Saunders preparing mass exodus at Rovers

With pressure to reduce the wage bill in the wake of relegation from the Championship, Saunders is planning to release around 10 players and sell a number of others to generate funds.

Among the likely big name departures are El-Hadji Diouf, Pascal Chimbonda and Habib Baye while Rovers have no option but to listen to offers for prize assets James Coppinger, Brian Stock and George Friend.

“Something has to give and, to get the budget down, players will be leaving,” he stressed. “I’ve got a list of players lined up at different levels and different salaries but that is dependent on when, or if, the contracted players leave.”

Rovers have a total of 18 players players out of contract or approaching the end of loan deals while only 12 players are still under contract.

Saunders believes around 15 new players will be needed this summer once the shake-up gathers momentum.

“With the combined contracts of the players in contract, we are a £1m over our budget so, obviously, something needs to come off before I can start doing anything,” he said. “The people I bring in will be the best I can afford with the right attitude and the desire to work hard.”

“It’s hard to sign 15-16 players in one hit and expect them all to gel and hit the ground running but it has been done before.”

Although today’s result will have no impact on either the promotion or relegation issues, Rovers can secure back-to-back victories for the first time in 73 games.

Saunders said: “It’s not a ‘dead rubber’ game for me, I’ve told the players that it’s important to win on Saturday because I want people to buy season tickets for next season and I want to give them some hope that there’s something worth coming for.

“Ultimately, I am disappointed and I’ve got to hold my hands up because I thought I could keep us in this division,” he said. “Some good things have happened and we’ve had some good results. We haven’t been hammered every week and there have only been a couple of games where we’ve been awful.”

Saunders played under Ipswich manager Paul Jewell towards the end of his career in the Premier League with Bradford City,

The Tractor Boys, who are 14 points adrift of the play-off zone, inflicted a 6-0 defeat on Rovers at the Keepmoat Stadium last season but were beaten 3-2 in this season’s fixture at Portman Road. If Rovers win today, it will be their first and only league double of the season.