Tony Mowbray says he understands the position of the club’s out of contract players having been in a similar situation himself during his career.

Mowbray left his boyhood club Middlesbrough in 1991 for Celtic, a deal which he said saw him quadruple his salary.

As Rovers remain in a stand-off with Joe Rothwell, Darragh Lenihan and Ryan Nyambe, Mowbray is acutely aware of the decisions all three players face with their current deals to expire in the summer.

Their commitment on the pitch hasn’t wavered, but once the transfer window closes on Monday night there will be no chance to recoup any fee for the trio unless they sign new deals.

Mowbray says he won’t plan specific chats with any of the three to discuss their futures, but says the team must come first should he feel any player is affected by speculation over their future.

“If I smell that they’re not right, if they pull out of training on a certain day or they want to miss a game or are feeling a bit sore, I have heart to heart chats with them,” Mowbray said.

“They will continue. The team is all that matters.

“I understand they have their own personal issues, so for instance if they’ve agreed a multi-million pound contract somewhere and we don’t know about it, I will try and sense it and break it all down for them.

“I moved from my boyhood club where I’d gone and watched from the age of six with my dad.

“Why? Because sometimes you don’t feel you’re getting the value of what your worth is.

“I left and quadrupled my salary when I left Middlesbrough and I don’t ever sit there and think ‘you greedy so and so’, it’s life, it’s football. They have families, they live for 50 years after their football career finishes.

“I’ve got no problems with these players if they want to leave this club because they can get more money elsewhere.

“I would just like some transparency so we can prepare and plan, that’s all the job is.

“The players know I’m on their side and if I have to leave them out or sign another player because I can’t see that 100 per cent commitment on the pitch because they’re looking after their bodies and making sure they’re fit then I’ll make those decisions if I need to.”

Mowbray has insisted that Rothwell won’t be leaving the club in January and that Rovers have rejected bigger bids than those from promotion rivals Bournemouth.

News broke this week that Rovers had rejected a third bid from Bournemouth for the midfielder who is out of contract this summer.

Manager Mowbray has stressed that Rothwell will remain at the club beyond the end of the transfer window and that other bids, not just those from Bournemouth, have also been turned down for the 27-year-old.

Rothwell has been a key performer for Rovers this season, his absence from the win over Middlesbrough with a back issue the first time he has missed a game this season.

He is set to train today to put him in with a chance of featuring at Luton Town this weekend.

And despite the uncertainty over his long-term future, with no progress over contract talks to extend his Ewood Park stay, Mowbray says he won’t be moving on in this window.

“Him moving to Bournemouth isn’t going to happen,” Mowbray said.

“What I find interesting in your world is that you pick up certain things and don’t get other things.

“We’ve had bids twice as much as much as what Bournemouth have bid which is okay from me, it doesn’t really matter.

“Some clubs have been in with twice the bid of Bournemouth and he’s still not going anywhere.

“That’s great credit to the owners that we’re going to give this team the best chance.

“In four days time Joe Rothwell is worth nothing to us, other than trying to help us get to where we want to go.”