ROY Hodgson has money to burn as he bids to get his summer spending plans off the ground.

And he intends to use it to fuel his ambitions of taking Blackburn Rovers - and himself - to the top.

"We really are in a nice position now where we can go after the players we want without having to sell," he said.

"We've done our selling and now we can spend it. Some teams don't have that sort of cash available.

"Jack Walker has been happy with the way things have gone with the money but he is ambitious and he wants to do well.

"He's happy with sixth place this year but it's not the limit of his ambitions. He wants to win the League again or win cups.

"I am obviously in the same boat because I wouldn't have come back to England other than to a club which I thought had the potential to win things.

"I didn't want to come back just to compete in the Premier League, I wanted to come back to try and establish myself as a top name and the club as a top club.

"And I think we have taken the first step along that way.

"Now, what we do in summer in terms of recruitment is going to be very important.

"It's also going to be important how hard we work next year, to see if we can keep up the level."

Hodgson, promised cash to spend on transfers when he came to Ewood, has also raised millions himself in the market. "There was a need when I came for the club to be changed in some ways," he said.

"We needed to change some faces around and get some players to new clubs because they would have been surplus to requirements.

"They wouldn't have got a game.

"So when you look back at how much money we have made by getting the squad down to a manageable level - maybe too low for my liking now - that money is now in the bank to spend."

Hodgson also revealed why he didn't go out and 'panic buy' during the season. He aims to build long term.

"Having money has not been a problem. It has just been that the players we wanted have not been available," he added.

"Clubs don't want to get rid of players who are helping them to get into Europe.

"At the end of the season, there is a chance that people will sell because they want the money to refashion their team.

"We could quite easily have gone out like Crystal Palace, or Newcastle, and spent lots and lots of money to ensure a position this year," he explained.

"But then we would still have been in the position we are in now but we would have been saying we still need a top Johnnie in these three or four positions. "As a result, money would have been wasted because there's no doubt that you don't always sell for the same price you buy.

"If you buy for £3-4 million because you are in a panic situation, there's no guarantee when that player hits the bench that you are going to get your money back.

"Money just goes out of the window. So we have done well to reach our goal without doing that.

"It would have been nice to be third instead of sixth but we are realistic people.

"We are three places down on what we realistically wanted and hoped for but, at the same time, it doesn't make any difference at the end because you don't get a better UEFA spot for it, you just lose three lots of place money.

"Chelsea and Liverpool are also up there and you can argue we still have some catching-up to do.

"But the good thing is the slide has been completely reversed."

Rovers' sixth place in the Premiership brought them a cool £2,437,500 in merit money, thanks to TV and sponsorship cash. Champions Arsenal received £3,250,000 and bottom club Crystal Palace £162,500.

Rovers have appointed Martin Glover as care and welfare officer for their new academy.

Martin is currently head of PE at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School and was head-hunted by head of youth development Bobby Downes, who said: "We are sure he is the right fellow and a local knowledge is important."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.