Tommy Johnson: Embargo makes life tough for Blackburn Rovers but we have to get on with it

But now he is the man charged with finding new players capable of helping the club get back to the top flight.

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Johnson, who is about to embark on his first full season as Rovers’ head of recruitment, knows that is going to have its challenges.

It is well documented that the club is under a Financial Fair Play embargo and, in all likelihood, will be so for the whole of the coming season unless there are significant player sales.

That means the only signings Rovers will be allowed to make in the immediate future are loans and free transfers.

And given the club can have no more than 24 established players – it currently has 20, a number which will rise to 21 if midfielder Chris Taylor signs a new contract – there is a limit on the amount boss Gary Bowyer can bring in.

But Johnson, the former Notts County, Derby County, Aston Villa and Celtic striker, says there is little point moaning and insists there are players out there who will improve a Rovers squad he believes is ‘not far away’.

“We know the cards we have been dealt,” said the 44-year-old, who doubled Derby’s advantage in the famous Second Division play-off semi-final first leg against Rovers at Ewood Park in May 1992.

“The gaffer has done a tremendous job over the last couple of years trying to put the club back on an even keel. There has been a large turnover of players and a lot of work has gone in to reducing the wage bill.

“But, as we’ve had players who were given large contracts in the past, it’s not been enough and we’re in this embargo. Hopefully we will get out of it as soon as possible, but while we’re in it, it’s a difficult situation for us.

“We’ve got space for three new players but you can’t go out and sign all three because, like at the end of last season, what happens if all our centre-halves get injured? We’d have to go out and get another on loan but we wouldn’t be able to. It is very complex and very difficult.

“So we can’t afford to put all our eggs in one basket, and at the same time other teams are going out and spending money. Apart from ourselves and Nottingham Forest, everyone else can buy players and buy as many as they want.

“It does help if you can spend money and if you look at the teams that finished above us last season, they spent.

“But the owners and the board are working very hard to get out of it and, as I say, these are the cards we’ve been dealt. There’s no point moaning about it, we’ve just got to get on with it.”

That is what Johnson and his team of six scouts, who are predominately based across the UK, have been doing.

“We’re catering for all scenarios – the free transfers, the loans signings and, for when we do come out of the embargo, players we can sign for fees,” said the former England U21s international, who has an office at Rovers’ training base in Brockhall but spends most of his ‘24/7’ working week out on the road, watching matches and meeting and making contacts.

“We have to do that because there’s no point coming out the other side and thinking, ‘what are we going to do now?’”

But for now Johnson and his scouts are concentrating mainly on the loan and free transfer markets.

“Yes we have our targets and only today we’ve been sitting down with the gaffer and the staff, going through a lot of stuff,” he said.

“But it is quiet at the minute. No-one’s back in pre-season yet. I know people get frustrated at not seeing signings but if you look around at most clubs, there’s not a lot doing.”

Rovers left it late last summer to bolster their ranks.

On the final day of the transfer window they signed goalkeeper Jason Steele on loan from Middlesbrough and midfielder Ryan Tunnicliffe on loan from Fulham as well as buying centre-back Shane Duffy from Everton.

Johnson played a key role in the recruitment of the trio and, once the embargo had been enforced, the loan capture of West Ham United centre-back Doneil Henry in March.

“I don’t think anyone had hardly heard of him (Henry),” said Johnson.

“We got a little bit of a sniff and in those situations you do your due diligence and speak to people you can trust. All the reports were raving about him and in the short time he was with us he was exceptional I believe.

“It’s good when that happens. Obviously you’re not going to get it right all the time but in the situation we’re in, we’ve got to get it right with the limited numbers we’re restricted to.”

Nowadays video analysis also plays an important part in recruitment.

“You mention a player and within five minutes you have all the stats on a player – how many games they have played, when they are injured, whether they’ve played full games, as it’s all right starting a game, but if they can’t finish a game, we need to know,” said Johnson.

“Anything we need to know, we get straight on to the video analysis.”

Johnson is well versed in the workings of a football club.

After calling time on a distinguished 19-year playing career, in which he scored in three play-off finals, he graduated from kitman to first-team coach at Notts County, scouted for Sven Goran Eriksson at Leicester City, assistant managed the Northern Ireland U17s and U21s sides, as well as scouting for the senior team, before being appointed Cardiff City’s European scout.

Within a few weeks of leaving Cardiff, in August last year Johnson was reunited with Rovers first-team coach Craig Short, who was his team-mate at Notts County and Derby, and manager Bowyer, who he played in the same district side when they were boys.

“I love it, it’s a great place to work, with a great manager and staff, and I’ve settled in really well,” said Johnson.

But he may have received a cooler welcome had events been different 23 years ago.

“I put us two up after about 20 minutes but then you battered us 4-2,” remembers Johnson of the match which took Rovers within touching distance of Wembley and eventual promotion to the inaugural Premier League.

“We got a goal back in the return leg but you equalised and, although we scored again, it wasn’t enough.”