ROVERS chief executive John Williams today defended the club's decision to give Manchester United fans the whole of the Darwen End when the Premier League champions visit Ewood in the opening week of the new season.

Implementing such measures has angered some season-ticket holders who face the prospect of having to give up their seats in the Darwen End and be relocated to other parts of the ground in order to accommodate United's travelling army.

However, Williams believes the club had to take such action in order to guarantee the home fans' safety.

And he insists the decision has been taken following consultations with the Fans' Forum.

"This is an issue we've had to think long and hard about," said Williams. "We've debated it at length and even put if before the Fans' Forum who advised us that this seemed like the safest solution.

"Our thinking is that by giving them the whole end it will help to prevent infiltration by United fans in other areas of the ground.

"The last two times we did that for a league game were against Preston and Burnley last season and that seemed to work very well for us in terms of crowd management.

"So we've listened to the fans, we've thought about it long and hard and we think this is the best solution."

Meanwhile, Rovers defender Simon Grayson has been linked with a move to Bradford City.

The former Aston Villa is out of favour at Ewood under Graeme Souness and the Bantams are reported to be ready to challenge Stockport for his signature.