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Blackburn Rovers are back in the big time, at last, much to my incredible delight – and to the delight of hundreds of thousands of Rover’s supporters. After 2 years in division one, Graeme Souness’s lads are finally where they deserve to be, and they’ve done one man very proud indeed – the late, great Jack Walker, full respect to a true supporter – the owner of the club. Jack Walker sold his steel works in order to rebuild the Blackburn team, and make them one of the best in the country, the stadium has two stands named after him – the Jack Walker stand, and Jack Walker steel stand (the smallest in the ground), and Blackburn, in 1995, as many of you will remember, won the Premiership, fending off Manchester United, with a little help from West Ham, making them the second team to do so, and one of only 3 to date. Shows you how well Alex Ferguson has done at Old Trafford really!!
Blackburn lost Kenny Dalglish as their manager shortly after that championship season, after selling Alan Shearer to Newcastle, and gave the seat to Ray Harford, who did nothing for the club, except steer them towards relegation, only for long time serving coach Tony Parkes to act as a takeover manager, pulling the ‘team that Jack built’ out of the drop zone, and landing himself manager of the month award - full credit to him. Needless to say Ray was sacked… Then came Roy. “Roy of the Rovers” they called him, and although he showed a lot of great managerial qualities, guiding Rovers to a healthy top 7 position in his first full season, he then lost it, Blackburn were dreadful – the second season with Roy in charge – they couldn’t lift themselves from off the bottom. Roy Hodgson was sensationally, unsurprisingly in my view, sacked by the Blackburn board of officials. The hunt for a new manager, to try to keep them in the top flight that season, was very much on. Roy’s biggest mistake – signing Kevin Davies for 7.5million. Oh dear oh dear.
Many names cropped up, for the challenge of guiding the club to safety was an attractive prospect – Blackburn aren’t poor either, so the money would be good, but Tony Parkes had another short stint as takeover manager, and then came in Brian Kidd, Alex Ferguson’s no. 2. Damn. I never had a good feeling about Brian Kidd - he’d had a managerial position before at a lower club, but experience of top flight managing was not on his side, to be honest, Brian Kidd was a complete disaster for the club. He should have stayed with Manchester United, but now I think he’s hanging around Elland Road? Anyway, he brought along Man U old boy Brian McClair, and for some reason thought he’d make a good assistant manager. Shame. Brian Kidd bought some of the worst players Blackburn have ever had, he couldn’t save us from relegation, had a horrible first half of season in division one and got sacked, to the relief of everyone supporting Blue n White.
1999/2000 – Division one season, not such a humiliating time as the previous year, finishing 19th, ahead of only Nottingham Forrest (who incidentally beat them near to the end of the season, causing them almost certain doom), Blackburn didn’t do a lot at all, hovering around the mid table position for a while – Matt Jansen was bought from Crystal Palace – probably the best buy they’ve ever secured, and as I say Brian Kidd was given the good old vote of no confidence, and booted out into Bolton. Suddenly everyone seemed to want the job again – the Blackburn managerial position was one of the best posts available, and so many names popped up again, and thankfully, this time Blackburn done good and chose the right man. Graeme Souness – you are the man!
He couldn’t do that much for the team in his first season, but he hardly had any games to change the team around, but Blackburn finished a disappointing 12th, after being favourites for the division one title that year. Summer came and went, many players joined, and BRFC looked like they were definitely going to do something in the 2K/2K1 season, and they did indeed. A fairly good start to the year saw Blackburn in the top half of the table for the first few months, gradually moving up a place now and then, but it was Fulham and Watford who were storming ahead of everyone else, with both clubs edging out Blackburn – Watford beat Souness squad 4-3 in a thrilling match at Ewood Park, and Fulham edged the win at Craven Cottage after Jansen put a screaming shot in the back of the net to give Rovers the lead. But things were changing – Blackburn had high hopes, players’ confidences were returning, the squad was gelling and an automatic promotion place was the agenda.
Right from the word go it didn’t look as though anyone other than Watford would catch Mr Mohammed Al Fayed’s Fulham, but around Christmas time Watford started slipping, Bolton moved above the then Graham Taylor’s side and were now in second place, with Blackburn desperately trying to catch them. A very impressive Winter period for the Rovers helped them no end – unfortunately they lost to Arsenal in the FA Cup, but did extremely well to get so far – Souness wasn’t worried though as promotion was priority and every point counted, good thing was Blackburn kept on getting 3. Did you know Blackburn had the best second half of season in Division one? Well, they had to beat Bolton – they knocked them out in the cup convincingly, before losing to the aforementioned Gunners 3-0, but the main objective was to win in the league. And did they win! 4-1 at Bolton – not bad eh? Blackburn sneaked into the second spot, would never catch Fulham, but the team was playing every game as if it was the last one. Bolton slipped up occasionally, but so did Blackburn, but we made it in the end. One of the best days of my life as Blackburn got promoted again.
So, now in the Premiership, a good pre season underway, recently beating Bradford 2-0 at Bradford, with both of the new signings scoring – Corrado Grabbi – the young Italian striker, connecting well to a rebounded Damien Duff shot and new defender Gordon Greer also put one away, so hopefully they’ll see some first team action next year and prove to be decent summer signings. If you’re interested – Blackburn play Barcelona on the 12th, a Sunday, so make sure you’re watching!! Should be a very high attendance, Blackburn’s Ewood Park stadium is a very modern, well facilitated, magnificent stadium – a brilliant place to watch football – it’s just over 31,000, 20,000 seats of which are guaranteed to be filled each home game this new season as the season ticket response was phenomenal. Should be seeing average attendances of around 29,000 at the club, which is very good indeed. I was trying to get tickets to see them play Manchester United on the 22nd, but it’s an all ticket – meaning season ticket holders only, and supporters who have seen two games last season – you need the ticket stubs! Should be a full house, at least there’s Sky sports!!
Blackburn as a team have changed so much since their premiership winning days, with very few, if any players still playing for them who played in that successful 1995 season (oh yeah, Jeff Kenna!), but here’s a run down of the Blackburn squad:
Manager: Graeme Souness – 47 years old, one of the best Scottish midfielders of all time, a superb footballer, an even better manager I would argue. He’s played for Middlesboro, Liverpool and Sampdoria, then moving on to Glasgow Rangers, becoming their first ever player manager – and had incredible success there winning 4 successive league titles, and 4 league cups, only then to resign and take over the Anfield reigns from Kenny Dalglish, over at Merseyside. Just one FA Cup trophy at Liverpool, moved on to Galatasaray, again having great success, all the time receiving huge acclaim as a manager – something that has helped him in his pursuit for top players, footballers genuinely want to play for Souness. For a couple of years, 1996/7 he took over at Southampton, but then moved abroad again, firstly to Torino in Italy, then onto Benfica in Portugal, before being appointed Blackburn Rovers manager in March 2000. His first full season – got us back to where we belong.
Goalkeepers: Blackburn have a choice of 4 at the current time, with Alan Kelly’s Spurs move still unresolved, probably collapsed now, so Souness has to choose from American number 1 – Brad Friedel – he should be the number one keeper, was last season and proved to be superb, Australian giant John Filan – currently second choice, he’s a great player though, winning player of the season award (for Blackburn) when they got relegated – for some reason he played instead of Tim Flowers, but then Brian Kidd was in charge at the time… Alan Kelly – Irish international, a great keeper, it just seems he’s not good enough anymore, which is a shame, but at 32 he has a good 5 years of top flight football left in him – maybe someone like Bolton will buy him. Number4 goalkeeper is ex Gunners and West Brom, never playing Alan Miller, signed for Blackburn in February 2000, he’s rarely played, except for the reserves.
