Unreliable History
The Lancashire club was formed in 1875 , turned professional in 1880 and two years later reached the FA Cup final where they were defeated by the (not any) Old Etonians. This setback did not perturb the Rovers, who went wild, winning the Cup in 1884, 1885 and 1886. Not content with that, they came back for more in 1890, 1891 and 1928 to complete their tally to date. Finals in those days entailed a trek South for the fans of the Blue and Whites. They were decidedly up for the Cup on the way down taking brass bands with them for entertainment and fireworks, which used to startle the Londoners into a state of confusion, as the Lord Mayor’s parade wasn’t until November.
One of their early grounds featured a “cow pit”, which was a drainage pool that had to be covered by planks and turf by the players to allow matches to take place. Unfortunately, two Bury stars required hospitalisation after plunging into the pit when the boarding collapsed during a rainstorm. Further problems arose after the move to Ewood Park. Darwen were the visitors, just after the four FA Cup victories had been achieved. The fans of the away team were enraged to discover that only three of the first choice Blackburn players had been included in the side and went on the rampage, uprooting goalposts, breaking windows and ruining some carpets. They also spilled some cups of tea, emptied out the waste paper bins and threw the corner flags, javelin-style, a distance of 90 yards. League success came for Blackburn in 1912 and 1914 with First Division Championships, but the war became a watershed in Rovers’ fortunes. They ebbed with the side and they were sunk when relegation followed in 1936. Three years later, a Second Division title saw them regain their top flight status, but they were then interrupted by Adolf Hitler. Despite the inconvenience of the intervention, they were back in the 1st Division between 1957 and 1966, before a decline set in and found them at an all time low in1979, when they fell into the Division 3. The long climb up the league ladder began straight away and culminated in a Full Members Cup triumph in1987. There was anti-climax when promotion was missed in the play-off final against Leicester, but the next year they went into the Premier League under the guidance of Kenny Dalglish and the financial tutelage of Jack Walker. Alan Shearer was purchased from Southampton for in excess of £3 million and he proceeded to shoot for the stars and in 1995 the Premier League title was secured. However, things were far from stable – a disastrous European Cup campaign preceded a battle to retain their place in the Premiership. The acquisition of the experienced ex-Switzerland boss, Roy Hodgson has seen a revival for the side this season, but strangely, they are never feted by the media. The fans of the club have had a major influence on the game as the supporters in the early days did something that would spark a craze more than 100 years later. The followers of the side, when the club was formed, were not well off – toiling in the dark satanic cotton mills of the North-West, but wanted to display their loyalty to the Rovers. So, two fans bought one home shirt and one away shirt and cut them in half, sewing the one half of each shirt together . The club were so impressed, that they adopted this as their, now famous blue and white halved home shirt and immediately produced a new second kit, thus introducing the first replica kit merchandising rip-off. Although the half-and-half shirt fad resurfaced in the late 1980’s, it was never to have such a lasting impact as the original version. More latterly, the club have shed the inexperienced Kidd and gone for Souness to lead them on. This has resulted in a return to the Premiership, with promotion gained automatically with a second place finish. The hard work was for Souness in trying to keep the Rovers up in the top division, which he succeeded in doing, but was replaced by Mark “Sparky” Hughes – nicknamed as such because he had terrible problems generating static electricity on the new textured berber carpets at Ewood Park. Well, they have to get some electric atmosphere in the stadium somehow. He didn’t last too long before being tempted by Manchester City, only to be replaced by Paul Ince, who dropped his sobriquet of the “Guv’nor” to take the boss’s role at Ewood Park, but it was not for long before the Rovers board took a last throw and his boots were filled by a bigger man in “Big” Sam Allardyce and then Steve “Who ?” Kean. The fans had the opinion that Kean wasn’t good enough for their club and hounded him out, only for him to be replaced with former player Henning Berg, who they did the same to after 57 days and then he was replaced by Michael Appleton (nicked from Blackpool) who lasted 67 days. As the Rovers fans awaited the appointment of a big name boss, everyone else was secretly hoping, in logical numerical patterns, that he would last 77 days days in charge. Disappointingly, Gary Bowyer lasted nearly two years. The purchase of the club by Venky’s stirred up a whole lot of trouble at the club, with protests and boycotts about them running Blackburn Rovers down by two successive relegations. With former Bolton striker Owen Coyle taking Rovers down to League One, Tony Mowbray took over as manager and has re-instated them in the Championship and stabilised things on the field, while questions are still being asked about the owners’ commitment to the club. FAMOUS PLAYERS: – Tugay, Derek Fazakerley, Alan Shearer, Bryan Douglas, Bill Eckersley, Benni McCarthy, Uriah N. Luckey, Keith Newton, Ronnie Clayton, Barrington Heckerslike, Howard Kendall, Douglas Bryan, Brad Friedel. FAMOUS FANS : – Jim Bowen (TV Game Show host), Wayne Hemingway (Fashion designer – Red Or Dead), Stephen Pinder (Actor – Brookside, Emmerdale) |
