GARY Bowyer has targeted bringing younger players to the club because he doesn’t want to waste the money he is given to spend in the transfer market.

The Blackburn Rovers boss presides over one of the youngest squads in the Championship, and he said he had deliberately brought a youthful look to the Ewood Park set-up.

Rovers’ starting XI last Saturday had an average age of 24.4, the second youngest in the division, and 11 of Bowyer’s squad are aged between 20 and 24.

Since he arrived at the club he has looked to bring in younger players, who have scope for improvement, when he has been given money to spend by the Venky’s.

“Initially it was done by design,” Bowyer said of the young squad. “I was given a little bit of money when I first took over and rather than squander it I saw it as a sensible approach to use it in buying players that could be of some value and an asset to the club, rather than getting players in that were probably to the twilight of their career, and I think that’s proved correct.

“You look at the players we have spent money on, they have all increased in value and they are gaining experience, and they’re going to go on to become very, very good players, now hopefully we can keep hold of the main core of that young group and watch them flourish.”

Last summer Bowyer spent money on bringing Tom Cairney, Corry Evans and Ben Marshall to the club, all of whom are regular first team players, and this summer he splashed the case on the 22-year-old Republic of Ireland international centre-back Shane Duffy.

But Bowyer said he will also bring more experienced players to Ewood if the right one becomes available, and this summer he signed 32-year-old Luke Varney and 29-year-old Chris Brown, and despite his background coaching younger players, he has no preference over what age of player he works with.

“Lee Williamson is not young,” said the Rovers boss, “although he won’t thank me for saying that, Luke Varney we brought in, Matt Kilgallon we brought in, I love listening to Dunny.

“We initially made a conscious decision to bring youth into the squad, but if the right experienced one is there then it would be somebody we would like to bring in and strengthen.”

One advantage of a younger squad is the fact that so many weeks in the Championship feature three matches, and the younger legs are usually better equipped to deal with those demands.

The high fitness levels were evident last weekend against Nottingham Forest, when Rovers swarmed all over their hosts, who were two years older per man on average, in the final 30 minutes, scoring three times to turn the game on its head.

“The games’ getting faster and faster so you need to be fresh, and have powers of recovery and fitness levels,” said Bowyer, “but we try and get the best players for Blackburn Rovers that are available to us.”

Bowyer is delighted that his young guns are continuing to learn and improve, with only two of the starting XI at the City Ground over 26, but he has pleaded patience as they continue their development.

“I think there was only team that had a younger average age than us on Saturday,” he added, “so the lads are learning constantly and getting better. Patience is something that is not associated with football clubs at the present time but it’s something that’s needed.”