BIG Sam Allardyce - a tough customer as a player and as canny as they come now he's gone into management.

Tomorrow's derby promises to be another battle for Rovers - just as games against the Trotters always have been. But it's a game that Rovers need to win to try to get closer to Bolton and the rest of the teams above them.

Aston Villa won three on the trot and went up to sixth place, so that shows it's not all doom and gloom.

But, at the same time, it's not a bed of roses either.

The answer has got to be spend money now or risk paying the ultimate price later.

I've read that the club hasn't got the cash to splash. But say Graeme Souness wants to spend £2 million now. Surely that's better than losing £20 million through getting relegated from the Premiership.

Take Birmingham for example. Steve Bruce made some important buys last season, they finished strongly and those signings have stood them in good stead for this campaign.

And if the Rovers board were to allow Souness to open the chequebook, then one name I would hope would be top of his wish list is Chris Sutton.

He is a great player and he always did a god job when he was at Rovers.

He has been outstanding for Celtic and I think the only reason he isn't involved with England right now is the fact that he's playing north of the border.

It's hard to say if a move back to Ewood would interest him because he is at a successful club.

But, if he has got a desire to come back to the Premiership and prove himself then it could be an option for him.

Maybe Souness has been told he needs to offload a striker to bring one in.

If that's the case, I can't see him wanting to see someone like Paul Gallagher go.

However, Dwight Yorke is a high profile name that could interest clubs. And while Graeme might not want to sell, he might not have a choice.

Talking of strikers, I just wish Jay Jay Okocha was on international duty this weekend!

Something else that needs to change is Rovers perennial habit of failing to raise themselves for the games against the so-called lesser teams in the Premiership.

Wednesday night was a classic case of the symptom which has hampered the team for as long as I can remember - even when I was playing.

You'd have hoped they would have been able to get more from Wolves. That's why it's vital they get something tomorrow, but it won't be easy.

When I was at Rovers, the Bolton games were always tough. But they were never treated as derbies as they are now.

Clashes with Burnley were always the ones with the fiercest rivalry, even though Bolton was probably about as far away.

Whenever we played Bolton they were always on the brink of promotion. Allardyce was one of the toughtest centre halves I played against, and now he's got that same fighting spirit among his players.

Bolton are always hard to break down so Rovers need to score early to stop them from defending all the time.