LOOK in most corners of the globe, and these days you’ll find a former Blackburn Rovers player.

The days when players simply opened a pub around the corner from the ground are long gone.

In Australia you’ll find Andy Todd and Robbie Fowler, among others, still playing at Perth Glory and North Queensland Fury respectively.

In America there’s Roy Wegerle, still a professional sportsman in Florida at the age of 46 – a whole 18 years after his spell with Rovers.

Wegerle has now switched to golf, although he is unlikely to be challenging at Augusta any time soon.

His last recorded event on the Minor League golf tour, the North Palm Classic in September, earned him prize money of only $65 for a 13th-placed finish.

Norwegian Martin Andresen has also switched sports in the States, winning an event at the North American Bridge Championships in San Diego in December.

While Paul Warhurst and Kevin Moran became agents and Per Frandsen joined the same industry before becoming assistant manager of Danish side HB Koge, Hakan Unsal became a television presenter in his native Turkey.

Youri Djorkaeff, whose short spell at Ewood was ruined by injury – ended his playing days with New York Red Bulls and then released his own single called ‘Vivre dans ta lumière’, or ‘Living in your light’ in English.

Many move into management, of course.

Five former Rovers players currently manage in the Football League.

Title winner Chris Sutton is cutting his teeth in his first managerial job with Lincoln in League Two, while Keith Hill looks set to achieve Rochdale’s long held dream of promotion out of the bottom tier.

Promotion also appears to be on the cards at Leeds for Simon Grayson, while Chris Coleman is in charge of Championship club Coventry and Alan Irvine has taken over at Sheffield Wednesday.

Jeff Kenna led Irish side St Patrick’s to the play-off round of the Europa League, but poor league form left him out of work soon after.

On foreign shores, Henning Berg is the manager of Lillestrom in his native Norway, while George Donis – the former Rovers winger who knocked them out of the UEFA Cup three years ago as manager of little-known Greek side Larissa – is now boss of Atromitos.

Craig Short remains manager of Hungarian side Ferencvaros, having taken over in November, although Markus Babbel left Stuttgart at the end of 2009.

Dario Marcolin is Sinisa Mihajlovic’s assistant manager at Italian side Catania, having previously been part of Roberto Mancini’s backroom staff at Inter Milan and had a brief spell as a manager in his own right with Monza.

In non-league Garry Flitcroft manages Leigh Genesis, with Mark Atkins boss of Matlock.

Some become physios, too, like Nicky Reid, now at Macclesfield.

Marc Keller is now a technical director – first at Strasbourg and now Monaco.

Lars Bohinen was similarly the sporting director at Stabaek in Norway before resigning last year.

After retiring, Sebastien Perez has gone on to represent the French national beach football team, while the likes of Hakan Sukur and Lorenzo Amuroso have now hung up their boots - ending their respective playing days with Galatasaray and, bizarrely, San Marino side SS Cosmos.

Many are still playing in various countries, though.

Kaba Diawara is with Arles-Avignon in France, while Oumar Konde has been in China with Chengdu Blades.

Matt Derbyshire scored twice for Olympiakos last weekend.

Closer to home, Keith Gillespie is back in Northern Ireland with Glentoran.

Shabani Nonda continues to be linked with a move back to England, with Portsmouth said to be interested in the free agent after his release by Galatasaray last month.

Ciccio Grabbi’s career never really recovered from his time as a £6.75m flop at Ewood between 2001 and 2004.

He returned to Italy with Ancona and did get back among the goals during a spell at Genoa, but he later moved on to Arezza and Swiss side Bellinzona without making an impact.

In contrast, striker Florent Sinama-Pongolle has flourished since leaving England – earning a January move to Sporting Lisbon from Atletico Madrid.