RAY Harford expects Ian Pearce to start training with the rest of the squad on Monday, after being out of action since last November.

And the Blackburn Rovers boss will also welcome back Henning Berg, following a delayed start for the Norwegian because of surgery.

With Rovers' other long-term absentee Graeme Le Saux making good progress too, Harford is encouraged by the way things are going prior to the start of the club's build-up matches at Colchester next Saturday.

Pearce played his last game against Everton way back in November before being sidelined by a serious foot injury.

A chipped bone has taken a long time to heal but the defender's progress over the summer has pleased everyone.

He will not be ready for the start of the Premiership season but it might not be too much longer after that before he is playing again.

"We are not putting any deadlines on it, that's not the way we operate," said Harford.

"But it would be nice to think that he might be back in contention before too long." Berg's problem was a legacy of the end of last season.

The defender, who played more senior games than anyone else at Ewood, had to join the Norwegian international squad after the domestic fixtures finished.

Then he needed surgery to solve a groin problem but is expected to be ready tojoin in with the rest on Monday.

"Obviously, Graeme Le Saux is not ready yet. We didn't expect him to be, but he is coming along nicely and doing some training," said the manager.

"Again there are no deadlines but we are pleased at the progress he is making."

Pre-season induction training for the Ewood stewards begins next weekend.

Saturday, Aug 3: Training for all new stewards, 9-30am-4pm, Strikers lounge. Morning only section heads/supervisors. Plus issue of passes and ties.

Monday, Aug 5: All car park stewards, 7pm-9-30pm, stewards room. Issue of passes.

Tuesday, Aug 6: All existing ground stewards, Press stewards and fire stewards, 6-30pm-9-30pm, Strikers. Issue of ties and passes. Wednesday, Aug 7: All executive stewards, 7pm-9pm, stewards room. Issue of uniforms and passes.

Thursday, Aug 8: Fire stewards, supervisors, section heads, control room staff, 7pm-9pm, stewards room.

Friday, Aug 9: Turnstile stewards, 7pm-9pm, Strikers.

Any steward who cannot attend must speak to John Newsham.

Tickets and away travel bookings for the first away game against Aston Villa will not be available at Ewood until next Wednesday, July 31. They were scheduled to go on sale from Monday but a hiccup at the Villa end means the arrival of the tickets has been delayed.

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