BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness celebrated his second anniversary at the Ewood helm this week.

And, despite Rovers' current perilous position in the Premiership, it's easy to see why the club's board of directors are eager to open talks over a new contract with the tough-talking Scot in the summer.

For what Souness has achieved over the last 24 months is nothing short of miraculous when you consider the desperate situation he inherited back in March 2000.

At that point Rovers' dreams of an instant return to the top-flight following the bitter pill of relegation had been blown apart under the disastrous reign of Brian Kidd as they wallowed in 11th place in an average First Division.

But it wasn't just Rovers' league placing which smacked of underachievement, the whole club was enveloped by a mood of despondency as they brooded over the loss of their Premiership status.

What it needed was some strong medicine and following Kidd's inevitable departure in November that season, the board in their wisdom took time to assess all the available options before sending an SOS to Souness four months later.

From the moment he walked through the doors, his presence was felt.

Rovers' form in the league picked up immediately as they took 10 points from 12 in his first four games -- including a memorable 5-0 thrashing of Sheffield United.

But Souness was too shrewd a man to be fooled by a smattering of wins and he knew he would need to perform major surgery later that summer if Rovers were to be transformed into genuine promotion candidates the following season.

His first wave of signings saw John Curtis and Stig Bjornebye arrive to shore up the defence while Craig Hignett was identified as the man to add some craft in midfield.

Then over the course of the next 10 months further new faces such as Henning Berg, Marcus Bent and Alan Mahon were drafted in to add fresh impetus to the club's promotion bid.

Finally, on a magical night at Deepdale in May the dream was realised as Rovers returned to football's high table on the back of some invigorating football over the second half of the season.

And what's more, they also managed to beat local rivals Burnley twice in the process -- winning 2-1 at Turf Moor in the first league derby for 17 years followed by a thumping 5-0 victory at Ewood on April Fool's Day.

Despite that success, however, Souness refused to rest on his laurels and set about building a squad to compete in the Premiership.

In came the likes of Tugay, Ciccio Grabbi and Nils-Eric Johansson to supplement the players he already had.

And Rovers made a solid enough start to life back in the top-flight, losing just three of their opening 14 games.

At the same time, they also continued to make great progress in the Worthington Cup.

And following a 6-3 aggregate victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the semis, Souness steered the club to their first major final since 1960.

On a magnificent day at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, goals from Matt Jansen and Andy Cole -- Souness's most expensive signing ever at £7.5 million -- saw Rovers beat Spurs 2-1 to lift their first major knockout trophy since 1928.

But while success on that day was sweet, it's been somewhat overshadowed by Rovers' form in the league.

A run of 10 defeats in 12 games saw the club sink into the bottom three sparking talk of an immediate return to the Nationwide.

But boosted by that triumph in Cardiff, Rovers have subsequently gone three games unbeaten and Wednesday night's victory over Ipswich at Ewood catapulted them back up to 15th in the table -- a position everyone would be more than delighted with come May 11.

ROVERS RECORD UNDER SOUNESS

Cup record

FA CUP...Pl 10 W 5 D 3 L 2 F 16 A 9

WORTHINGTON CUP...Pl 12 W 9 D 2 L 1 F 30 A 10

TOTAL CUP RECORD...Pl 22 W 14 D 5 L 3 F 46 A 19

League record

FIRST SEASON...Pl 10 W 3 D 4 L 3 F 14 A 12 Pts 13

SECOND SEASON...Pl 46 W 26 D 13 L 7 F 76 A 39 Pts 91

THIS SEASON...Pl 29 W 8 D 8 L 13 F 38 A 38 Pts 32

LEAGUE RECORD...Pl 85 W 37 D 25 L 23 F 128 A 89

Goal Difference...+39

Total Points...136

SOUNESS IN THE MARKET

Signings made

John Curtis...£1.5 million Manchester Utd

Stig Bjornebye...£300,000 Liverpool

Henning Berg...£1.8m Manchester Utd

Craig Hignett...£2.25m Barnsley

Mark Hughes...free Everton

Brad Friedel...free Liverpool

Marcus Bent...£2.1m Sheffield Utd

Alan Mahon...£1.5m Sporting Lisbon

Lucas Neill...£600,000 Millwall

Gordon Greer...£200,000 Clyde

Nils-Eric Johansson...£2.75m Nuremberg

Tugay...£1.3m Rangers

Andy Cole...undisclosed (approx £7.5m) Manchester Utd

Ciccio Grabbi...£6.75m Ternana

Hakan Unsal...nominal fee Galatasaray

Yordi...loan Real Zaragoza

Eyal Berkovic...loan Celtic

Marc Keller...loan West Ham

Kaba Diawara...loan Paris St Germain

Players out

John Filan...£600,000 Wigan

Marlon Broomes...free Sheffield Wednesday

Callum Davidson...£1.7m Leicester

Lee Carsley...£2m Coventry

Damien Johnson...£150,000 Birmingham

Jeff Kenna...free Birmingham

Christian Dailly...£2m West Ham

Nathan Blake...£1.5m Wolves

Ashley Ward...£1.5m Bradford

Wayne Gill...free Tranmere

Steve Harkness...£200,000 Sheffield Wednesday

Per Frandsen...£1m Bolton

Jason McAteer...£1.5m Sunderland

Billy McKinlay...free Bradford

Garry Hamilton...released

Marcus Bent...£3m Ipswich

Total spending on players...£28.55 million

Money recouped on players sold...£15.15 million

Nett spending...£13.4 million