| Full name | Blackburn Rovers Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Rovers, Blue and Whites, The Riversiders[1] | ||
| Founded | 1875 | ||
| Ground | Ewood Park, Blackburn, Lancashire (Capacity: 31,367) |
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| Owner | Venky's London Limited | ||
| Chairman | Vacant | ||
| Manager | Steve Kean | ||
| League | Premier League | ||
| 2010–11 | Premier League, 15th | ||
| Website | Club home page | ||
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| Current season | |||
Blackburn Rovers Football Club ( /ˈblækbɜrn ˈroʊvərz/) is an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The team currently competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football.
The club was established in 1875, becoming a founding member of The Football League in 1888. It is one of only three clubs to have been both a founder member of the Football League and the Premier League (the others being Aston Villa and Everton). In 1890 Rovers moved to its permanent home at Ewood Park. Prior to the formation of the Premier League in 1992, most of the club's successes were before 1930, when it had gained league and FA Cup trophies on several occasions. Relegation in 1966 was followed by 26 successive seasons of football outside the top flight.
In 1992, Blackburn was promoted to the new Premier League a year after being taken over by local steel baron Jack Walker, who installed Kenny Dalglish as manager. In 1995, Blackburn became league champions, having spent millions of pounds on players like Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton. However, the title-winning team was quickly split up and, in 1999, the club was relegated. It was promoted back to the Premier League two years later, just after Walker's death, and has been in the top flight ever since. During this time it has qualified for the UEFA Cup four times: once as League Cup winners, twice as the Premier League's sixth-placed team and once via the Intertoto Cup. The 2009–10 season marked the club's 70th nonconsecutive year in the top flight. Blackburn are currently one of only four clubs to have won the Premier League, along with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United. The club's Latin motto is "Arte et labore", the club's translation of which is "By Skill & Hard Work".
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The club was founded following a meeting at the Leger Hotel, Blackburn on 5 November 1875.[2] The first match played by Blackburn Rovers took place in Church, Lancashire on 18 December 1875 and was a 1–1 draw.
On 28 September 1878, Blackburn Rovers became one of 23 clubs to form the Lancashire Football Association. On 1 November 1879 the club played in the F.A. Cup for the first time, beating the Tyne Association Football Club 5–1. Rovers were eventually put out of the competition in the third round after suffering a heavy 6–0 defeat by Nottingham Forest.
On 25 March 1882 the club won through to the final of the F.A. Cup against the Old Etonians. Blackburn Rovers was the first provincial team to reach the final, but the result was a 1–0 defeat by the Old Etonians.
Rovers finally won the F.A. Cup on 29 March 1884 with a 2–1 victory over the Scottish team Queen's Park F.C.. The same teams played the F.A. Cup final again the next season, with Blackburn Rovers again emerging victorious, with a 2–0 score. Rovers repeated this success yet again the next season, winning the final against West Bromwich Albion. For this three-in-a-row of F.A. Cup victories, the club was awarded a specially commissioned silver shield and given the unique privilege of displaying the club crest on its corner flags.
The 1885–86 season was the birth of the legal professional footballer, and Blackburn Rovers spent £615 on player wages for the season.
Blackburn Rovers were founder members of the Football League in 1888.[3]
Blackburn Rovers again reached the F.A. Cup final on 29 March 1890 at the Kennington Oval. The club claimed the trophy for the fourth time, by beating Sheffield Wednesday a hefty 6–1—with left forward William Townley scoring three goals and becoming the first player to achieve a hat-trick in the F.A. Cup final.[4]
The 1890–91 season saw Blackburn Rovers win the F.A. Cup for the fifth time against Notts County F.C. with a 3–1 victory. During the 1897–98 season the club stayed in the first division only as the result of a decision to increase the number of teams from 16 to 18. The season did, however, mark the beginning of Bob Crompton's 45-year association with the club, both as a player and eventually as an F.A. Cup winning manager.
Blackburn Rovers continued to struggle during the early years of the 20th century, but the results began a gradual improvement. Major renovations were made to Ewood Park: in 1905 the Darwen End was covered at a cost of £1680 and the new Nuttall Stand was opened on New Year's Day 1907. During the first three decades of the 20th century, Blackburn Rovers were still considered a top side in the English league. They were league champions in 1912 and 1914, and F.A Cup winners in 1928, but the F.A Cup win was their last major trophy for nearly 70 years.
