John Park replaced Stuart Harvey as Rovers’ head of recruitment but also as Tony Mowbray’s house-mate.

Park has been in situ since July having replaced the outgoing Harvey who moved to Sunderland.

The Northern Irishman had headed up Rovers’ recruitment since 2017 and worked closely with Mowbray throughout his tenure.

Park was brought into the club having previously worked with Mowbray at Hibernian and with a strong reputation in the game following his work with Celtic.

A transfer embargo and lack of funds restricted Rovers’ dealings in the summer but with the January window on the horizon, the club are planning for a number of scenarios.

While finishing the window stronger than they started will be the prime objective, uncertainty over the futures of several key players means there are several different possibilities that could arise.

But Mowbray, who describes Park as a ‘workaholic’, says discussions are continuing around the clock, even away from the confines of Brockhall.

“Football is about recruitment, I’ve said this many times, that’s why I’ve pushed hard to get it right and support the people who do it,” Mowbray explained.

“Both of my head’s of recruitment have lived in my apartment with me, so after work I’m still talking football and players, who are we signing, what was this player like, what are the reports on this player like?

“It’s massively important, you don’t get recruitment right and you don’t stay long in a job.”

Rovers have several key players out of contract next summer which could have a big say on incomings and outgoings in January.

That is a situation today’s visitors Preston North End faced a year ago, and while some agreed new deals, others such as Ben Pearson and Ben Davies moved on to Bournemouth and Liverpool respectively.

However, Mowbray doesn’t draw any comparisons between the two and says there remains a strong core to the North End side who have had the better of this fixture in recent years and who are unbeaten in their previous five visits to Ewood.

He added: “They lost some big players, Pearson is a big player in this league, Davies went to Liverpool, I don’t overly concern myself over other teams but maybe they’ve been through that cycle?

“Yet when I look at their team there are a lot of players I recognise in that time that have been there a few years now.

“I tell my team each week ‘this is what I think, but be ready for this’ because they’re adaptable, they can change.

“They’ve got good individual footballers as we’ve found over the years but we’re at home and want to be on the front foot and be aggressive.”