Defenders: Wearing the number 2 shirt, John Curtis has made his place in the centre of defence and is improving all the time – winning young player of the year at Manchester United, but wasn’t given the opportunities at Old Trafford and so became Souness’s first signing, at £1.5million, he’s one of the best young defenders in the country, definitely one of the best at Ewood Park. Stig Inge Bjornegbye cost just £300,000, but at 32, he’s not likely to be getting into the Rovers first team for much longer, as was the case last season. He’s had a fantastic career for his clubs – notably Liverpool, and has over 70 caps for his country, an achievement to be very proud of. 33 year old Craig Short is another Rovers defender who came from Everton, has played over 400 times, and is another player, unlikely to be in the first team – still, a great determined footballer, a great career to his name, helping to combine youth and experience in the defence. Jeff Kenna! Didn’t play for Blackburn last season, after being loaned to the now division 2 Tranmere Rovers, Jeff is a full Irish international, has played for Blackburn for longer than any other player at the club – a real asset. Marlon Charles Broomes – how about that for a posh name? Marlon is another young Rovers star, at 23 he has a long successful career ahead of him hopefully, and has represented England’s U21’s, played 20 first team games and made his debut in 1997 against PNE. Look out for Marlon, he’s more than just a posh name to his credit – not scared by any striker, quick, skilful and Ashley Cole like – top player.
More defenders: Henning Berg! Back at Blackburn after a fairly successful stint at the Red Devils, Henning is one of the best defenders in the country, he’s played more than 70 times for Norway, and is the only other player now playing for Rovers to have been part of that championship winning side. Ah the memories… 31year old Simon Grayson made his debut for Blackburn in 1999 against Port Vale, in a rather stale 0-0 encounter, signed from Aston Villa for £750,000, Grayson didn’t play for Rovers last season, as he was on loan at Stockport County. A good player, I doubt he’ll get in the 1st team week in week out though. Here’s another youngster – Martin Taylor, 21 years old, another player to make his way through the excellent youth academy at Blackburn, and into the first team, nicknamed Tiny, because he’s 6ft 4 of course, Taylor played for the 1st team for the latter stages of the promotion push last season – a strong, powerful defender who should be playing a lot next year. That should be most of the defenders…
Midfielders: Starting off with the intermittently brilliant Jason McAteer, he’s not the best player in the world, but when on form, he can be electric…sometimes, anyway – signed from Bolton in 1995 by Liverpool for £4.5million, then came to Blackburn for £4million in early 1999. Definitely on the bench, but not in the starting line up, but Jason has played 30 games for the Republic of Ireland, and has had a very strong career. Rovers skipper Garry Flitcroft! Signed for Blackburn in 1996 from Manchester City, Garry is one of the best playmakers at the club, and he can score goals too, ironically he got sent off on his Rovers debut, but has improved greatly throughout his time at the club, and is now one of the most respect Ewood Park players. David Dunn – the local hero, now one of the best young midfielders in the country, he’s captain of the U21 England side, played an influential role for Blackburn last season and is one of our prize assets – Dunn is superb, just 21 years old, he’s going to go far. Craig Hignett was bought from Barnsley in July 2000, becoming the Barnsley player of the year in 1998/9 – hasn’t played an awful lot for the club, a decent midfielder though, should be playing more next year.
Midfielders continued: When Jason Wilcox left for Leeds, Damien Duff stepped into the left wing position and made it his – in my view he’s one of the top 5 players in the country, just watch him play – be sceptical by all means, but Irish born 22year old Duff is an absolute joy to watch – I have never seen such a fast and skilful and short (5ft 8!) winger in all my life. He’s got a superb crossing ability, incredible pace, received the Republic of Ireland player of the year award in 1999/2000 and you will be seeing a lot more of young Damien – oh yes. Keith Gillespie came from Newcastle in 1998 for a £2million deal, after starting off at Old Trafford Keith was part of the deal that saw Andy Cole’s multi million pound move from St. James’ Park to Manchester United. A fast, skilful, right-winger with a deadly cross – I thought he was a good buy at the time. Top player. Continuing the Irish midfielders for some reason, here is Damien Johnson – Northern Irish I should say, Damien is another ‘product’ of the excellent youth training academy at Ewood – he can play in any midfield position, giving him the flexible edge over fellow team mates. Possibly.
Even more midfielders! Alan Mahon signed last month for £1.5million from Sporting Lisbon after enjoying a successful loan period at Blackburn, really making an impact in the promotion push last season. A quality player adding strength to the squad – he’s had experience at international level for Ireland, and in the champions League – very, very good signing and a four-year deal too. Darren Dunning is another youngster who has progressed through to the first team, at just 5ft 6, he’s one of the shortest players, and at just 19, he could well be a future star. An aggressive and determined player, he’s in the manager’s good books for giving 100% every game. Marc Keller – the only French player in the Rovers team, signed in January this year, with over 67 goals to his name in 380 appearances, Keller certainly brought a lot of experience to the club. Could be the bargain player of the year signing from West Ham on a free transfer, 33 years old, but still, a very stylish player. Last midfielder – another youngster, Jonathan Douglas – from Glasgow Celtic, the 19 yr old looks set to push his way into the first team.
Strikers: Starting off with veteran Mark Hughes – possibly the best welsh striker of all time, he’s now their manager and Blackburn striker, he’s played for many teams including Chelsea, Manchester United, Southampton, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Everton, joined Blackburn on a free, scoring on his debut – renowned for his superb volleys and spectacular overhead shots, Mark Hughes is a truly superb player, and he’s at a great club. He’ll be 38 on the 1st of November, still a strong presence in football. Nathan Blake – came to Blackburn for £4.5million from Bolton as part of Roy Hodgson’s rampant spending, a very impressive player – classically scored an own goal at Wales’ first game at the new Millennium Stadium, he’s had lots of injury trouble, especially last season, but still managed to make a few appearances and score important goals. With the top strikers around at Blackburn, I think Nathan will have to push incredibly hard for a place – 2 striker positions (should Blackburn play a 4-4-2), will probably be for Matt Jansen and Corrado Grabbi.
More Strikers: Matt Jansen – just 23 and already a shining star at Blackburn, player of the season last year at the club, making himself the second highest goal scorer in division one. Born in Carlisle, playing for Carlisle and Crystal Palace before making his way to Ewood Park in 1999 for £4million, should definitely be in the England first team, maybe this season he’ll show the top flight what he’s made of. A prolific footballer, great shooting ability and work rate. Marcus Bent – great name, but seriously – a great player, 23 year old Bent is still a young player, but already scored 37 goals in 153 appearances before joining Blackburn, cost £2million in a part exchange + loan deal + depending on appearances etc, you know, those really complicated signings, Marcus Bent is a tall striker, good in the air and has great pace – came from Sheffield United, a bargain. Another Norwegian, in the form of Egil Ostenstad, a 29year old striker who was part exchanged for Kevin Davies on his return to Southampton in 1999. Scored over 50 goals for Norwegian side Vikings, then moved to the Saints via Graeme Souness, and then to Blackburn. Last season he was on loan at Man City. A good player who has scored more in 3 games than Kevin Davies did in a whole season for Blackburn, but we haven’t seen the best of him yet.
Even more strikers! Another Welsh Striker – James Thomas, he’s got the luxury of playing in the same squad as his international boss, James is another up and coming young striker with great pace and skill, but unfortunately took an injury set back, but will doubtlessly be in the Rovers full team within a couple of seasons. Corrado Grabbi – Blackburn’s near £7million summer purchase from Serie B team Ternana, just turning 26 Grabbi, nicknamed ‘Ciccio’, should really aim to make his mark on the premiership if he wants to get anything out of English football. Played for Italy at junior level, he will surely want to get into the full international squad. Maybe Blackburn is the club for him to prove his worth. Let’s hope so! Burton O’Brien, the 20year old Scottish/South African Blackburn striker previously played for St Mirren, before signing for the Ewood side – described as one of the hottest properties in Scotland, O’Brien is a free kick specialist, and will be in the full Rovers team within a year or so. Almost there now, and Marc Richards – 19 year old Wolverhampton born striker to come up through the academy, made his full debut against West Ham in the Worthington cup last year, look out for him! Special mention to Ben Burgess – a young striker playing for Rovers reserves, he will be in the first team before too long.