Blackburn Rovers maintained a respectable mid-table position in the First Division until they were finally relegated (along with Aston Villa) from the top flight (for the first time since the foundation of the league) in the 1935–36 season.
When the league resumed after the war, Blackburn Rovers were relegated in their second season (1947–48). At this time the tradition of burying a coffin began. The club remained in the second division for the following ten years. After promotion in 1958, they again returned to the mid-table position they had occupied in the earlier part of the century. During this time, they seldom made a serious challenge for a major trophy – although they did reach the 1960 FA Cup final when managed by Scot Dally Duncan. Rovers lost this game 3–0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers after playing most of the game with only 10 men on the field.
There were brief hopes of a return to glory in the 1963–64 season, when a remarkable 8–2 away win over West Ham United in east London on Boxing Day took them to the top of the league. However, their lead of the league was short lived and they finished the season some way down the table as the title was seized by a Liverpool side who would record a further 12 league titles over the next 26 years, while Blackburn's fortunes took a very different route.[5] They were again relegated from the First Division in 1966 and began a 26-year exile from the top division.
During the 1970s, Blackburn Rovers bounced between the Second and Third Divisions, winning the Third Division title in 1975, but never mounted a challenge for promotion to the First Division despite the efforts of successive managers to put the club back on track. They went up as runners up in the Third Division in 1980 and have remained in the upper two tiers of the English league ever since. In 1988–89 they mounted their first serious promotion challenge for many years, and reached the Second Division playoff final in its last-ever season of the home-away two-legged format – but lost to Crystal Palace. A defeat in the 1989–90 Second Division playoff semi-finals brought more frustration to Ewood Park, but the following season saw the club taken over by local steelworks owner and lifelong supporter Jack Walker (1929–2000).
Following the Walker takeover Rovers finished 19th in the Second Division at the end of the 1990–91 season, but the new owner had made millions of pounds available to spend on new players and appointed Kenny Dalglish as manager.
Rovers made headlines in the summer of 1992 by paying an English record fee of £3.5million for the 22-year-old Southampton and England centre forward Alan Shearer. They went on the win the Premier League title in 1994–95. The title chase went down to the last game of the season, but despite Rovers losing to Liverpool they edged out rivals Manchester United to win the championship.
Kenny Dalglish moved upstairs to the position of Director of Football at the end of the Premier League winning season, and handed over the reins to his assistant Ray Harford. Blackburn Rovers made a poor start to the 1995–96 season, and found themselves in the bottom half for most of the first half of the season. Rovers also struggled in the Champions League and finished bottom of their group with just four points. A terrible start to the 1996–97 Premier League campaign saw Harford resign in late October with the club bottom of the division, having failed to win any of their first ten games. Relegation looked a real possibility, just two seasons after winning the league. Harford was replaced by Roy Hodgson, who joined the club from Internazionale in the summer of 1997. UEFA Cup football was secured with a 6th place finish. However, Rovers made a poor start to the 1998–99 campaign and Hodgson was sacked in December less than an hour after a 2–0 home defeat to bottom side Southampton, a result that locked Rovers in the relegation zone. He was replaced as manager by Brian Kidd. However, he could not save them as the club slipped away, relegation was confirmed with a scoreless draw at home to Manchester United in the penultimate game of the season.
In 1999–2000 Rovers began the season as promotion favourites, but with the club hovering just above the Division One relegation zone Brian Kidd was sacked in October and replace in March by Graeme Souness. Jack Walker died just after the start of the 2000–01 season, and the club dedicated its promotion challenge in memory of their benefactor. Fittingly, they returned to the Premier League after a much improved season, finishing second behind Fulham.
In 2001–02, Blackburn record signing Andy Cole was bought in for £8million, and Rovers won their first-ever League Cup by beating Tottenham Hotspur 2–1 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Cole scoring the winnerin the 69th minute. The following season Rovers finished sixth to qualify for the UEFA Cup for the second season running. Souness left just after the start of 2004–05 to take charge at Newcastle, and he was replaced by Welsh national coach Mark Hughes. Hughes secured Rovers' Premier League survival for the 2004–05 season as well as an FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, with Rovers finishing 15th once again. He lead the team to sixth the following season and Rovers's third European qualification in five years.
