IT WAS great to see Rovers committing to Category One Academy status despite relegation to League One, writes Simon Garner.

Clubs like Blackburn need to be bringing young kids through the Academy, not only to help the first-team, but to then hopefully sell them on at a profit.

It costs a lot of money to run an Academy but I think it is worth the investment to develop players because they are the ones that fans like to see.

A town club like Blackburn, the fans want to relate to the players that are on the pitch, and while it has changed a lot since my playing days, a young player coming through, helps with that.

You have got to bring homegrown players through the ranks and then at some stage, if they are good enough, they will get themselves a move.

The tough thing now at all levels of football is a players’ contract.

Ryan Nyambe signed a new long-term deal last week and as a club now, it’s not just your first-team players you want tied down, it’s your young players as well. That now seems like the only way you can get true value of what a player is worth.

Rovers had the situation with Connor Mahoney earlier in the summer, but it is tough for all clubs to get players tied down to long deals.

On the other hand, you have clubs like Chelsea who have so many players out on loan who don’t have a chance of breaking in to the first-team squad.

Players now jump at the chance of moving to the Premier League, not just to the top clubs but the ones lower down, when they would be better suited getting first-team football.

You gain that experience and could then still earn that move.

The number of games that Academies have to fulfil does not help clubs and means that players who they may want to get out on loan, they can’t.

But if a young player is doing well in the Under-23s and performing consistently then I expect they will be given a chance in the first-team.

Rovers have made seven signings so far, and with just under two weeks until the start of the new season, I think Tony Mowbray will be happy with his business.

He’s obviously got the players that he wanted and because he knows the division, he knows the sort of players that he needed to bring in. Having got the players in nice and early, he will now be looking to hit the ground running when the new season starts.

Mowbray has also recruited a number of players who he has worked with before, and that can help everyone.

The manager knows the player and the player is already well suited to how the manager likes to play and they can adapt quicker.