Club Records
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Formed | 1875 |
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Turned Professional | 1880 |
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Became a Limited Company | 1897 |
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Previous names | Blackburn Grammar School Old Boys |
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Previous grounds | Oozehead Ground = 1875-1876 Pleasington Ground = 1876-1877 Alexandra Meadows = 1877-1880 Leamington Road = 1880-1890 |
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Nickname | “ROVERS” |
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Nickname | “ARTE ET LABORE” = “BY SKILL AND HARD WORK” |
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Club Colours [Images courtesy of the wonderful Colours of Football website] |
HOME :
AWAY : |
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Record Football League Win | 9-0 v Middlesbrough Division 2 06.11.1954 |
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Record Football Premier League Win | 7-0 v Nottingham Forest (Home) 18.11.1995 |
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Record Football League Defeat | 0-8 v Arsenal Division 1 25.02.1933 |
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Record Premier League Defeat | 1-7 v Manchester United (Away) 27.11.2010 1-7 v Arsenal (Away) 04.02.2012 |
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Record Cup Win | 11-0 v Rossendale FA Cup First Round 13.10.1884 |
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Record Fee Paid | £8 million to Manchester United for Andy COLE (December 2001) £8 million to Huddersfield Town for Jordan RHODES (August 2012) |
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Record Fee Received | £18 million from Manchester City for Roque SANTA CRUZ (June 2009) |
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Record Appearances | 596 – Derek FAZACKERLEY (1970-1987) |
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Record League Appearances | 596 – Derek FAZACKERLEY (1970-1987) |
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Record Premier League Appearances | 261 – Brad FRIEDEL (2001-2008) |
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Record League goal-scorer | 168 – Simon GARNER (1978-1992) |
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Record Premier League goal-scorer | 112 – Alan SHEARER (1992-1996) |
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Record all-time goal-scorer | 194 – Simon GARNER (1978-1992) |
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Record goal-scorer in a League season | 43 – Ted HARPER Division 1 (1925-1926) |
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Record goal-scorer in a Premier League season | 34 – Alan SHEARER (1994-1995) |
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Most goals scored in a League match | 7 – Tommy BRIGGS v Bristol Rovers (Division 2) 05.02.1953 |
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Record Home Attendance | 62,522 v Bolton Wanderers FA Cup Sixth Round 02.03.1929 |
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Record total of goals in a League season | 114 – Division 2 (1954-55) |
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Record total of goals in a Premier League season | 80 – 1994-1995 |
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Record League points total | 3 pts for a win : 91 Premier League (2000-2001) (46 games) 2 pts for a win : 60 Division 3 (1974-75) (46 games) |
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Record Premier League points total | 89 – 1994-1995 (42 games) |
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Most Capped Player while at club | Bob CROMPTON 41 (England) |
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Youngest Player | Harry DENNISON 16 years and 155 days v Bristol City (Division 1) 08.04.1911 |
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Oldest Player | Bob CROMPTON – 40 years and 150 days v Bradford (Division 1) 23.02.1920 |
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Stadium details
Address : Ewood Park, Blackburn, Lancashire BB2 4JF
Telephone : 01254 372001
Ticket Office : 01254 372000
Capacity : 31,367
Away Allocation : Around 4,000
Pitch size : 105m x 69m (115 yards x 76 yards)
Official website : www.rovers.co.uk
Directions
There are good directions to Ewood Park on the Blackburn Rovers website and more information on the Away Days website.
