BLACKBURN Rovers and Stoke City are often regarded as clubs that have a lot in common.

They both have strong historical traditions, having spent some of the last 30 years in the lower divisions before fighting back to regain Premier League status.

They have loyal hardcore support and a ground with a similar capacity.

The respective clubs’ styles and managers are often compared too, although Tony Pulis does seem to get a more favourable press than Sam Allardyce and I can’t believe it’s because of that baseball cap he sports.

Both clubs are of course beloved of towel manufacturers.

There’s one important difference in very recent times, however, and on Saturday it showed.

Over the last two seasons Stoke have quietly gone about spending considerably more millions than Rovers.

While Rovers were looking – and failing – to spend a couple of million on a striker this summer, Stoke were linked with a £12m move for Carlton Cole before eventually spending a little less than that on Kenwyne Jones. Last season they spent about £6m on Tuncay, who would be an asset to Rovers but can’t get a game at the Britannia Stadium.

It was not simply a case of Stoke beating Rovers at our own game as I have heard some fans claim, although they certainly did seem to outmuscle us for most of the game.

No, they were quicker to the ball and played better football than us, certainly in the second half.

If we were referring to the likes of Arsenal or Chelsea, that would be understandable. The fact that we are acknowledging Stoke out-footballed us is surely yet another sign that we are falling further behind even the middle ranking teams.

This is ultimately inevitable if there is a continuing absence of investment in players, which makes it all the more vital the continuing saga of the takeover is resolved.

Some might point to our previous defeats at Stoke – we lost 3-0 last season – as evidence that we are not slipping behind but just maintaining a poor record on our travels. I certainly think we can now add it to our list of grounds where we seem to always come unstuck (we visit West Ham on May 7 by the way!).

I know some of Sam’s substitutions on Saturday baffled the fans I was with and I would question why we didn’t start with Niko Kalinic, who would have troubled the big centre backs more than Mame Diouf, assuming we would have tried to play it to his feet.

Let’s hope after this international break we can come out on top against Sunderland, yet another traditional mid-table team who have nevertheless invested heavily over the past couple of seasons.

Their performance against Manchester United would suggest we are in for a tough game.