BLACKBURN Rovers have announced three off-the-field appointments.

Rovers boss Gary Bowyer has strengthened his backroom team at Brockhall with the additions of Tommy Johnson as head of player recruitment and Amit Pannu as club doctor.

Dave Biggar, meanwhile, has taken over as the club’s new commercial director.

Ex-Notts County, Derby County and Aston Villa striker Johnson, who has known Bowyer since he was a child and is a former team-mate of Rovers first-team coach Craig Short, scouted for ex-England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson at Leicester City after hanging up his boosts.

He then went on to become assistant manager of Northern Ireland’s U17s and U21s international sides before working as European scout for Cardiff City last season.

Johnson, who played his part in Rovers’ trio of deadline day signings, said: “I already knew the majority of the coaching staff here so it’s been an easy transition.

“I grew up with Gary as a young lad. We played in the same district team when his dad was at Sunderland, when I think we were about nine or 10, and then he went to (Nottingham) Forest and I went to Notts (County).

“I also played with Shorty when I was at Notts County and Derby so when I got the call we sorted things out quite quickly, which was great.

“There’s a great atmosphere around the place. I’ve only been here two weeks but you can tell straight away.

“Everyone makes you feel welcome and there’s some set-up as well. The facilities here are second to none. If you can’t work here, you can’t work anywhere.”

Dr Pannu has spent the past 11 years working in rugby league, as chief medical officer at Huddersfield Giants since 2003 and first team physician with England since 2010.

“I’m very excited about the opportunity and obviously grateful to the club for giving it to me,” said Dr Pannu, who takes over the role of club doctor from Duncan Robertson, who has moved to work in the Middle East.

“The reputation of the medical department was a big factor and being able to work with a very good head of sports medicine, Dave Fevre, and to hopefully develop the department further.

“It’s our job to provide the manager with as many fit and available players as possible, so that hopefully we can get ourselves back where we belong.

“The staff have made me feel welcome from day one and I haven’t got anything but positives about the place to say.”

Biggar, meanwhile, brings a wealth of global commercial, marketing and management experience to Ewood Park, having been commercial director at Everton, general sales manager at Madison Square Garden and director of sales and marketing at both the Manchester Arena and Sheffield Arena.

“I’m delighted to be working with one of the Championship’s elite clubs, which is seeking to re-establish its position in top-flight football,” said Biggar, who, it is understood, will not be inducted on to the club’s board of directors.

“Hopefully my extensive background in sports and entertainment, particularly partnerships, sponsorship, advertising, marketing, corporate membership, hospitality, retail and ticketing, complements the collective efforts of the club’s owners, staff, players and indeed supporters, and further improves the commercial operation.

“I’m also pleased to once again be working alongside (director of communications) Alan Myers, who manages to balance experience, enthusiasm, positivity and optimism with a real ‘we can do, we will do’ mentality.”