BRETT Emerton believes it is an exciting time to be a Blackburn Rovers player as he relishes the opportunity to put Steve Kean’s ideas into practice.

Rovers returned to Brockhall for the first day of pre-season training today, before jetting out to Austria for a week-long training camp tomorrow, and Emerton insists there is a lot to look forward to.

The Australian midfielder enjoyed an impressive end to last campaign as Rovers secured Premier League survival with a final day win at Wolves and he believes there are more good times ahead.

Boss Kean came under heavy pressure at times last season after being surprisingly appointed in December but, with a full pre-season to look forward to, Emerton insists things can be different this time around.

Emerton said: “The boys obviously respect him (Steve Kean) and I think he’s got some great ideas so we’re looking forward to seeing what we can do under him next season. He’s got a lot of good attributes.

“It’s going to be an exciting year next year and I think there will be a few additions over the summer and I think they will be quality additions as well, not just average players.

“So it’s an exciting time to be a Blackburn Rovers player and a supporter. We need a few players who are of exceptional ability and I think they are going to deliver that hopefully.

“Obviously as players we’ll welcome that. As a player you always want to achieve good things and you want to be surrounded by good players, so the more good players we can get in the better.”

A strong end to last season has given Kean’s squad confidence for the campaign ahead as they look to repeat the top 10 finish they achieved the year before last.

Efforts to strengthen the squad are ongoing and Emerton believes the signs are good for the future.

Emerton said: “We accumulated enough points to keep ourselves in the Premier League (last season) and I think we’ve got a good enough squad of players to hopefully build something special and hopefully finish in the top half next season rather than the bottom.

“We showed at the end of last season, we’ve started to understand what we’re good at and we were able to maybe put the same team out on the park week in week out. I think the performances towards the end were good.

“The league is so tight. It’s been shown last season that anybody can beat anybody. The margins are so fine and if we can improve that extra five or 10 per cent, I don’t see why we can't be in the top half or going for Europe.”