Paul Dickov insists Richie Wellens would not have played for Rovers in the defeat at QPR if the club were not confident he would sign a new deal.
Dickov was particularly blunt in his response to further questioning on the future of the midfielder who is now effectively a free agent after his short term deal expired yesterday.
“I’ve said it plenty of times and I’ll say it again; if I didn’t think Richie was going to sign I wouldn’t have given him the captain’s armband and I wouldn’t have played him at QPR,” Dickov said.
“Richie wants to stay, we want him to stay and I’m sure it’ll get sorted out.
“I’m not aware of any other interest from speaking to Richie. He wants to stay.”
At least two promotion chasing Championship clubs are among those rumoured to have shown an interest in Wellens.
Chris Brown made his return to the Rovers squad in the unlucky 2-1 defeat but Dickov has a fresh injury worry after Theo Robinson was forced off in the second half at Loftus Road.
Dickov said: “Theo’s twisted his knee so we’ll have to see how he is on Thursday.
“It would be a blow for us because I thought he was a real handful for us.
“Browny looks like he’ll be fit for Saturday and Bongani Khumalo is a possibility.
“We were hoping Bongs might have been fit for yesterday but he wasn’t quite ready.”
Rovers were hit with a late hammerblow as Charlie Austin headed home an injury time winner for Rangers.
But Dickov was proud of his side’s performance.
He said: “We’re all a bit devastated but we can take massive positives out of the performance. Never mind getting a point out of it, I thought we deserved all three.
“Some of the football we played was top class and it’s probably just a case of us having to be a bit more clinical with the chances we create.”