GRAEME Souness is calling for his players to come through the school of hard knocks to earn their promotion graduation.

Rovers came in for plenty of flak last season as they failed to answer the questions posed by First Division football.

And Souness expects his players to respond to any set-backs better than they did when finishing in a bitterly disappointing 11th-place.

"We will have knock-backs and kicks in the teeth through the season.

"But handling criticism is part of life, particularly in football when you are drawing big money.

"We didn't handle it well last year and we have talked about that side of things," he said.

It will therefore be a case of taking the rough with the smooth. But Souness is obviously looking for more of the latter with no excuses about coming to terms with the Nationwide League and a decent start top of the agenda.

"Confidence is a big part of it and if you have that then anything is possible.

"They know what to expect from the start," said the manager, who launches his first full season in charge at home to Crystal Palace on August 12.

Before that Souness will take his side to both Germany and Ireland as part of their pre-season programme, while the academy teams at Ewood Park can look forward to some attractive fixtures of their own.

Top Argentinian club Boca Juniors, Rosenborg of Norway and German outfit Bayer Leverkusen are all sending youth sides to play at Brockhall in July and August. Academy director Bobby Downes said: "It's an opportunity to play against different sides and styles of foreign teams.

"Boca are going to be a top side, as will the two other foreign teams so it will help the development of our young players. It's great to play sides like this.

"We've been to tournaments, like the one at Keele, where we've played the likes of Lazio and Ajax at different age groups but this is a first for them to come here."

Downes has dipped into his contact book to set up the fixtures, aided by Rovers' reputation at youth level.

"Our facilities are also excellent and we play on good pitches," he added.

And the games, at under-19 and under-20 age groups, could also have a knock-on effect at senior level.

Downes explained: "Part of the reason why Bocca come over to this country is that they have players they are prepared to let go, although they would want a lot of money for them.

"I have good contacts at Rosenborg and when they have players they might want to sell we are showing them that we have good facilities.

"Being out of the Premier League in places like Norway you can be forgotten."