So that’s most of the players covered, as for a team in general I can see big things happening for Blackburn. If you watched any of the games last season you’ll see that they’re such a youthful and revitalised team, that will be pushing for a top half position this season in the Premiership maybe even a European place? A decent cup run would do nicely – beating one of the top 5 teams, especially Manchester United – that’d be something, and basically, avoiding relegation, which I think they’ll do. Blackburn belongs in the Premiership, that’s where they are so you better watch out!
The stadium – fantastic, the kit – best design out there, the team – lets see how they take on the rest of the league.
Thanks for reading
Sulzeer
Blackburn lost Kenny Dalglish as their manager shortly after that championship season, after selling Alan Shearer to Newcastle, and gave the seat to Ray Harford, who did nothing for the club, except steer them towards relegation, only for long time serving coach Tony Parkes to act as a takeover manager, pulling the ‘team that Jack built’ out of the drop zone, and landing himself manager of the month award - full credit to him. Needless to say Ray was sacked… Then came Roy. “Roy of the Rovers” they called him, and although he showed a lot of great managerial qualities, guiding Rovers to a healthy top 7 position in his first full season, he then lost it, Blackburn were dreadful – the second season with Roy in charge – they couldn’t lift themselves from off the bottom. Roy Hodgson was sensationally, unsurprisingly in my view, sacked by the Blackburn board of officials. The hunt for a new manager, to try to keep them in the top flight that season, was very much on. Roy’s biggest mistake – signing Kevin Davies for 7.5million. Oh dear oh dear.
Many names cropped up, for the challenge of guiding the club to safety was an attractive prospect – Blackburn aren’t poor either, so the money would be good, but Tony Parkes had another short stint as takeover manager, and then came in Brian Kidd, Alex Ferguson’s no. 2. Damn. I never had a good feeling about Brian Kidd - he’d had a managerial position before at a lower club, but experience of top flight managing was not on his side, to be honest, Brian Kidd was a complete disaster for the club. He should have stayed with Manchester United, but now I think he’s hanging around Elland Road? Anyway, he brought along Man U old boy Brian McClair, and for some reason thought he’d make a good assistant manager. Shame. Brian Kidd bought some of the worst players Blackburn have ever had, he couldn’t save us from relegation, had a horrible first half of season in division one and got sacked, to the relief of everyone supporting Blue n White.
1999/2000 – Division one season, not such a humiliating time as the previous year, finishing 19th, ahead of only Nottingham Forrest (who incidentally beat them near to the end of the season, causing them almost certain doom), Blackburn didn’t do a lot at all, hovering around the mid table position for a while – Matt Jansen was bought from Crystal Palace – probably the best buy they’ve ever secured, and as I say Brian Kidd was given the good old vote of no confidence, and booted out into Bolton. Suddenly everyone seemed to want the job again – the Blackburn managerial position was one of the best posts available, and so many names popped up again, and thankfully, this time Blackburn done good and chose the right man. Graeme Souness – you are the man!
He couldn’t do that much for the team in his first season, but he hardly had any games to change the team around, but Blackburn finished a disappointing 12th, after being favourites for the division one title that year. Summer came and went, many players joined, and BRFC looked like they were definitely going to do something in the 2K/2K1 season, and they did indeed. A fairly good start to the year saw Blackburn in the top half of the table for the first few months, gradually moving up a place now and then, but it was Fulham and Watford who were storming ahead of everyone else, with both clubs edging out Blackburn – Watford beat Souness squad 4-3 in a thrilling match at Ewood Park, and Fulham edged the win at Craven Cottage after Jansen put a screaming shot in the back of the net to give Rovers the lead. But things were changing – Blackburn had high hopes, players’ confidences were returning, the squad was gelling and an automatic promotion place was the agenda.
Right from the word go it didn’t look as though anyone other than Watford would catch Mr Mohammed Al Fayed’s Fulham, but around Christmas time Watford started slipping, Bolton moved above the then Graham Taylor’s side and were now in second place, with Blackburn desperately trying to catch them. A very impressive Winter period for the Rovers helped them no end – unfortunately they lost to Arsenal in the FA Cup, but did extremely well to get so far – Souness wasn’t worried though as promotion was priority and every point counted, good thing was Blackburn kept on getting 3. Did you know Blackburn had the best second half of season in Division one? Well, they had to beat Bolton – they knocked them out in the cup convincingly, before losing to the aforementioned Gunners 3-0, but the main objective was to win in the league. And did they win! 4-1 at Bolton – not bad eh? Blackburn sneaked into the second spot, would never catch Fulham, but the team was playing every game as if it was the last one. Bolton slipped up occasionally, but so did Blackburn, but we made it in the end. One of the best days of my life as Blackburn got promoted again.
So, now in the Premiership, a good pre season underway, recently beating Bradford 2-0 at Bradford, with both of the new signings scoring – Corrado Grabbi – the young Italian striker, connecting well to a rebounded Damien Duff shot and new defender Gordon Greer also put one away, so hopefully they’ll see some first team action next year and prove to be decent summer signings. If you’re interested – Blackburn play Barcelona on the 12th, a Sunday, so make sure you’re watching!! Should be a very high attendance, Blackburn’s Ewood Park stadium is a very modern, well facilitated, magnificent stadium – a brilliant place to watch football – it’s just over 31,000, 20,000 seats of which are guaranteed to be filled each home game this new season as the season ticket response was phenomenal. Should be seeing average attendances of around 29,000 at the club, which is very good indeed. I was trying to get tickets to see them play Manchester United on the 22nd, but it’s an all ticket – meaning season ticket holders only, and supporters who have seen two games last season – you need the ticket stubs! Should be a full house, at least there’s Sky sports!!
Blackburn as a team have changed so much since their premiership winning days, with very few, if any players still playing for them who played in that successful 1995 season (oh yeah, Jeff Kenna!), but here’s a run down of the Blackburn squad:
Manager: Graeme Souness – 47 years old, one of the best Scottish midfielders of all time, a superb footballer, an even better manager I would argue. He’s played for Middlesboro, Liverpool and Sampdoria, then moving on to Glasgow Rangers, becoming their first ever player manager – and had incredible success there winning 4 successive league titles, and 4 league cups, only then to resign and take over the Anfield reigns from Kenny Dalglish, over at Merseyside. Just one FA Cup trophy at Liverpool, moved on to Galatasaray, again having great success, all the time receiving huge acclaim as a manager – something that has helped him in his pursuit for top players, footballers genuinely want to play for Souness. For a couple of years, 1996/7 he took over at Southampton, but then moved abroad again, firstly to Torino in Italy, then onto Benfica in Portugal, before being appointed Blackburn Rovers manager in March 2000. His first full season – got us back to where we belong.
Goalkeepers: Blackburn have a choice of 4 at the current time, with Alan Kelly’s Spurs move still unresolved, probably collapsed now, so Souness has to choose from American number 1 – Brad Friedel – he should be the number one keeper, was last season and proved to be superb, Australian giant John Filan – currently second choice, he’s a great player though, winning player of the season award (for Blackburn) when they got relegated – for some reason he played instead of Tim Flowers, but then Brian Kidd was in charge at the time… Alan Kelly – Irish international, a great keeper, it just seems he’s not good enough anymore, which is a shame, but at 32 he has a good 5 years of top flight football left in him – maybe someone like Bolton will buy him. Number4 goalkeeper is ex Gunners and West Brom, never playing Alan Miller, signed for Blackburn in February 2000, he’s rarely played, except for the reserves.
Defenders: Wearing the number 2 shirt, John Curtis has made his place in the centre of defence and is improving all the time – winning young player of the year at Manchester United, but wasn’t given the opportunities at Old Trafford and so became Souness’s first signing, at £1.5million, he’s one of the best young defenders in the country, definitely one of the best at Ewood Park. Stig Inge Bjornegbye cost just £300,000, but at 32, he’s not likely to be getting into the Rovers first team for much longer, as was the case last season. He’s had a fantastic career for his clubs – notably Liverpool, and has over 70 caps for his country, an achievement to be very proud of. 33 year old Craig Short is another Rovers defender who came from Everton, has played over 400 times, and is another player, unlikely to be in the first team – still, a great determined footballer, a great career to his name, helping to combine youth and experience in the defence. Jeff Kenna! Didn’t play for Blackburn last season, after being loaned to the now division 2 Tranmere Rovers, Jeff is a full Irish international, has played for Blackburn for longer than any other player at the club – a real asset. Marlon Charles Broomes – how about that for a posh name? Marlon is another young Rovers star, at 23 he has a long successful career ahead of him hopefully, and has represented England’s U21’s, played 20 first team games and made his debut in 1997 against PNE. Look out for Marlon, he’s more than just a posh name to his credit – not scared by any striker, quick, skilful and Ashley Cole like – top player.
