IT is official, folks - the silly season has well and truly started.

After a quiet couple of weeks since the end of a hectic Premier League season, the Lancashire Telegraph’s phones have been red hot this week as the mayhem of the transfer window kicked in.

The common misconception is come the final whistle on the last day of the season, a footballer reporter’s job is done. Time to hang up my pen and put my feet up for the summer? No chance.

This is where the hard work really starts. This is the time when the speculation keeps flooding in with supporters expectant and agents busy.

It is about separating the wheat from the chaff. It is about working out which agents are just shamelessly hawking their players about, what rumoured targets are just complete nonsense and ultimately who the players are that Steve Kean really wants.

On Tuesday alone I spoke to more than 10 agents, spanning six countries, about different players linked to Rovers from different sources.

No problems for a multi-linguist but for someone who can’t speak the likes of Italian, Spanish or Serbian, you can imagine the complications.

Even working out who the players’ agents are is easier said than done. One player I was tracking on Monday - I won’t name him - had at least three people from different corners of the world claiming to be his representative and differing in opinions about the player’s future.

It is easy to see why a lot of transfer gossip in the world’s media is so far off the mark. If an agent tells a national newspaper something, they will run with it and then forget about it the next day.

Don’t get me wrong, we all love a bit of speculation but you get the feeling Blackburn Rovers are going to be heavily linked with everyone this summer.

It isn’t just the foreign targets who cause a problem either. When on twitter on Monday night, I was shocked to see a story from one national newspaper claiming Jason Roberts had been at Ipswich for talks.

It seemed definite and, while it was news to me, I immediately sent Jason a text asking him what the situation was. He replied ‘I’m still in Grenada’.

Apparently it was a case of mistaken identity but it just shows what a minefield the transfer window is.

Bring on September 1, when we can concentrate on the football again.