TONY Mowbray always intended bringing Stewart Downing back to Ewood Park if he could. So much so that he kept the former England international's piece of his Rovers 'jigsaw' to one side.

"It's been something that’s been sitting there for a long time on the desk for me," the Rovers boss explained.

"I work off magnets on my board and Stewy Downing's magnet was never thrown in the bin, it was always sitting there in the bottom corner hoping that he'd come back."

Although Downing's original contract ended in the summer, he remained in the Rovers boss's plans.

The likes of Danny Graham, Richie Smallwood and Charlie Mulgrew moved on to make way for a younger new-look side, but Downing was one experienced campaigner that Mowbray saw as integral to the squad if the sums stacked up.

"Financially things are tight and we had to fill in some positions and Stewart knew pretty early that we needed a centre half, we needed a goalie, we needed a left back, we needed certain positions and we couldn’t spend the money until we filled the positions that we needed," Mowbray explained.

"So we’d done our business and the window shut and we had a discussion, I had a few chats with Stewart and here he is.

“I think he was one of our best players last season, the quality that he brings, he’s a lad who has played 30-odd times for England, played for Liverpool, an unquestionable talent with the ball at his feet, long and short passes, he’s a top pro."

But Mowbray warned that does not mean he's a 'given' on matchdays, but Downing has a roll to play regardless.

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“He has to try to force his way back into our squad and our team, if he does, great, and if he doesn’t I know every day in training he just sets the standard really and shows the young lads what it takes to be a top player," said the Ewood chief.

“I think your experienced players are always really important, the old saying you’re only as good as your senior pros. They run the dressing room for you.

“I put a lot of stock in human qualities, I’ve talked a lot about that – good guys who’ve got good values, understand what’s right and wrong, not yes men but people who can sit and talk to the manager, knock on his door, come in and express the thoughts of the dressing room and we have a debate about it. Those people are really important. And I feel as if in all my time here the likes of Danny Graham, Charlie Mulgrew, Richie Smallwood were good human beings, good guys who I could take along on the journey and explain my thoughts.

“This is a new group really, we’re trying to gel a new group together and Stewy Downing was here last year but he understands.

“It’s really interesting talking to people like Stewy Downing, the experiences where you think back of where he’s played and what he’s done."

Mowbray did not need an endorsement of the former Middlesbrough, Liverpool and West Ham midfielder's qualities, but he stumbled across one while listening to former Rovers boss Sam Allardyce's audiobook.

“I was listening to Big Sam’s book as I was driving into work and he put Stewy Downing in the all-time best XI players that he’s managed and it really spiked for me to think ‘Wow!’, there’s Sam, whose managed England and he’s managed in the Premier League all those years, he put Stewy Downing in his top all-time XI," smiled Mowbray.

“I had a bit of banter with Stewy about that, but I can see the reason why, the quality that he’s got, that left foot is a wand and it still is and he’s a shining light to all the young players on our training ground.

“I’m sure he’ll be a big plus for us this season."