Blackburn visit Portman Road this evening with two ex-Blues strikers in their ranks, Jordan Rhodes and DJ Campbell. Manager Mick McCarthy says he rates Rhodes highly as a goalscorer, while he expects 32-year-old Campbell, who netted 10 goals in a 17-game loan spell with Town last season, to be looking forward to a return to Suffolk.

“DJ was great here,” McCarthy said. “The circumstances that brought him here, he was out of the team [at QPR] and he lit the place up with his goals.

“We weren’t going to take him [permanently], we weren’t in that ballpark, to be fair, but Blackburn have taken him and have been able to pay him his just desserts for what he was doing here.

“Strikers do that. They get their nose pushed out of joint but everybody’s always looking for a goalscorer.

“So, if somebody finds a rich vein of form for whatever reason - they come to a different club, they start getting goals and resurrect themselves - there’s always somebody looking out for goalscorers.

“He’s been suspended, he got sent off up at Blackpool, and I think Saturday was his first game back, so he’ll be relishing the thought of coming here.”

McCarthy says 23-year-old Rhodes, who is back at Portman Road for the first time, has the Midas touch in front of goal, having netted 33 goals for Rovers and Scotland last season and 10 so far this campaign.

“He’s a goalscorer, he was the top goalscorer last season,” he said. “We were arguing whether he scored the one against us [at Ewood Park last season] but he did, of course, he got a touch on it.

“He’s prolific. He might not have a kick in the game but he’ll get a goal out of it, which is always nice to have for any team.”

Regarding former boss Roy Keane’s controversial decision to sell him to Huddersfield in 2009, he says he’s not able to comment: “I don’t know the circumstances of that.

"You tell me, was he anywhere near as prolific or doing as he is now? Would anybody have envisaged him being what he is today?”

Having been unable to keep Campbell, who is yet to score for Rovers, at Portman Road after his loan spell ended in January, McCarthy added Town’s current seven-goal top scorer David McGoldrick to his squad, a deal he is delighted with.

“I’m sure we’ve all had a nice little piece of business at some stage for this season,” he said.

“I bet every manager can look at it, but that was really good that we got him on loan in January and the deal was done with him, although we had to wait until the end of the season [to complete the formalities].”

Photo: Action Images

cooper4england added 08:56 - Dec 3 You had to mention the R word McCarthey. Cue endless comments with the following: keane, clegg, dad, joke, boots, wickham, mistake, million, 20 a season.
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Wickets added 09:49 - Dec 3 Maybe we could not have envisaged Jorden becoming as good as he has proved to be but as the club had invested in him as a young player ,he should have at least been given the chance here to prove what a good player he is.
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Cr0wman added 10:57 - Dec 3 "... don't score against us, don't score against us. D. J. Campbell don't score against us"
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Michael11 added 11:15 - Dec 3 I think everyone in Football envisaged that Jordan Rhodes was going to be a good striker. Everyone except the one person who needed to see it (Keane). It's a big shame we never kept him, but when you think that we got £8m for Connor Wickham, then it has evened out a tiny bit. I hope we can keep DJ and Rhodes quiet but i think they'll both get a good reception.
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essextractorboy93 added 11:26 - Dec 3 Let's give both players a good reception. Rhodes was probably eager to stay if it wasn't for Keane and DJ played a massive role in keeping us up last season. His goals were vital. It's just such a shame that Rhodes was coming through when Keane was manager because of all our recent managers, Keane was the least reluctant to bring young players through, he would rather sign players on loan like Rory Fallon!

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SanDiego added 16:20 - Dec 3 As Keane, Clegg and Jordan's dad were making jokes about hiding peoples boots Wickham came over and told Roy that he has made a mistake if he thinks he can get more than a million for Rhodes and that he was the real 20 a season man.
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Karlosfandangal added 16:41 - Dec 3 Would Rhodes have been as good if he had not had a season or two in division one, learning the game, he would never have got that experiance from Town reserve games. Same with Wickham would he have been better playing with town first team for a few seasons before his move. We will never know
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