JUBILANT Blackburn boss Graeme Souness today praised the club's board of directors for sticking by him during the most traumatic season of his football career.

Rovers finally banished all thoughts of relegation with a brilliant 1-0 victory over Manchester United on Saturday.

And as the club breathed a collective sigh of relief, Souness was quick to pay tribute to John Williams and his fellow directors for refusing to press the panic button when the situation looked desperate.

"I can't tell you how pleased I am and we did it in some style with a great result against Manchester United," said Souness.

"All credit must go to the players for keeping their nerve in recent weeks and we got there with a great victory over what is a great team.

"So I'm delighted for our supporters and I'm delighted for our directors who've stood firm throughout all this.

"At no time did they panic and I've learnt a great deal about myself and the people I work with during the course of this last year.

"I remember the first season I was here and we didn't get off to a great start in the First Division.

"I remember losing at Fulham one night and we had to stay down in London because we were playing Wimbledon in our next game.

"We were about 13th at that time but there was no panic then, and there hasn't been any panic this year, which is so reassuring and a great credit to the board."

Rovers went into Saturday's game knowing a point would be enough to secure their place in the Premiership for a further 12 months.

But Jonathan Stead then struck in the 85th minute to deliver all three as Rovers recorded their fourth straight win.

It was Stead's sixth goal in 11 games and Souness later singled out the striker for his role in transforming Rovers' season.

"I'm absolutely thrilled with him," said Souness, who admitted he bought Stead on the strength of a video.

"Obviously, we were taking a chance in signing someone who'd been playing in the Third Division but he arrived here and looked as if he'd been brought up with it from day one.

"He appears to have a fantastic attitude to want to succeed in football.

"You don't know what someone's properly like until you work with them but he's handled it all brilliantly."