BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness today admitted he's getting a buzz out of working with rising stars like David Dunn and Matt Jansen as he tries to turn Rovers into the new Manchester United.

Souness is a big admirer of the way United boss Alex Ferguson has built a dynasty at Old Trafford based on his faith in the club's young players.

And the Ewood chief wants to create a similar environment at Rovers, provided he can keep hold of his top young stars.

"That's where Manchester United have got an advantage over everyone else," said Souness.

"They've got half a dozen players who've all been at the club since they were 14 or 15 so they've all grown up together.

"And that's what we'd like to achieve here.

"David O'Leary is also trying to do that at Leeds.

"And, if you've got players who have spent seven, eight or nine years together, then common sense tells you you've got a chance.

"I've been really pleased with how some of our young players have impressed me up until now -- March 3, 2001.

"And the buzz I feel is the buzz that all our supporters feel.

"If these young players remain at the club and keep improving then we'll see an extremely healthy situation at Blackburn Rovers.

"But there's a few 'ifs' in there." When he took over last March, Souness inherited a healthy pool of young talent already boasting the likes of Dunn, Jansen, Damien Duff, Martin Taylor and Damien Johnson

Since then, he has swelled the youth ranks even further, drafting in players like Marcus Bent, Alan Mahon and John Curtis.

But, though he now believes Rovers fans can look forward to an exciting future, he insists consistency remains the key success.

"Some of the time I think we're getting there and other times I don't," said Souness.

"But even Alex Ferguson would probably say the same because you always want to improve.

"The biggest plus is we've got some young players who have shown they can deal with the pressure.

"But the word consistency comes into play and that's what we've got to maintain between now and the end of the season.

"We work on them everyday so we can see their good points and bad points.

"And, from some of the things they do, you can see they've got exception talent.

"But it's all about getting them to do that on a more regular basis."

Meanwhile, Henning Berg today warned his Rovers team-mates they cannot afford to start thinking of a Premiership return if they want to get out of the First Division. "We've given ourselves a really good chance of going up after winning our last two games," said Berg.

"But we can't afford to start talking about the Premiership because we've got some tough games to come and that's a million miles off yet.

"If we don't play to our very highest standards between now and the end of the season then we don't stand a chance.

"We've still got to go to tough places like Birmingham and Gillingham as well as playing the likes of Fulham at home.

"And West Brom gave us a really tough game down there so we'll need to play a lot better to get something out of them today."

Both Rovers' Academy matches were called off today due to frozen pitches.