More defenders: Henning Berg! Back at Blackburn after a fairly successful stint at the Red Devils, Henning is one of the best defenders in the country, he’s played more than 70 times for Norway, and is the only other player now playing for Rovers to have been part of that championship winning side. Ah the memories… 31year old Simon Grayson made his debut for Blackburn in 1999 against Port Vale, in a rather stale 0-0 encounter, signed from Aston Villa for £750,000, Grayson didn’t play for Rovers last season, as he was on loan at Stockport County. A good player, I doubt he’ll get in the 1st team week in week out though. Here’s another youngster – Martin Taylor, 21 years old, another player to make his way through the excellent youth academy at Blackburn, and into the first team, nicknamed Tiny, because he’s 6ft 4 of course, Taylor played for the 1st team for the latter stages of the promotion push last season – a strong, powerful defender who should be playing a lot next year. That should be most of the defenders…
Midfielders: Starting off with the intermittently brilliant Jason McAteer, he’s not the best player in the world, but when on form, he can be electric…sometimes, anyway – signed from Bolton in 1995 by Liverpool for £4.5million, then came to Blackburn for £4million in early 1999. Definitely on the bench, but not in the starting line up, but Jason has played 30 games for the Republic of Ireland, and has had a very strong career. Rovers skipper Garry Flitcroft! Signed for Blackburn in 1996 from Manchester City, Garry is one of the best playmakers at the club, and he can score goals too, ironically he got sent off on his Rovers debut, but has improved greatly throughout his time at the club, and is now one of the most respect Ewood Park players. David Dunn – the local hero, now one of the best young midfielders in the country, he’s captain of the U21 England side, played an influential role for Blackburn last season and is one of our prize assets – Dunn is superb, just 21 years old, he’s going to go far. Craig Hignett was bought from Barnsley in July 2000, becoming the Barnsley player of the year in 1998/9 – hasn’t played an awful lot for the club, a decent midfielder though, should be playing more next year.
Midfielders continued: When Jason Wilcox left for Leeds, Damien Duff stepped into the left wing position and made it his – in my view he’s one of the top 5 players in the country, just watch him play – be sceptical by all means, but Irish born 22year old Duff is an absolute joy to watch – I have never seen such a fast and skilful and short (5ft 8!) winger in all my life. He’s got a superb crossing ability, incredible pace, received the Republic of Ireland player of the year award in 1999/2000 and you will be seeing a lot more of young Damien – oh yes. Keith Gillespie came from Newcastle in 1998 for a £2million deal, after starting off at Old Trafford Keith was part of the deal that saw Andy Cole’s multi million pound move from St. James’ Park to Manchester United. A fast, skilful, right-winger with a deadly cross – I thought he was a good buy at the time. Top player. Continuing the Irish midfielders for some reason, here is Damien Johnson – Northern Irish I should say, Damien is another ‘product’ of the excellent youth training academy at Ewood – he can play in any midfield position, giving him the flexible edge over fellow team mates. Possibly.
Even more midfielders! Alan Mahon signed last month for £1.5million from Sporting Lisbon after enjoying a successful loan period at Blackburn, really making an impact in the promotion push last season. A quality player adding strength to the squad – he’s had experience at international level for Ireland, and in the champions League – very, very good signing and a four-year deal too. Darren Dunning is another youngster who has progressed through to the first team, at just 5ft 6, he’s one of the shortest players, and at just 19, he could well be a future star. An aggressive and determined player, he’s in the manager’s good books for giving 100% every game. Marc Keller – the only French player in the Rovers team, signed in January this year, with over 67 goals to his name in 380 appearances, Keller certainly brought a lot of experience to the club. Could be the bargain player of the year signing from West Ham on a free transfer, 33 years old, but still, a very stylish player. Last midfielder – another youngster, Jonathan Douglas – from Glasgow Celtic, the 19 yr old looks set to push his way into the first team.
Strikers: Starting off with veteran Mark Hughes – possibly the best welsh striker of all time, he’s now their manager and Blackburn striker, he’s played for many teams including Chelsea, Manchester United, Southampton, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Everton, joined Blackburn on a free, scoring on his debut – renowned for his superb volleys and spectacular overhead shots, Mark Hughes is a truly superb player, and he’s at a great club. He’ll be 38 on the 1st of November, still a strong presence in football. Nathan Blake – came to Blackburn for £4.5million from Bolton as part of Roy Hodgson’s rampant spending, a very impressive player – classically scored an own goal at Wales’ first game at the new Millennium Stadium, he’s had lots of injury trouble, especially last season, but still managed to make a few appearances and score important goals. With the top strikers around at Blackburn, I think Nathan will have to push incredibly hard for a place – 2 striker positions (should Blackburn play a 4-4-2), will probably be for Matt Jansen and Corrado Grabbi.
More Strikers: Matt Jansen – just 23 and already a shining star at Blackburn, player of the season last year at the club, making himself the second highest goal scorer in division one. Born in Carlisle, playing for Carlisle and Crystal Palace before making his way to Ewood Park in 1999 for £4million, should definitely be in the England first team, maybe this season he’ll show the top flight what he’s made of. A prolific footballer, great shooting ability and work rate. Marcus Bent – great name, but seriously – a great player, 23 year old Bent is still a young player, but already scored 37 goals in 153 appearances before joining Blackburn, cost £2million in a part exchange + loan deal + depending on appearances etc, you know, those really complicated signings, Marcus Bent is a tall striker, good in the air and has great pace – came from Sheffield United, a bargain. Another Norwegian, in the form of Egil Ostenstad, a 29year old striker who was part exchanged for Kevin Davies on his return to Southampton in 1999. Scored over 50 goals for Norwegian side Vikings, then moved to the Saints via Graeme Souness, and then to Blackburn. Last season he was on loan at Man City. A good player who has scored more in 3 games than Kevin Davies did in a whole season for Blackburn, but we haven’t seen the best of him yet.
Even more strikers! Another Welsh Striker – James Thomas, he’s got the luxury of playing in the same squad as his international boss, James is another up and coming young striker with great pace and skill, but unfortunately took an injury set back, but will doubtlessly be in the Rovers full team within a couple of seasons. Corrado Grabbi – Blackburn’s near £7million summer purchase from Serie B team Ternana, just turning 26 Grabbi, nicknamed ‘Ciccio’, should really aim to make his mark on the premiership if he wants to get anything out of English football. Played for Italy at junior level, he will surely want to get into the full international squad. Maybe Blackburn is the club for him to prove his worth. Let’s hope so! Burton O’Brien, the 20year old Scottish/South African Blackburn striker previously played for St Mirren, before signing for the Ewood side – described as one of the hottest properties in Scotland, O’Brien is a free kick specialist, and will be in the full Rovers team within a year or so. Almost there now, and Marc Richards – 19 year old Wolverhampton born striker to come up through the academy, made his full debut against West Ham in the Worthington cup last year, look out for him! Special mention to Ben Burgess – a young striker playing for Rovers reserves, he will be in the first team before too long.
So that’s most of the players covered, as for a team in general I can see big things happening for Blackburn. If you watched any of the games last season you’ll see that they’re such a youthful and revitalised team, that will be pushing for a top half position this season in the Premiership maybe even a European place? A decent cup run would do nicely – beating one of the top 5 teams, especially Manchester United – that’d be something, and basically, avoiding relegation, which I think they’ll do. Blackburn belongs in the Premiership, that’s where they are so you better watch out!
The stadium – fantastic, the kit – best design out there, the team – lets see how they take on the rest of the league.
