It was great to read Matty Derbyshire's comments in the paper this week regarding team mate Robbie Savage's positive influence around the club behind the scenes.

In fact from the outside looking in, I have noticed over the past few weeks that morale has never seemed better amongst the players at Ewood and this can only be of benefit to the players on a match day.

Mark Hughes remarked recently that all the players seemed to mix well during the pre-season tour, without exception, and it was also refreshing to read new boy Roque Santa Cruz's comments about how all the team felt the extra incentive to win on Saturday against Boro for Benni McCarthy after he had gone off injured. Ewood's new hero in the making seems to have settled in well with the team.

Credit must go to Sparky for the noises coming out of Ewood Park, as he seems to have brought together a group of players with not only the correct physical attributes, but the right mentality as well, and in relative terms has done it all on a shoestring budget. And in today's crazy market, £3.5 million is already starting to look like a bargain after Santa Cruz's opening day cameo performance.

Compare what is happening at Ewood to events at clubs such as West Ham or Man City this season. Granted it is early days yet, but the respective managers of those clubs have spent more this summer than Rovers have spent in years, assembling costly squads with no guarantee of success. I would much prefer to see shrewd business at our Club over unlimited spending for the sake of it. Just ask Leeds