TODAY'S audacious bid by Blackburn Rovers to sign Eric Cantona from Manchester United will shock a lot of people - but not those who know Jack Walker.

The man whose Ewood revolution turned Rovers from Second Division also-rans to English champions in a little over four years is hungry for more success.

And he is determined that the club will be ready to slug it out for the title with United and the rest when the new season kicks off next month.

Rovers boss Ray Harford and his staff have been searching all summer to add to a squad that is already looking the strongest Rovers have ever had.

Players have come back from long-term injury and there is tremendous strength in depth now with the likes of Kevin Gallacher and Paul Warhurst, for example, finally free from the desperate luck they have had to endure at Ewood.

The new signings made during last season have settled in, George Donis was a welcome addition from Panathinaikos and Rovers will have a list of other players they would like to bring to Ewood.

Eric Cantona, the key figure behind United's double last season, was on it because he is one of the outstanding players in the country.

As Mr Walker says - Why shouldn't Rovers try to sign him. That is the class of player they want.

Since the Premier League was formed in 1992 to revolutionise English football at the top level, United and Rovers are the only clubs to win the title. Their two playing records are way ahead of the rest in the four seasons played - despite last winter's seventh place for Rovers.

And that includes the likes of Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal, Everton etc.

Mr Walker thinks big and, as he himself stresses: "This is not a small club. We are a big club."

A summer of ridiculous rumour and hysterical hype in the national media would suggest that Rovers are around simply to make up the numbers, while the Manchester Uniteds of this world plunder whatever and whoever they want.

Only today, one daily newspaper quoted an Ewood source - no names, of course, as usual - saying Alan Shearer can go anywhere except to Old Trafford.

Rovers chairman Robert Coar responded with two words: "Absolute bunkum."

And Ewood fans needn't start to feel that the club are thinking in terms of a part-exchange deal.

Rovers have stated their views on Shearer quite clearly and have not changed them since day one.

Will United sell Cantona? Will he want to come? Maybe not, but you can't blame Rovers for trying to sign a top player. They are determined to match their rivals on and off the field.

When Mr Walker says big, he means BIG.

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