Thanks for reading
Sulzeer
Blackburn Rovers are back in the big time, at last, much to my incredible delight – and to the delight of hundreds of thousands of Rover’s supporters. After 2 years in division one, Graeme Souness’s lads are finally where they deserve to be, and they’ve done one man very proud indeed – the late, great Jack Walker, full respect to a true supporter – the owner of the club. Jack Walker sold his steel works in order to rebuild the Blackburn team, and make them one of the best in the country, the stadium has two stands named after him – the Jack Walker stand, and Jack Walker steel stand (the smallest in the ground), and Blackburn, in 1995, as many of you will remember, won the Premiership, fending off Manchester United, with a little help from West Ham, making them the second team to do so, and one of only 3 to date. Shows you how well Alex Ferguson has done at Old Trafford really!!
Blackburn lost Kenny Dalglish as their manager shortly after that championship season, after selling Alan Shearer to Newcastle, and gave the seat to Ray Harford, who did nothing for the club, except steer them towards relegation, only for long time serving coach Tony Parkes to act as a takeover manager, pulling the ‘team that Jack built’ out of the drop zone, and landing himself manager of the month award - full credit to him. Needless to say Ray was sacked… Then came Roy. “Roy of the Rovers” they called him, and although he showed a lot of great managerial qualities, guiding Rovers to a healthy top 7 position in his first full season, he then lost it, Blackburn were dreadful – the second season with Roy in charge – they couldn’t lift themselves from off the bottom. Roy Hodgson was sensationally, unsurprisingly in my view, sacked by the Blackburn board of officials. The hunt for a new manager, to try to keep them in the top flight that season, was very much on. Roy’s biggest mistake – signing Kevin Davies for 7.5million. Oh dear oh dear.
Many names cropped up, for the challenge of guiding the club to safety was an attractive prospect – Blackburn aren’t poor either, so the money would be good, but Tony Parkes had another short stint as takeover manager, and then came in Brian Kidd, Alex Ferguson’s no. 2. Damn. I never had a good feeling about Brian Kidd - he’d had a managerial position before at a lower club, but experience of top flight managing was not on his side, to be honest, Brian Kidd was a complete disaster for the club. He should have stayed with Manchester United, but now I think he’s hanging around Elland Road? Anyway, he brought along Man U old boy Brian McClair, and for some reason thought he’d make a good assistant manager. Shame. Brian Kidd bought some of the worst players Blackburn have ever had, he couldn’t save us from relegation, had a horrible first half of season in division one and got sacked, to the relief of everyone supporting Blue n White.
1999/2000 – Division one season, not such a humiliating time as the previous year, finishing 19th, ahead of only Nottingham Forrest (who incidentally beat them near to the end of the season, causing them almost certain doom), Blackburn didn’t do a lot at all, hovering around the mid table position for a while – Matt Jansen was bought from Crystal Palace – probably the best buy they’ve ever secured, and as I say Brian Kidd was given the good old vote of no confidence, and booted out into Bolton. Suddenly everyone seemed to want the job again – the Blackburn managerial position was one of the best posts available, and so many names popped up again, and thankfully, this time Blackburn done good and chose the right man. Graeme Souness – you are the man!
He couldn’t do that much for the team in his first season, but he hardly had any games to change the team around, but Blackburn finished a disappointing 12th, after being favourites for the division one title that year. Summer came and went, many players joined, and BRFC looked like they were definitely going to do something in the 2K/2K1 season, and they did indeed. A fairly good start to the year saw Blackburn in the top half of the table for the first few months, gradually moving up a place now and then, but it was Fulham and Watford who were storming ahead of everyone else, with both clubs edging out Blackburn – Watford beat Souness squad 4-3 in a thrilling match at Ewood Park, and Fulham edged the win at Craven Cottage after Jansen put a screaming shot in the back of the net to give Rovers the lead. But things were changing – Blackburn had high hopes, players’ confidences were returning, the squad was gelling and an automatic promotion place was the agenda.
Right from the word go it didn’t look as though anyone other than Watford would catch Mr Mohammed Al Fayed’s Fulham, but around Christmas time Watford started slipping, Bolton moved above the then Graham Taylor’s side and were now in second place, with Blackburn desperately trying to catch them. A very impressive Winter period for the Rovers helped them no end – unfortunately they lost to Arsenal in the FA Cup, but did extremely well to get so far – Souness wasn’t worried though as promotion was priority and every point counted, good thing was Blackburn kept on getting 3. Did you know Blackburn had the best second half of season in Division one? Well, they had to beat Bolton – they knocked them out in the cup convincingly, before losing to the aforementioned Gunners 3-0, but the main objective was to win in the league. And did they win! 4-1 at Bolton – not bad eh? Blackburn sneaked into the second spot, would never catch Fulham, but the team was playing every game as if it was the last one. Bolton slipped up occasionally, but so did Blackburn, but we made it in the end. One of the best days of my life as Blackburn got promoted again.
So, now in the Premiership, a good pre season underway, recently beating Bradford 2-0 at Bradford, with both of the new signings scoring – Corrado Grabbi – the young Italian striker, connecting well to a rebounded Damien Duff shot and new defender Gordon Greer also put one away, so hopefully they’ll see some first team action next year and prove to be decent summer signings. If you’re interested – Blackburn play Barcelona on the 12th, a Sunday, so make sure you’re watching!! Should be a very high attendance, Blackburn’s Ewood Park stadium is a very modern, well facilitated, magnificent stadium – a brilliant place to watch football – it’s just over 31,000, 20,000 seats of which are guaranteed to be filled each home game this new season as the season ticket response was phenomenal. Should be seeing average attendances of around 29,000 at the club, which is very good indeed. I was trying to get tickets to see them play Manchester United on the 22nd, but it’s an all ticket – meaning season ticket holders only, and supporters who have seen two games last season – you need the ticket stubs! Should be a full house, at least there’s Sky sports!!
Blackburn as a team have changed so much since their premiership winning days, with very few, if any players still playing for them who played in that successful 1995 season (oh yeah, Jeff Kenna!), but here’s a run down of the Blackburn squad:
Manager: Graeme Souness – 47 years old, one of the best Scottish midfielders of all time, a superb footballer, an even better manager I would argue. He’s played for Middlesboro, Liverpool and Sampdoria, then moving on to Glasgow Rangers, becoming their first ever player manager – and had incredible success there winning 4 successive league titles, and 4 league cups, only then to resign and take over the Anfield reigns from Kenny Dalglish, over at Merseyside. Just one FA Cup trophy at Liverpool, moved on to Galatasaray, again having great success, all the time receiving huge acclaim as a manager – something that has helped him in his pursuit for top players, footballers genuinely want to play for Souness. For a couple of years, 1996/7 he took over at Southampton, but then moved abroad again, firstly to Torino in Italy, then onto Benfica in Portugal, before being appointed Blackburn Rovers manager in March 2000. His first full season – got us back to where we belong.
Goalkeepers: Blackburn have a choice of 4 at the current time, with Alan Kelly’s Spurs move still unresolved, probably collapsed now, so Souness has to choose from American number 1 – Brad Friedel – he should be the number one keeper, was last season and proved to be superb, Australian giant John Filan – currently second choice, he’s a great player though, winning player of the season award (for Blackburn) when they got relegated – for some reason he played instead of Tim Flowers, but then Brian Kidd was in charge at the time… Alan Kelly – Irish international, a great keeper, it just seems he’s not good enough anymore, which is a shame, but at 32 he has a good 5 years of top flight football left in him – maybe someone like Bolton will buy him. Number4 goalkeeper is ex Gunners and West Brom, never playing Alan Miller, signed for Blackburn in February 2000, he’s rarely played, except for the reserves.
