When you have been at a club for five-and-a-half years you will have undoubtedly seen plenty of players come and go, while whole teams can be constructed and then ripped apart.

Craig Conway announced his departure from Rovers after five-and-half years, and while admitting there were no regrets, he feels a hint of disappointment that squads assembled in previous years couldn’t steer Rovers back to the Premier League.

However, the Scot can see potential in the group that Tony Mowbray has assembled at the club which could see that dream achieved in the not too distant future.

Conway was a key figure at the club after arriving from Cardiff City in January 2014, both on and off the pitch.

On it, he was the man whose delivery from wide areas proved key to the sheer volume of goals scored by strike partnership Jordan Rhodes and Rudy Gestede.

Off it, he was an instrumental part of the dressing room, not least with his barbers skills, and also embraced East Lancashire life, non more so than his recent charity work.

When asked if the team working under Gary Bowyer could have done better than a highest finish of ninth, Conway said: “I think so.

“The squad we had should have been. We only just missed out on the play-offs, but we should have done better.

“There have been a lot of great teams and you see how hard this league is to get out of.

“You have to be a really consistent team and looking back, although we had some great sides and great results, we always seem to have a bit of a dip for 10 games but just narrowly miss out.

“There are no regrets looking back.”

Rovers have finished no higher than eighth in the Championship since relegation from the Premier League in 2011/12, though threatened to do just that this season when they moved within two points of the play-offs in January.

The disappointment of failed promotion pushes largely came down to the quality on show, with Rhodes and Gestede banging in the goals and Tom Cairney and  Conway in the supply line. While Conway proved to be of great help to Gestede and Rhodes, the winger says their partnership helped bring out the best in him.

Occupying the left flank for the majority of his 200 appearances, Conway was also Rovers’ go-to man for delivery from set plays.

And even after the departure of Rhodes and Gestede, for big-money moves, Conway says the club hasn’t been short of good strikers, giving a nod to current incumbent Danny Graham.

Different managers looks for different things, and while Mowbray is a keen admirer of Conway as a player and professional, as seen by the offer of another contract, his desired style is something that bit different to his predecessors.

That has seen Conway make just nine Championship starts this season, with Mowbray preferring more of a goal threat from the wide areas, provided by the likes of Adam Armstrong.

“It’s definitely a different style we play now,” Conway said.

“I’ve always been the type to put crosses in and I think Rudy and Jordan were perfect for me.

“I’ve spoken about it before, but the relationship we had, I knew where they were going to be and those couple of years, with the performances, and the assists, I think as a team we probably should have done better.

“I have been lucky to play with a lot of great strikers here, obviously Danny is now leading the line and was player, and players’ player of the year, and he’s been excellent.”

His departure from Ewood Park came having made exactly 200 appearances, the last of which coming as a substitute on the final day against Swansea in which he finished the game as captain.

There have been ups and downs during his time at the club on a personal level, with runs in the team but also spells out injured.

But his biggest low, and his biggest high, have all come since Tony Mowbray took charge.

He explained: “There have been a lot personally, but as a team winning promotion and getting back to the Championship.

“We took a lot of stick, and rightly so, after getting relegated which we should never have done with the team we had.

“But the fact is that we did and everyone felt responsible.

“To put it right and repay the fans, and see how much they appreciated it, I think that is a highlight.

“The opposite of that was going down.”

Mowbray couldn’t guarantee Conway any more game-time next season than this, which likely contributed to his decision to seek pastures new.

Now 34, Conway hopes that will see him remain in the Championship, though he is unlikely to be short of options, not least north of the border where he enjoyed great success with Dundee United having started his career with Ayr United.

While delighted to have been a part of the promotion-winning side, Conway would have preferred more involvement.

“That particular season when we went up, I didn’t have a great season, more so in terms of injuries,” Conway reflected.

“I missed the few first few games of the season, my first one was against Bradford when we won.”

But he scored a crucial goal in a win over the Bantams at Ewood in March, which proved to be his last in front of the home fans.

“I think there was a feeling with that goal, it was great, and that run-in was nervy. There were times when us and Wigan just kept matching each other’s results and then Shrewsbury weren’t going away.  It was so tight, but we had too much in the end and kept getting results, and Shrewsbury dropped off.”

Rovers ended the season with four wins and a draw from their final six matches to finish in 15th place with 60 points.

They will hope to build a team capable of making a push for the top six next term, with Conway feeling they have all the ingredients to do just that after a solid first season back in the Championship.

He added: “I think overall if you look from when we came up, at the start of the season we were looking to have a good season, but realistically you want to stay in the Championship, be solid, and then I do think next season we will be more than capable of competing near the top end of the league.

“The manager will strengthen in the summer which will boost the chances, but I think next season they can have a real good go because they’re not far away.”