Honours
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Premier League Champions (Top Tier) | 1994-1995 |
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Premier League Runners-up (Top Tier) | 1993-1994 |
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Division One Champions (Top Tier) | 1911-1912, 1913-1914 |
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Division One Runners-up (Top Tier) | 2000-2001 |
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Division Two Champions (Second Tier) | 1938-1939 |
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Division Two Runners-up (Second Tier) | 1957-1958 |
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Division Three Champions (Third Tier) | 1974-1975 |
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Division Three Runners-up (Third Tier) | 1979-1980 |
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League One Runners-up (Third Tier) | 2017-2018 |
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League Cup Winners | 2001-2002 |
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FA Cup Winners | 1884, 1885, 1886, 1890, 1891, 1928 |
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FA Cup Finalists | 1882, 1960 |
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FA Charity Shield Winners | 1912 |
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FA Charity Shield Runners-up | 1928, 1994, 1995 |
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Full Members Cup Winners | 1987 |
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Managers
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James FIELDING | 1884 – 1887 |
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Thomas MITCHELL | 1887 – 1896 |
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Joseph WARMSLEY | 1896 – 1903 |
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Robert MIDDLETON | 1903 – 1925 |
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Jack CARR | 1925 – 1926 |
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Bob CROMPTON | 1926 – 1930 |
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Arthur BARRITT | 1930 – 1936 |
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Reg TAYLOR | 1936 – 1938 |
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Bob CROMPTON | 1938 – 1941 |
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Eddie HAPGOOD | 1946 – 1947 |
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Will SCOTT | 1947 |
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Jack BRUTON | 1947 – 1949 |
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Jackie BESTALL | 1949 – 1953 |
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Johnny CAREY | 1953 – 1958 |
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Dally DUNCAN | 1958 – 1960 |
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Jack MARSHALL | 1960 – 1967 |
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Eddie QUIGLEY | 1967 – 1970 |
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Johnny CAREY | 1970 – 1971 |
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Ken FURPHY | 1971 – 1973 |
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Gordon LEE | 1974 – 1975 |
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Jim SMITH | 1975 – 1978 |
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Jim ILEY | 1978 |
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John PICKERING | 1978 – 1979 |
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Howard KENDALL | 1979 – 1981 |
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Bobby SAXTON | 1981 – 1986 |
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Don MACKAY | 1986 – 1991 |
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Kenny DALGLISH | 1991 – 1995 |
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Ray HARFORD | 1995 – 1996 |
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Roy HODGSON | 1997 – 1998 |
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Brian KIDD | 1998 – 1999 |
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Tony PARKES | 1999 – 2000 |
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Graeme SOUNESS | 2000 – 2004 |
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Mark HUGHES | 2004 – 2008 |
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Paul INCE | 2008 |
Sam ALLARDYCE | 2008 – 2010 |
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Steve KEAN | 2010 – 2012 |
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Henning BERG | 2012 |
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Michael APPLETON | 2013 |
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Gary BOWYER | 2013 – 2015 |
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Paul LAMBERT | 2015 – 2016 |
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Owen COYLE | 2016 – 2017 |
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Tony MOWBRAY | 2017 – |
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?? | – |
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League Record
The Football League structure has historically been as follows …
1888-1892 | 1892-1920 | 1920-1921 | 1921-1958 | 1958-1992 | 1992-2004 | 2004 to date | |
First tier | Football League | Division One | Division One | Division One | Division One | Premiership | Premier League |
Second tier | Division Two | Division Two | Division Two | Division Two | Division One | Championship | |
Third tier | Division Three | Division Three (North) and (South) |
Division Three | Division Two | League One | ||
Fourth tier | Division Four | Division Three | League Two | ||||
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Elected to Football League (Top Tier) | 1888 |
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Football League (Top Tier) | 1888-1892 |
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Division One (Top Tier) | 1892-1936 |
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Division Two (Second Tier) | 1936-1939 |
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Division One (Top Tier) | 1939-1948 |
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Division Two (Second Tier) | 1948-1958 |
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Division One (Top Tier) | 1958-1966 |
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Division Two (Second Tier) | 1966-1971 |
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Division Three (Third Tier) | 1971-1975 |
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Division Two (Second Tier) | 1975-1992 |
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Premier League (Top Tier) | 1992-1999 |
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Division One (Second Tier) | 1999-2001 |
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Premier League (Top Tier) | 2001-2012 |
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Championship (Second Tier) | 2012-2017 |
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League One (Third Tier) | 2017-2018 |
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Championship (Second Tier) | 2018- |
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