AS the January transfer window slammed, or gradually creaked, shut on Friday night, Gary Bowyer could be pretty content with the way things have gone.

Scott Dann’s departure was perhaps inevitable and will help to relieve financial pressures if reports of a £38,000 a week salary are true.

The transfer fee was a little disappointing at under £2million, but there may be a further payment should his new club Crystal Palace stay up.

If they do not, however, it would be quite comical for those with a dark sense of humour, especially if Rovers do somehow claw their way into the play-offs and win promotion with the London club going the other way.

The four new signings were all good. We already knew about Tom Cairney and Rudy Gestede, both of whom are now key players for us and have helped the way we play.

Gestede appears to be the perfect strike partner for Jordan Rhodes and the two have already formed a nice link-up, while Cairney has been one of the stars of our campaign so far.

They were joined last week by Craig Conway who looked sharp against Blackpool and of course provided the goal. Rovers scoring from a corner, now that is new!

Unfortunately Dabo didn’t get a game on Saturday and we don’t know anything about him, so we will have to wait and see on that one but the extra midfield cover will be welcome.

The big success has been getting some of the deadwood off the books.

The Portuguese lot have all been shipped out bar two, who could also be on their way very soon.

Also among the 16 departures were Bradley Orr and David Goodwillie sent out on loan, who were further unfortunate hangovers from the Steve Kean regime and clearly no longer in Bowyer’s plans.

Ruben Rochina’s departure perhaps disappointed some Rovers fans but he, too, clearly does not feature in the long-term plan.

There has clearly been an agenda in place to cut down spending with the impending financial fair play rules.

And Gary Bowyer’s transfer window activity has probably reduced our annual wage spend by a fair amount.

Meanwhile, what is this craze where the fans all get the lights up on their phones and point it towards the pitch about?

It is completely pointless and rubbish like this, like when the Manchester City fans started doing the Poznan celebration, annoys me.

When it started at Arsenal it was bearable because they had a floodlight failure, but at Ewood it is just pointless.

It doesn’t improve the atmosphere and all it will do is run the battery down on your phone!