Defenders: Wearing the number 2 shirt, John Curtis has made his place in the centre of defence and is improving all the time – winning young player of the year at Manchester United, but wasn’t given the opportunities at Old Trafford and so became Souness’s first signing, at £1.5million, he’s one of the best young defenders in the country, definitely one of the best at Ewood Park. Stig Inge Bjornegbye cost just £300,000, but at 32, he’s not likely to be getting into the Rovers first team for much longer, as was the case last season. He’s had a fantastic career for his clubs – notably Liverpool, and has over 70 caps for his country, an achievement to be very proud of. 33 year old Craig Short is another Rovers defender who came from Everton, has played over 400 times, and is another player, unlikely to be in the first team – still, a great determined footballer, a great career to his name, helping to combine youth and experience in the defence. Jeff Kenna! Didn’t play for Blackburn last season, after being loaned to the now division 2 Tranmere Rovers, Jeff is a full Irish international, has played for Blackburn for longer than any other player at the club – a real asset. Marlon Charles Broomes – how about that for a posh name? Marlon is another young Rovers star, at 23 he has a long successful career ahead of him hopefully, and has represented England’s U21’s, played 20 first team games and made his debut in 1997 against PNE. Look out for Marlon, he’s more than just a posh name to his credit – not scared by any striker, quick, skilful and Ashley Cole like – top player.
More defenders: Henning Berg! Back at Blackburn after a fairly successful stint at the Red Devils, Henning is one of the best defenders in the country, he’s played more than 70 times for Norway, and is the only other player now playing for Rovers to have been part of that championship winning side. Ah the memories… 31year old Simon Grayson made his debut for Blackburn in 1999 against Port Vale, in a rather stale 0-0 encounter, signed from Aston Villa for £750,000, Grayson didn’t play for Rovers last season, as he was on loan at Stockport County. A good player, I doubt he’ll get in the 1st team week in week out though. Here’s another youngster – Martin Taylor, 21 years old, another player to make his way through the excellent youth academy at Blackburn, and into the first team, nicknamed Tiny, because he’s 6ft 4 of course, Taylor played for the 1st team for the latter stages of the promotion push last season – a strong, powerful defender who should be playing a lot next year. That should be most of the defenders…
Midfielders: Starting off with the intermittently brilliant Jason McAteer, he’s not the best player in the world, but when on form, he can be electric…sometimes, anyway – signed from Bolton in 1995 by Liverpool for £4.5million, then came to Blackburn for £4million in early 1999. Definitely on the bench, but not in the starting line up, but Jason has played 30 games for the Republic of Ireland, and has had a very strong career. Rovers skipper Garry Flitcroft! Signed for Blackburn in 1996 from Manchester City, Garry is one of the best playmakers at the club, and he can score goals too, ironically he got sent off on his Rovers debut, but has improved greatly throughout his time at the club, and is now one of the most respect Ewood Park players. David Dunn – the local hero, now one of the best young midfielders in the country, he’s captain of the U21 England side, played an influential role for Blackburn last season and is one of our prize assets – Dunn is superb, just 21 years old, he’s going to go far. Craig Hignett was bought from Barnsley in July 2000, becoming the Barnsley player of the year in 1998/9 – hasn’t played an awful lot for the club, a decent midfielder though, should be playing more next year.
Midfielders continued: When Jason Wilcox left for Leeds, Damien Duff stepped into the left wing position and made it his – in my view he’s one of the top 5 players in the country, just watch him play – be sceptical by all means, but Irish born 22year old Duff is an absolute joy to watch – I have never seen such a fast and skilful and short (5ft 8!) winger in all my life. He’s got a superb crossing ability, incredible pace, received the Republic of Ireland player of the year award in 1999/2000 and you will be seeing a lot more of young Damien – oh yes. Keith Gillespie came from Newcastle in 1998 for a £2million deal, after starting off at Old Trafford Keith was part of the deal that saw Andy Cole’s multi million pound move from St. James’ Park to Manchester United. A fast, skilful, right-winger with a deadly cross – I thought he was a good buy at the time. Top player. Continuing the Irish midfielders for some reason, here is Damien Johnson – Northern Irish I should say, Damien is another ‘product’ of the excellent youth training academy at Ewood – he can play in any midfield position, giving him the flexible edge over fellow team mates. Possibly.
Even more midfielders! Alan Mahon signed last month for £1.5million from Sporting Lisbon after enjoying a successful loan period at Blackburn, really making an impact in the promotion push last season. A quality player adding strength to the squad – he’s had experience at international level for Ireland, and in the champions League – very, very good signing and a four-year deal too. Darren Dunning is another youngster who has progressed through to the first team, at just 5ft 6, he’s one of the shortest players, and at just 19, he could well be a future star. An aggressive and determined player, he’s in the manager’s good books for giving 100% every game. Marc Keller – the only French player in the Rovers team, signed in January this year, with over 67 goals to his name in 380 appearances, Keller certainly brought a lot of experience to the club. Could be the bargain player of the year signing from West Ham on a free transfer, 33 years old, but still, a very stylish player. Last midfielder – another youngster, Jonathan Douglas – from Glasgow Celtic, the 19 yr old looks set to push his way into the first team.
Strikers: Starting off with veteran Mark Hughes – possibly the best welsh striker of all time, he’s now their manager and Blackburn striker, he’s played for many teams including Chelsea, Manchester United, Southampton, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Everton, joined Blackburn on a free, scoring on his debut – renowned for his superb volleys and spectacular overhead shots, Mark Hughes is a truly superb player, and he’s at a great club. He’ll be 38 on the 1st of November, still a strong presence in football. Nathan Blake – came to Blackburn for £4.5million from Bolton as part of Roy Hodgson’s rampant spending, a very impressive player – classically scored an own goal at Wales’ first game at the new Millennium Stadium, he’s had lots of injury trouble, especially last season, but still managed to make a few appearances and score important goals. With the top strikers around at Blackburn, I think Nathan will have to push incredibly hard for a place – 2 striker positions (should Blackburn play a 4-4-2), will probably be for Matt Jansen and Corrado Grabbi.
More Strikers: Matt Jansen – just 23 and already a shining star at Blackburn, player of the season last year at the club, making himself the second highest goal scorer in division one. Born in Carlisle, playing for Carlisle and Crystal Palace before making his way to Ewood Park in 1999 for £4million, should definitely be in the England first team, maybe this season he’ll show the top flight what he’s made of. A prolific footballer, great shooting ability and work rate. Marcus Bent – great name, but seriously – a great player, 23 year old Bent is still a young player, but already scored 37 goals in 153 appearances before joining Blackburn, cost £2million in a part exchange + loan deal + depending on appearances etc, you know, those really complicated signings, Marcus Bent is a tall striker, good in the air and has great pace – came from Sheffield United, a bargain. Another Norwegian, in the form of Egil Ostenstad, a 29year old striker who was part exchanged for Kevin Davies on his return to Southampton in 1999. Scored over 50 goals for Norwegian side Vikings, then moved to the Saints via Graeme Souness, and then to Blackburn. Last season he was on loan at Man City. A good player who has scored more in 3 games than Kevin Davies did in a whole season for Blackburn, but we haven’t seen the best of him yet.
Even more strikers! Another Welsh Striker – James Thomas, he’s got the luxury of playing in the same squad as his international boss, James is another up and coming young striker with great pace and skill, but unfortunately took an injury set back, but will doubtlessly be in the Rovers full team within a couple of seasons. Corrado Grabbi – Blackburn’s near £7million summer purchase from Serie B team Ternana, just turning 26 Grabbi, nicknamed ‘Ciccio’, should really aim to make his mark on the premiership if he wants to get anything out of English football. Played for Italy at junior level, he will surely want to get into the full international squad. Maybe Blackburn is the club for him to prove his worth. Let’s hope so! Burton O’Brien, the 20year old Scottish/South African Blackburn striker previously played for St Mirren, before signing for the Ewood side – described as one of the hottest properties in Scotland, O’Brien is a free kick specialist, and will be in the full Rovers team within a year or so. Almost there now, and Marc Richards – 19 year old Wolverhampton born striker to come up through the academy, made his full debut against West Ham in the Worthington cup last year, look out for him! Special mention to Ben Burgess – a young striker playing for Rovers reserves, he will be in the first team before too long.
