re currently in.”

Rovers stood firm in the wake of interest in their own players in the summer with Mowbray admitting: “I don’t see anything changing on that.”.

He added: “The owners have been supportive, I have been in contact with them a lot more in recent months.

“I look to the future very positively.

“I think there’s an opportunity for our club to push forward from this point on, build some momentum.

“There’s a long way to go and I don’t want to get ahead of myself but there is an opportunity for us to grasp and to keep building momentum.

“While a lot of teams might start to fall away because of squad depth hopefully if we can bring in a few players and keep building hopefully that doesn’t happen to this team.

“I think it’s an opportunity we have to grasp if we can.”