FORMER fans’ favourite Glenn Keeley has told the current Blackburn Rovers crop it is time to cut out the inconsistency.

But he admits Rovers’ hopes of improving on the eighth and ninth placed finishes they achieved in Gary Bowyer’s first two seasons in charge will be made all the more difficult if Jordan Rhodes or Rudy Gestede are sold.

Keeley, speaking ahead of the release of the 2015-16 Championship fixtures on Wednesday, said: “I was hoping last season they would have got into the play-offs.

“But it’s clear they’re still not quite there yet and from, personal experience, I know how stunningly competitive the Championship can be.

“You need a squad of very, very consistent players, who do it week in and week out, but you also need that little sprinkling of quality.

“They’ve had that in Rudy Gestede and Jordan Rhodes, who have done wonders for them, absolute wonders, but they’ve still not managed it.

“When I think about consistent sides I always remember somebody asking Brian Clough how he picked his sides. And he said, ‘I just use the best players, week in and week out’. And I think that’s key.

“These days there seems to be a lot of chopping and changing, but what’s wrong with playing your best team week in and week out?

“Sometimes you can have two players and it is hard to choose between them, but if one goes out and grabs hold of it, stick with him until he doesn’t.

“Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s a long season and mentally it can strain on you, but, after two years, Blackburn should be battle-hardened in the Championship now.

“The good thing about their squad is that it’s young and it’s only going to get better.  So, I’d like to think, now the club is stable, it will happen for them.

“But they have to be more consistent. Last season it seemed one step forward, one step back.”

Rovers finished 11 points off the play-off places in 2014-15 despite Gestede, who is reportedly a target for Swansea City, and Rhodes scoring 41 league goals between them.

“I’m a great believer in defending and you need players who will put in a shift, but you can’t do anything without players who score goals,” said Keeley, who spent most of his 11-year Rovers career playing in the second tier of English football after helping the club win promotion from the old Third Division in 1980.

“When we went up we kept a lot of clean sheets but we had two players, in Andy Crawford and Duncan McKenzie, who got 40 goals between them. If you’ve got two players doing that, and the rest can chip in with another 20, then you’ve got a chance if you can organise yourself defensively, which is really just players working hard and sticking to their jobs.”

Keeley has been heavily critical of the way Venky’s have ran Rovers after taking over as the club’s owners in November 2010.

But while he still believes the Rao family need to communicate more with supporters – they have remained silent since penning an open letter to fans in May 2014 – he is relieved the club is no longer a ‘pantomime’.

“It has stabilised and it had to because the club was turning into a joke,” said Keeley, who captained Rovers to the Full Members Cup glory at Wembley in 1987.

“I still have no idea what they were thinking when they got rid of Sam Allardyce and people like John Williams, but, on the field at least, it has stabilised.”