Souey's Black Forest roving

BLACKBURN Rovers face a journey into the unknown tomorrow when they kick-off their mini pre-season tour in Germany.

Graeme Souness's men have been shacked up at their training base near Strasbourg all week as they prepare for their opening game with Bahlinger.

But if Rovers know little or nothing about their opponents, then their hosts appear to be even more in the dark about the men from Ewood.

Reiner Herter, press officer for the tiny German part-timers, admits he has never heard of any members of Rovers' current squad.

But the sleepy German outpost is ready to wake from its slumber as Rovers roll into town for the first of a two-game doubleheader.

"We know Blackburn won the championship in 1995 and that they play in the English First Division.

"And they seem to have spent a lot of money to get where they are," said Herter, who also doubles up as the club's stadium announcer.

"But that's about all.

"They sent us a list of their players and none of them are really familiar to us.

"The only person we've heard of is their coach, Graeme Souness."

That hasn't stopped the club from being inundated with requests from fans eager to see the game, however.

"It's going to be a great occasion for us. We are expecting at least a thousand supporters and maybe even two, which is a big crowd by our standards," said Herter.

"We've had lots of e-mails from young British people studying over here who want to come and see Blackburn play.

"And there seems to be a lot of general excitement about their arrival in the town."

The town of Bahlingen itself -- set in the heart of Germany's wine-producing region -- has a modest population of just 3,500.

Bahlinger SC play in the Oberliga Baden-Wurttemberg, which is Germany's fourth division, and normally attract just 700 supporters to their modestly appointed Kaiserstuhlstadion.

Yet, despite their lowly league status, they are a club with big ambitions. Behind FC Freiburg (who are based 15 miles away) they are the second richest team in the area.

And over the last four seasons they've never been out of the top six in their division.

This summer, first team coach Erhard Bender has been appointed the club's new manager.

And tomorrow's match against Rovers will mark his first game in charge.

He plans to use it as a warm-up for a four-team tournament featuring Bahlinger, Eintracht Frankfurt, Nuremberg and Greek side Irakles Salonike next week.

The majority of his squad are semi-professional players who also hold down full-time jobs.

But they have high hopes for the forthcoming season and they are ready to unleash a couple of new signings tomorrow, the most notable of whom is Senegalese striker Pape Mane.

So can they pull off a famous victory?

"I don't seriously think we can beat them," said Herter.

"Everyone here wants us to beat them but Blackburn are a couple of classes too good.

"We've got a lot of new players in and this will be their first game for Bahlinger.

"But, hopefully, we can make it a contest."

Following tomorrow's clash, Rovers will then travel north to take on FC Rastatt 04 just 24 hours later in the second leg of their mini tour.

Situated near Baden-Baden, Rastatt (stadium pictured) is the most senior of five semi-professional sides based in the area.

The City itself has a population of 40,000 and is perhaps more famous for producing the Mercedes A-Class than its football heritage.

But FC Rastatt have just won promotion to the Verbandsliga -- which is Germany's fifth division -- and last season they were managed by former Bayer Leverkusen keeper Valentin Herr.

This summer, however, Carlo Lehmann has taken over at the helm. And they warmed up for Saturday night's meeting with a friendly against local rivals VFB Daggenau earlier this week.

Normally, they attract crowds of 300-400 to their humble Munchfeldstadion but are expecting a much bigger turnout for Rovers' visit.

"Blackburn's visit to the area has created great interest," said Hertmut Metz, a local journalist.

"Twenty years ago, Rastatt themselves were a very good club.

"But they have suffered a decline over the last couple of decades and slipped down to the German sixth division at one point.

"Now things are on the up again after they won promotion last year."

Rovers and Rastatt may be a million miles away from each other in terms of status at the minute but the two clubs do have one thing in common -- the name Walker.

Klaus Eckhard Walker is the mayor of Rastatt and the current club President of 04.

Unfortunately for the club, however, he does not share the same financial clout as Rovers' Uncle Jack. "Rastatt are a fairly small club," said Metz. "All their players are amateurs and they don't have money. But they are ambitious and they want to progress."