Rovers have made significant strides under Allardyce since his arrival at Ewood Park in December 2008, hauling themselves out of relegation trouble in that campaign to finish 15th and then claiming a place in the top 10 last season.

With derby victories achieved both home and away against local rivals Burnley as well as a run to the Carling Cup semi-finals, the manager's first full term in charge - which concluded with wins over Arsenal and Aston Villa - made for quite the success story.

Blackburn fans will be hoping to see further progress in 2010-11 but, without any major new additions, Allardyce's squad may struggle to sustain the momentum.

The attack is a particular area of concern. Goals were hard to come by last season and, after selling Benni McCarthy to West Ham, failing to tie up a deal for Ivorian forward Aruna Dindane and allowing Franco Di Santo to return to Chelsea at the end of his loan stint, Rovers are lacking firepower.

There has been talk of a potential takeover at Ewood Park, but for now the budget is tight and Allardyce may have to show the sort of shrewdness in the transfer market that he did for so many years at Bolton if he is going to bolster Blackburn's forward line before trading ceases on August 31.

In the meantime, any predictions about the chances of matching last year's feats are on hold.

"Let's wait and see if I can enhance the side by August 31. Then I will say whether we can think about finishing 10th again or not," Allardyce said.

"What we want is one good striker - we could really do with another midfield player - but while the finances are what they are, one good striker would take all our money.

"By the time August 31 comes, I shall look at every transfer in the Premier League and say 'they are that much stronger, they are that much stronger'.

"That will make our life much more difficult than last season."

Although there has been little transfer activity at the club this summer, several new contracts have been signed by players already on Blackburn's books.

Norway winger Morten Gamst Pedersen, who joined Rovers in 2004, has put pen to paper on a new deal, along with youngsters Martin Olsson and Phil Jones - part of an exciting crop of emerging talent at Ewood Park which has been crucial to the team's recent success.

"In many ways the youth of Blackburn Rovers saved our season last time round after a very, very iffy start because of the huge transformation of players in the squad and staff behind the scenes - that was a real disruption at the start of the season," Allardyce said.

"As we grew and as we started playing younger players in the Carling Cup, and because we did so well in the Carling Cup, we then found players staking a claim to play in the first team.

"When players got injured the younger players stepped in, stepped up to the mark and some of the senior players found they couldn't get back in again.

"We had six players playing in the first team from 21 or under and that is much, much better than the vast majority of Premier League sides.

"We finished 10th and that was something that made it an outstanding season - 10th for me was like winning the Premier League, and the Carling Cup semi-final to boot was a great bonus."