IT is good to see Owen Coyle getting a few players in early on at Blackburn Rovers.

Getting your business done quickly is important as it gives the manager plenty of time to work with the players and for that relationship to build.

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It also allows Owen the chance to work on different systems and formations and see everyone in action before the season starts.

As a striker, I am also pleased to see some goalscorers coming into the club!

I think we have struggled to replace Jordan Rhodes really since he left but I am hopeful the players that have been brought in can do that.

Danny Graham is a very good signing and he will score goals at this level, as he proved last season. I am looking forward to seeing Anthony Stokes as well and Jack Byrne also looks like he might be capable of weighing in with goals from midfield. That is crucial.

Last season, not enough Rovers players were able to find the net and that is a problem which I am sure Owen will be looking to solve.

When I played under Howard Kendall, he would set targets for each group of players – he would say to the centre backs ‘I want 10 goals from you this season’ and then he would identify targets for the centre midfielders and the wingers as well.

Obviously as a striker, our job was to score goals anyway but if you knew goals were coming from elsewhere, it made a massive difference. It took the pressure off you and it meant that when you went through an inevitable bad patch, the team didn’t suffer.

What I also want to see from Rovers this season is the ability to grind out results.

The Championship is a very tough league, as we say every season, and winning games 1-0 or getting draws when you have been behind are big parts to getting into the top six.

Hopefully, Owen can have Rovers organised and also add that creativity and goalscoring threat to help the side push on this season.

Part of that is also fitness and being able to outlast the opposition. The players will certainly be working hard at the moment with pre-season training back under way.

I never used to like pre-season much. I think it has probably changed for the better now but in my day, all we did was long runs and more long runs. I hated it. But it is an important part of the preparation and it can help with team spirit so I just used to get on with it – but I certainly never enjoyed it!

Finally, I don’t think Alan Irvine leaving will have too much of an impact on the squad. He is an excellent coach and I know him well so I am sure he will be back in a job very soon.

But Owen will probably have wanted his own people there, which happens with managers, and I am confident that whoever comes in will do a good job.