So that’s most of the players covered, as for a team in general I can see big things happening for Blackburn. If you watched any of the games last season you’ll see that they’re such a youthful and revitalised team, that will be pushing for a top half position this season in the Premiership maybe even a European place? A decent cup run would do nicely – beating one of the top 5 teams, especially Manchester United – that’d be something, and basically, avoiding relegation, which I think they’ll do. Blackburn belongs in the Premiership, that’s where they are so you better watch out!
The stadium – fantastic, the kit – best design out there, the team – lets see how they take on the rest of the league.
Thanks for reading
Sulzeer
Blackburn lost Kenny Dalglish as their manager shortly after that championship season, after selling Alan Shearer to Newcastle, and gave the seat to Ray Harford, who did nothing for the club, except steer them towards relegation, only for long time serving coach Tony Parkes to act as a takeover manager, pulling the ‘team that Jack built’ out of the drop zone, and landing himself manager of the month award - full credit to him. Needless to say Ray was sacked… Then came Roy. “Roy of the Rovers” they called him, and although he showed a lot of great managerial qualities, guiding Rovers to a healthy top 7 position in his first full season, he then lost it, Blackburn were dreadful – the second season with Roy in charge – they couldn’t lift themselves from off the bottom. Roy Hodgson was sensationally, unsurprisingly in my view, sacked by the Blackburn board of officials. The hunt for a new manager, to try to keep them in the top flight that season, was very much on. Roy’s biggest mistake – signing Kevin Davies for 7.5million. Oh dear oh dear.
Many names cropped up, for the challenge of guiding the club to safety was an attractive prospect – Blackburn aren’t poor either, so the money would be good, but Tony Parkes had another short stint as takeover manager, and then came in Brian Kidd, Alex Ferguson’s no. 2. Damn. I never had a good feeling about Brian Kidd - he’d had a managerial position before at a lower club, but experience of top flight managing was not on his side, to be honest, Brian Kidd was a complete disaster for the club. He should have stayed with Manchester United, but now I think he’s hanging around Elland Road? Anyway, he brought along Man U old boy Brian McClair, and for some reason thought he’d make a good assistant manager. Shame. Brian Kidd bought some of the worst players Blackburn have ever had, he couldn’t save us from relegation, had a horrible first half of season in division one and got sacked, to the relief of everyone supporting Blue n White.
1999/2000 – Division one season, not such a humiliating time as the previous year, finishing 19th, ahead of only Nottingham Forrest (who incidentally beat them near to the end of the season, causing them almost certain doom), Blackburn didn’t do a lot at all, hovering around the mid table position for a while – Matt Jansen was bought from Crystal Palace – probably the best buy they’ve ever secured, and as I say Brian Kidd was given the good old vote of no confidence, and booted out into Bolton. Suddenly everyone seemed to want the job again – the Blackburn managerial position was one of the best posts available, and so many names popped up again, and thankfully, this time Blackburn done good and chose the right man. Graeme Souness – you are the man!
He couldn’t do that much for the team in his first season, but he hardly had any games to change the team around, but Blackburn finished a disappointing 12th, after being favourites for the division one title that year. Summer came and went, many players joined, and BRFC looked like they were definitely going to do something in the 2K/2K1 season, and they did indeed. A fairly good start to the year saw Blackburn in the top half of the table for the first few months, gradually moving up a place now and then, but it was Fulham and Watford who were storming ahead of everyone else, with both clubs edging out Blackburn – Watford beat Souness squad 4-3 in a thrilling match at Ewood Park, and Fulham edged the win at Craven Cottage after Jansen put a screaming shot in the back of the net to give Rovers the lead. But things were changing – Blackburn had high hopes, players’ confidences were returning, the squad was gelling and an automatic promotion place was the agenda.
Right from the word go it didn’t look as though anyone other than Watford would catch Mr Mohammed Al Fayed’s Fulham, but around Christmas time Watford started slipping, Bolton moved above the then Graham Taylor’s side and were now in second place, with Blackburn desperately trying to catch them. A very impressive Winter period for the Rovers helped them no end – unfortunately they lost to Arsenal in the FA Cup, but did extremely well to get so far – Souness wasn’t worried though as promotion was priority and every point counted, good thing was Blackburn kept on getting 3. Did you know Blackburn had the best second half of season in Division one? Well, they had to beat Bolton – they knocked them out in the cup convincingly, before losing to the aforementioned Gunners 3-0, but the main objective was to win in the league. And did they win! 4-1 at Bolton – not bad eh? Blackburn sneaked into the second spot, would never catch Fulham, but the team was playing every game as if it was the last one. Bolton slipped up occasionally, but so did Blackburn, but we made it in the end. One of the best days of my life as Blackburn got promoted again.
So, now in the Premiership, a good pre season underway, recently beating Bradford 2-0 at Bradford, with both of the new signings scoring – Corrado Grabbi – the young Italian striker, connecting well to a rebounded Damien Duff shot and new defender Gordon Greer also put one away, so hopefully they’ll see some first team action next year and prove to be decent summer signings. If you’re interested – Blackburn play Barcelona on the 12th, a Sunday, so make sure you’re watching!! Should be a very high attendance, Blackburn’s Ewood Park stadium is a very modern, well facilitated, magnificent stadium – a brilliant place to watch football – it’s just over 31,000, 20,000 seats of which are guaranteed to be filled each home game this new season as the season ticket response was phenomenal. Should be seeing average attendances of around 29,000 at the club, which is very good indeed. I was trying to get tickets to see them play Manchester United on the 22nd, but it’s an all ticket – meaning season ticket holders only, and supporters who have seen two games last season – you need the ticket stubs! Should be a full house, at least there’s Sky sports!!
Blackburn as a team have changed so much since their premiership winning days, with very few, if any players still playing for them who played in that successful 1995 season (oh yeah, Jeff Kenna!), but here’s a run down of the Blackburn squad:
Manager: Graeme Souness – 47 years old, one of the best Scottish midfielders of all time, a superb footballer, an even better manager I would argue. He’s played for Middlesboro, Liverpool and Sampdoria, then moving on to Glasgow Rangers, becoming their first ever player manager – and had incredible success there winning 4 successive league titles, and 4 league cups, only then to resign and take over the Anfield reigns from Kenny Dalglish, over at Merseyside. Just one FA Cup trophy at Liverpool, moved on to Galatasaray, again having great success, all the time receiving huge acclaim as a manager – something that has helped him in his pursuit for top players, footballers genuinely want to play for Souness. For a couple of years, 1996/7 he took over at Southampton, but then moved abroad again, firstly to Torino in Italy, then onto Benfica in Portugal, before being appointed Blackburn Rovers manager in March 2000. His first full season – got us back to where we belong.
Goalkeepers: Blackburn have a choice of 4 at the current time, with Alan Kelly’s Spurs move still unresolved, probably collapsed now, so Souness has to choose from American number 1 – Brad Friedel – he should be the number one keeper, was last season and proved to be superb, Australian giant John Filan – currently second choice, he’s a great player though, winning player of the season award (for Blackburn) when they got relegated – for some reason he played instead of Tim Flowers, but then Brian Kidd was in charge at the time… Alan Kelly – Irish international, a great keeper, it just seems he’s not good enough anymore, which is a shame, but at 32 he has a good 5 years of top flight football left in him – maybe someone like Bolton will buy him. Number4 goalkeeper is ex Gunners and West Brom, never playing Alan Miller, signed for Blackburn in February 2000, he’s rarely played, except for the reserves.
Defenders: Wearing the number 2 shirt, John Curtis has made his place in the centre of defence and is improving all the time – winning young player of the year at Manchester United, but wasn’t given the opportunities at Old Trafford and so became Souness’s first signing, at £1.5million, he’s one of the best young defenders in the country, definitely one of the best at Ewood Park. Stig Inge Bjornegbye cost just £300,000, but at 32, he’s not likely to be getting into the Rovers first team for much longer, as was the case last season. He’s had a fantastic career for his clubs – notably Liverpool, and has over 70 caps for his country, an achievement to be very proud of. 33 year old Craig Short is another Rovers defender who came from Everton, has played over 400 times, and is another player, unlikely to be in the first team – still, a great determined footballer, a great career to his name, helping to combine youth and experience in the defence. Jeff Kenna! Didn’t play for Blackburn last season, after being loaned to the now division 2 Tranmere Rovers, Jeff is a full Irish international, has played for Blackburn for longer than any other player at the club – a real asset. Marlon Charles Broomes – how about that for a posh name? Marlon is another young Rovers star, at 23 he has a long successful career ahead of him hopefully, and has represented England’s U21’s, played 20 first team games and made his debut in 1997 against PNE. Look out for Marlon, he’s more than just a posh name to his credit – not scared by any striker, quick, skilful and Ashley Cole like – top player.
