Blackburn Rovers

It may surprise some to learn that in many ways Blackburn Rovers are a club steeped in history. From their beginnings in 1875 until 1888 Blackburn played in regional leagues in Lancashire before becoming one of the 12 founder members of the Football League. Between 1883 and 1891 they won the FA Cup five times in eight attempts. The Football Association retired this version of the trophy itself, awarding it to the club for this spectacular feat, before embarking on a new but similar design.

In those early years, many English clubs played on horrendous pitches with little to no facilities as association football as a sport slowly grew. Blackburn were no different and moved from one terrible ground to the next, slowly improving along the way before finally settling down at Ewood Park in 1890. After going through extensive renovation over the years, this stadium has seen more than a century of football with plenty of highs and lows.

Rovers’ crest proudly sports the red rose of Lancashire plus the Latin inscription Arte et Labore, meaning “By Skill and Labour”. This badge has remained more or less unchanged throughout more than a century and harks back to the club’s original members - educated middle class men who made up part of the city’s commercial community.

Despite those early cup triumphs, league success didn’t come until 1911 when they captured the Division One title twice in the space of three years. In 1927 they won the FA Cup for the sixth time but unfortunately this would be their last taste of real silverware for almost 70 years. Between then and 1995, the club’s only trophies were a Division Two title in 1939, and a third division victory in 1975. The vast majority of their history has seen “The Rovers” compete within the top two tiers of English football, with them featuring more heavily in Division Two during the second half of the 20th century.

1990 marked the beginning of a new era of hope for Blackburn Rovers when local steelworks owner and lifelong fan Jack Walker bought the club. With millions of pounds at his disposal, his first move was to appoint football icon Kenny Dalglish as manager in October 1991. The club immediately returned to the top flight at the end of his first season in charge and that was only the beginning of their new Premier League adventure. They made headlines in the summer of 1992 by paying a then English record fee of £3.5million for Alan Shearer, who would go on to become possibly the most famous striker in England and Premier League history.

Over the following two seasons they gradually crept to the top, finishing fourth in 1993, second in 1994 and finally winning the title in 1995, becoming one of only seven clubs to this day to have won the Premier League during its almost 30 year history. Shearer scored 34 goals, his strike partner Chris Sutton scored 15 and club icons like Graeme Le Saux and Tim Sherwood were immortalised forever. Sadly The Rovers could not replicate this form in subsequent seasons. After a typically brief European campaign in the UEFA Cup and several upper mid table finishes, brought about partly by the exoduc of several top players, the club was relegated back to Division One in 1999.

A few years later at the start of the 2000-01 campaign, their heroic benefactor Jack Walker sadly died and the club dedicated their push for promotion to his memory. Fittingly, then manager Graeme Souness led Blackburn back to the Premier League. The following year they won the League Cup for the first time by beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in the final at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff, during a period of transition in which the new Wembley was being constructed. Throughout the following decade, the club were an established Premier League outfit with managers Souness and Mark Hughes performing well. During this time, modern day icons emerged in the form of American goalkeeper Brad Friedel, Turkish long range specialist Tugay and several others.

Sadly this stability came to an end in 2010 when Indian conglomerate VH Group bought Rovers and their controversial reign saw the team lose their top flight status, reduced to mid-table finishes in the Championship, and even relegation to the third tier for one season in 2018.

Last season they finished 11th and their fans will have some hope of an outsiders push for promotion via the playoffs and a reunion with their Lancashire rivals Burnley in the Premier League.