Blackburn Rovers boss set for talks with chairman on targets

12:08pm Thursday 3rd July 2008

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By Andy Neild »

PAUL Ince will meet up with John Williams today and map out what he hopes will be a blueprint for success at Blackburn Rovers next season.

Suitably refreshed following a short break on the continent, Ince is back in the country and ready to put phase one of his masterplan into action.

And top of the agenda at today’s meeting is likely to be the list of transfer targets Ince wants Williams to pursue between now and the start of the season.

“I’m meeting with Paul (today) and one of the things we will be discussing is a list of potential transfer targets,” said the Rovers chairman.

“We are getting inundated with players at the moment, as you can imagine, and this is an opportunity to decide which direction we want to go in.

“The target positions are very similar to what they were under Mark Hughes, but the actual targets have changed a bit because Paul wants to put his own stamp on things, which is only natural.

“However, the overall strategy remains the same, and that’s continuity.

“We want to stick with what we’ve got to a large extent but if we can add one or two that will strengthen the first XI then that would be great.

“We’ve got a good squad here, we finished seventh in the Premier League last season, and we’ve been a top 10 side for the last three seasons, so we don’t need to make sweeping changes.

“As I’ve said though, it would be nice to add a couple of new faces, but they are going to have to be good players to get into our first XI.”

With most of the close season dominated by the search for Hughes’ successor, Rovers have yet to make their first foray in the transfer market.

However, Williams insists he is not unduly concerned about the lack of activity so far, claiming it can sometimes work to your advantage if you wait until later in the window before starting to do deals.

He added: “I’d be lying if I said we aren’t a little bit behind where we’d like to be at this stage, but sometimes holding back a bit can be a good thing.

“If you look at the rest of the league, not many of the other clubs have done any business yet either, so there’s plenty of time yet.”