ALAN Shearer said it more often than anyone in his four years at Ewood Park - Blackburn Rovers are NOT a one-man band.

Now his former team-mates have to prove it, starting this weekend with the first of their pre-season friendlies.

But they do have some facts on their side.

And Ewood boss Ray Harford believes he has players in his squad who will be eager to grasp the opportunity offered not only by the sale of Shearer but Mike Newell's departure too.

So how have the team actually fared without Shearer in the past? The record books show that, in his four seasons with Rovers, Shearer failed to start a total of 41 League, FA Cup or League Cup games through injury - the majority following his cruciate knee ligament injury midway through the 1992-93 campaign.

Of those 41 - he did appear in six of them as a substitute - Rovers claimed 20 victories, nine draws and suffered 12 defeats.

Harford has said on many occasions: "Alan would be the first to tell you it is not a one-man team.

"Whenever he has not been there, someone else has come in to do a job." The vibes from the training ground this week have continued to be good, once everyone had got over the initial shock of the transfer that no-one at Ewood wanted to negotiate.

And spirits remained high.

One player who quickly got back down to business as usual was Colin Hendry. Don't talk about a one-man team to the sturdy Scot who has done as much as anyone to put Rovers where they are today. He remains optimistic about the club's prospects and underlined the battle that will now go on for the vacant striking places.

"Alan was a great player for us, there's no doubt about that," he said.

"But it''s all about being professional and coping when things like that happen.

"I am sure Jack Walker did everything in his power to try to persuade him to stay.

"Now we have to look at things in a different light.

"New players might come in but we already have several players in that position who will be battling for places in the team."

ALAN Shearer has been told to fly separately from his Newcastle team-mates on their Far East tour - because of his £15 million price tag.

The Magpies are only covered for £60 million worth of soccer talent and Shearer's fee takes them over the agreed limit. Newcastle chief executive Freddie Fletcher said: "It was simply a case that Shearer's fee exceeded our insurance premium on the trip.

Latest £500 Double Your Money Club winner is K Pilling, Blackburn, number 624A.

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