Rovers reached the semi-final of the 2006–07 FA Cup, but lost to Chelsea in extra time, and finashed that season's league in tenth, qualifying for the Intertoto Cup, which led to a short run in the 2007–08 UEFA Cup. In May 2008, Mark Hughes left Blackburn Rovers for the vacancy at Manchester City. He was replaced by Paul Ince,[6] Ince's first job was to persuade some of the wantaway players to stay.[7] with Archie Knox coming in as his assistant.[8] Ince's time in charge started well, but following a run of eleven games without a win he was sacked in December 2008.[9] Sam Allardyce was appointed as Ince's replacement[10] and in 2009–10 he led the team to a tenth place finish and a League up semi-final.
In November 2010 the Indian company V H Group bought Blackburn Rovers under the name of Venky's London Limited for £23 million.[11] The new owners sacked Allardyce and replaced him with first-team coach Steve Kean, initially on a temporary basis.[12]. In December 2011 it was announced that Blackburn Rovers posted an annual pre-tax loss of £18.6m for the year ending 30 June 2011. Despite this the owners of Blackburn Rovers have provided assurances over the continued funding of the club, even if they are relegated this season.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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For recent transfers, see 2011–12 Blackburn Rovers F.C. season.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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For a list of notable Blackburn Rovers players in sortable-table format see List of Blackburn Rovers F.C. players.
The Peter White Memorial Trophy is awarded to the player winning the goal of the season competition, which started in season 2000–01. Winners are as follows:
| Season | Scorer | Opposition | Stadium | Competition | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000–01 | Damien Duff | Birmingham City | St. Andrew's | First Division | February 2001 |
| 2001–02 | Damien Duff | Ipswich Town | Ewood Park | Premier League | 13 March 2002 |
| 2002–03 | Andy Cole | Liverpool | Anfield | Premier League | 26 December 2002 |
| 2003–04 | Tugay Kerimoğlu | Birmingham City | St. Andrew's | Premier League | 6 December 2003 |
| 2004–05 | Morten Gamst Pedersen | Burnley | Ewood Park | FA Cup 5th Round | 1 March 2005 |
| 2005–06 | Steven Reid | Wigan Athletic | JJB Stadium | Premier League | 31 December 2005 |
| 2006–07 | Benni McCarthy | Arsenal | Ewood Park | FA Cup 5th Round | 28 February 2007 |
| 2007–08 | Tugay Kerimoğlu | Reading | Ewood Park | Premier League | 20 October 2007 |
| 2008–09 | Aaron Mokoena | Sunderland | Ewood Park | FA Cup 4th Round | 4 February 2009 |
| 2009–10 | Martin Olsson[16] | Aston Villa | Villa Park | League Cup Semi Final | 20 January 2010 |
| 2010–11 | David Hoilett | WBA | Ewood Park | Premier League | 23 January 2011 |
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| Date | Honours |
|---|---|
| 1994–95 | Premier League Champions |
| 1911–12, 1913–14 | League Division 1 (now Premier League) champions |
| 1993–94 | Premier League runners-up |
| 2000–01 | League Division 1 (now the Championship) runners-up |
| 1938–39 | League Division 2 (now the Championship) champions |
| 1957–58 | League Division 2 (now the Championship) runners-up |
| 1974–75 | League Division 3 (now League One) champions |
| 1979–80 | League Division 3 (now League One) runners-up |
| 1884, 1885, 1886, 1890, 1891, 1928 | FA Cup winners |
| 1882,1960 | FA Cup runners-up |
| 2002 | League Cup winners |
| 1987 | Full Members Cup winners |
| 1912 | Charity Shield winners |
| 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1896, 1901, 1902, 1904, 1907, 1909, 1911, 1945 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2007 |
Lancashire Senior Cup winners |
| 1959 | FA Youth Cup winners |
| 1998, 2000 | FA Youth Cup runners-up |
| Period | Manager | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1884–1896 | Thomas Mitchell | Won 5 FA Cups (1884, 1885, 1886, 1890 & 1891) |
| 1896–1903 | Joseph Warmsley | |