More defenders: Henning Berg! Back at Blackburn after a fairly successful stint at the Red Devils, Henning is one of the best defenders in the country, he’s played more than 70 times for Norway, and is the only other player now playing for Rovers to have been part of that championship winning side. Ah the memories… 31year old Simon Grayson made his debut for Blackburn in 1999 against Port Vale, in a rather stale 0-0 encounter, signed from Aston Villa for £750,000, Grayson didn’t play for Rovers last season, as he was on loan at Stockport County. A good player, I doubt he’ll get in the 1st team week in week out though. Here’s another youngster – Martin Taylor, 21 years old, another player to make his way through the excellent youth academy at Blackburn, and into the first team, nicknamed Tiny, because he’s 6ft 4 of course, Taylor played for the 1st team for the latter stages of the promotion push last season – a strong, powerful defender who should be playing a lot next year. That should be most of the defenders…
Midfielders: Starting off with the intermittently brilliant Jason McAteer, he’s not the best player in the world, but when on form, he can be electric…sometimes, anyway – signed from Bolton in 1995 by Liverpool for £4.5million, then came to Blackburn for £4million in early 1999. Definitely on the bench, but not in the starting line up, but Jason has played 30 games for the Republic of Ireland, and has had a very strong career. Rovers skipper Garry Flitcroft! Signed for Blackburn in 1996 from Manchester City, Garry is one of the best playmakers at the club, and he can score goals too, ironically he got sent off on his Rovers debut, but has improved greatly throughout his time at the club, and is now one of the most respect Ewood Park players. David Dunn – the local hero, now one of the best young midfielders in the country, he’s captain of the U21 England side, played an influential role for Blackburn last season and is one of our prize assets – Dunn is superb, just 21 years old, he’s going to go far. Craig Hignett was bought from Barnsley in July 2000, becoming the Barnsley player of the year in 1998/9 – hasn’t played an awful lot for the club, a decent midfielder though, should be playing more next year.
Midfielders continued: When Jason Wilcox left for Leeds, Damien Duff stepped into the left wing position and made it his – in my view he’s one of the top 5 players in the country, just watch him play – be sceptical by all means, but Irish born 22year old Duff is an absolute joy to watch – I have never seen such a fast and skilful and short (5ft 8!) winger in all my life. He’s got a superb crossing ability, incredible pace, received the Republic of Ireland player of the year award in 1999/2000 and you will be seeing a lot more of young Damien – oh yes. Keith Gillespie came from Newcastle in 1998 for a £2million deal, after starting off at Old Trafford Keith was part of the deal that saw Andy Cole’s multi million pound move from St. James’ Park to Manchester United. A fast, skilful, right-winger with a deadly cross – I thought he was a good buy at the time. Top player. Continuing the Irish midfielders for some reason, here is Damien Johnson – Northern Irish I should say, Damien is another ‘product’ of the excellent youth training academy at Ewood – he can play in any midfield position, giving him the flexible edge over fellow team mates. Possibly.
Even more midfielders! Alan Mahon signed last month for £1.5million from Sporting Lisbon after enjoying a successful loan period at Blackburn, really making an impact in the promotion push last season. A quality player adding strength to the squad – he’s had experience at international level for Ireland, and in the champions League – very, very good signing and a four-year deal too. Darren Dunning is another youngster who has progressed through to the first team, at just 5ft 6, he’s one of the shortest players, and at just 19, he could well be a future star. An aggressive and determined player, he’s in the manager’s good books for giving 100% every game. Marc Keller – the only French player in the Rovers team, signed in January this year, with over 67 goals to his name in 380 appearances, Keller certainly brought a lot of experience to the club. Could be the bargain player of the year signing from West Ham on a free transfer, 33 years old, but still, a very stylish player. Last midfielder – another youngster, Jonathan Douglas – from Glasgow Celtic, the 19 yr old looks set to push his way into the first team.
Strikers: Starting off with veteran Mark Hughes – possibly the best welsh striker of all time, he’s now their manager and Blackburn striker, he’s played for many teams including Chelsea, Manchester United, Southampton, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Everton, joined Blackburn on a free, scoring on his debut – renowned for his superb volleys and spectacular overhead shots, Mark Hughes is a truly superb player, and he’s at a great club. He’ll be 38 on the 1st of November, still a strong presence in football. Nathan Blake – came to Blackburn for £4.5million from Bolton as part of Roy Hodgson’s rampant spending, a very impressive player – classically scored an own goal at Wales’ first game at the new Millennium Stadium, he’s had lots of injury trouble, especially last season, but still managed to make a few appearances and score important goals. With the top strikers around at Blackburn, I think Nathan will have to push incredibly hard for a place – 2 striker positions (should Blackburn play a 4-4-2), will probably be for Matt Jansen and Corrado Grabbi.
More Strikers: Matt Jansen – just 23 and already a shining star at Blackburn, player of the season last year at the club, making himself the second highest goal scorer in division one. Born in Carlisle, playing for Carlisle and Crystal Palace before making his way to Ewood Park in 1999 for £4million, should definitely be in the England first team, maybe this season he’ll show the top flight what he’s made of. A prolific footballer, great shooting ability and work rate. Marcus Bent – great name, but seriously – a great player, 23 year old Bent is still a young player, but already scored 37 goals in 153 appearances before joining Blackburn, cost £2million in a part exchange + loan deal + depending on appearances etc, you know, those really complicated signings, Marcus Bent is a tall striker, good in the air and has great pace – came from Sheffield United, a bargain. Another Norwegian, in the form of Egil Ostenstad, a 29year old striker who was part exchanged for Kevin Davies on his return to Southampton in 1999. Scored over 50 goals for Norwegian side Vikings, then moved to the Saints via Graeme Souness, and then to Blackburn. Last season he was on loan at Man City. A good player who has scored more in 3 games than Kevin Davies did in a whole season for Blackburn, but we haven’t seen the best of him yet.
Even more strikers! Another Welsh Striker – James Thomas, he’s got the luxury of playing in the same squad as his international boss, James is another up and coming young striker with great pace and skill, but unfortunately took an injury set back, but will doubtlessly be in the Rovers full team within a couple of seasons. Corrado Grabbi – Blackburn’s near £7million summer purchase from Serie B team Ternana, just turning 26 Grabbi, nicknamed ‘Ciccio’, should really aim to make his mark on the premiership if he wants to get anything out of English football. Played for Italy at junior level, he will surely want to get into the full international squad. Maybe Blackburn is the club for him to prove his worth. Let’s hope so! Burton O’Brien, the 20year old Scottish/South African Blackburn striker previously played for St Mirren, before signing for the Ewood side – described as one of the hottest properties in Scotland, O’Brien is a free kick specialist, and will be in the full Rovers team within a year or so. Almost there now, and Marc Richards – 19 year old Wolverhampton born striker to come up through the academy, made his full debut against West Ham in the Worthington cup last year, look out for him! Special mention to Ben Burgess – a young striker playing for Rovers reserves, he will be in the first team before too long.
So that’s most of the players covered, as for a team in general I can see big things happening for Blackburn. If you watched any of the games last season you’ll see that they’re such a youthful and revitalised team, that will be pushing for a top half position this season in the Premiership maybe even a European place? A decent cup run would do nicely – beating one of the top 5 teams, especially Manchester United – that’d be something, and basically, avoiding relegation, which I think they’ll do. Blackburn belongs in the Premiership, that’s where they are so you better watch out!
The stadium – fantastic, the kit – best design out there, the team – lets see how they take on the rest of the league.
Thanks for reading
Sulzeer