ANDY NEILD reports from Germany. . .

BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness today insisted the spirit in the Rovers camp is now better than it has been at any stage in the last 12 months.

Souness has admitted for the first time that morale was not what it should have been during a turbulent campaign last season.

But now the Rovers chief has detected a new sense of harmony among his troops here in Germany and he's optimistic about their prospects for the season ahead.

"I know it's early doors but I see signs of real harmony among the squad which I've felt has not been there for a while - and it certainly wasn't there last season," said Souness, speaking from the team's training base in southern Germany.

"I think the team spirit was missing last year for several reasons and I know what they were - but I don't want to share that with the general public.

"Now there appears to be a real harmony among the players which can only be good for the season ahead."

As Rovers battled against relegation last season, several stories of dressing room unrest hit the Press, with Souness embroiled in public fall-outs with Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke and Andy Todd.

At one point, Cole even took the unusual step of reporting his own manager to the Professional Footballers' Association on the grounds of harassment.

But now Souness believes there's a much more upbeat mood about his squad going into the new campaign and

that's been reflected in some lively training sessions over the last three days.

"When you've got 20-odd guys together they're not all going to be in love with each other, but what we do ask is that they all get on in their unit when they're out on the football pitch and that's what they've been doing," added Souness.

There's been no let-up in the training schedule out here with the players training twice a day, every day.

Those preparations will now move up another gear this evening when Rovers take part in the SSV Reutlingen tournament, where they'll play two 50-minute games against different opposition.

The first match will be against the hosts SSV Reutlingen, with either SSV Ulm or the Swiss side Lausanne - late replacements for the Albanian national team - providing the opposition for the second.

Both opponents should be of a better standard than SG Schorndorf, who Rovers walloped 8-0 last Friday.

But at this stage all that concerns Souness is improving the players' general fitness levels in readiness for when the serious stuff starts.

"The results are not important. It's all about putting another hard stint in against stiffer opposition," said the Rovers boss.

"The format is two lots of 25 minutes against one team and then the same again against another, so it's 100 minutes of football - and it should be another good session for us.

"Players like playing football but unfortunately for them a lot of the training at this time of the year involves a lot of physical effort and plenty of hard running."

Steven Reid and Barry Ferguson sat out training yesterday after complaining of minor niggles but both are likely to be involved tonight in some capacity.

Rovers have denied reports they are interested in Lazio striker Claudio Lopez.