| 1903–1925 | Robert Middleton | Won League Titles (1912–1913 & 1913–1914) and Charity Shield (1912) Longest Serving Manager (22 years & 3 months) |
| 1922–1926 | Jack Carr | |
| 1926–1930 | Bob Crompton | Won FA Cup (1928) |
| 1931–1936 | Arthur Barritt | |
| 1936–1938 | Reg Taylor | |
| 1938–1941 | Bob Crompton | Won Division 2 Title (now Championship 1938–1939) |
| 1946–1947 | Eddie Hapgood | |
| 1947 | Will Scott | |
| 1947–1949 | Jack Bruton | |
| 1949–1953 | Jackie Bestall | |
| 1953–1958 | Johnny Carey | Only manager from outside the United Kingdom |
| 1958–1960 | Dally Duncan | |
| 1960–1967 | Jack Marshall | |
| 1967–1970 | Eddie Quigley | |
| 1970–1971 | Johnny Carey | |
| 1971–1973 | Ken Furphy | |
| 1974–1975 | Gordon Lee | Won Third Division (now League One 1974–1975) |
| 1975–1978 | Jim Smith | |
| 1978 | Jim Iley | |
| 1978–1979 | John Pickering | Shortest Serving Manager (3 months) |
| 1979–1981 | Howard Kendall | |
| 1981–1986 | Bobby Saxton | |
| 1987–1991 | Don Mackay | Won Full Members Cup (1987) |
| 1991–1995 | Kenny Dalglish | Won Premier League Title (1994–1995) |
| 1995–1996 | Ray Harford | |
| 1997–1998 | Roy Hodgson | |
| 1998–1999 | Brian Kidd | Relegated from English Premier League to English Division - League One 1998/99 season |
| 1999–2000 | Tony Parkes | |
| 2000–2004 | Graeme Souness | Runners up/Promotion from English Division - League one to English Premier League 2000/01 season. Won League Cup (2002) |
| 2004–2008 | Mark Hughes | |
| 2008 | Paul Ince | |
| 2008–2010 | Sam Allardyce | |
| 2010–present | Steve Kean |
The Rovers kit have always been fundamentally the same; two team colours split across the shirt. One sleeve and one side of the shirt would be each colour. The shorts started white and the socks dark blue. Although the sock pattern and colours would change, everything else, for the most part, has not been touched since 1905. Since changing to white shorts in recent years, the home kits have had dark blue shorts since 1904, when they were changed for a year, then rejected and changed back. Blackburn Rovers colours for 2007–08 as voted for by fans. For 2007–08 the traditional blue and white remains, however the away kit is a brand new idea using the existing away colours (black & red) for the first time in a halved formation.
The team badge includes the Red Rose of Lancaster, the year of the team's founding (1875) and the Latin motto Arte et Labore (correctly translated as "by skill and by labour"), which was adopted as the motto of the town of Blackburn in 1852 and appears on the town coat of arms. The badge has remained generally unchanged during the team's history.
During the 2007–08 season the club were sponsored by Bet24 and their technical sponsors were Umbro. 12 March 2008 The club announced that Crown Paints would be their new club sponsor as of 2008–09, the Lancashire based company signed a three year deal with the club.[17] For the 2008/09 season, the club decided to relegate the Black and Red halved kit to being their 3rd kit, and had an all Black (shirt and shorts) kit as their away kit, with a small blue and white halved patch directly underneath the chin at the top of the shirt.
Previous/current shirt sponsors:
Previous/current kit manufacturers
Blackburns first home ground was a field at Oozehead on Preston New Road to the north west of the town. This field was farmland and was owned by a local farmer, when Blackburn Rovers weren't using the field it was used to graze cows. In the centre of the field was a large watering hole, which on match days was covered with timber and turf.[18]
Due to the rough conditions at Oozehead, the committee felt an established sports ground would be best to play on. Therefore half way through the 1877 season they acquired the use of Pleasingtons cricket ground to the south west of the town. Play stopped on this ground after Henry Smith of Preston North End died of a heart attack whilst playing.[18]
Still adopting cricket grounds, the committee acquired the use of the East Lancashire Cricket Clubs ground in the centre of the town, Alexandra Meadows. The first game played was a friendly against Scottish team Partick on 2 January 1878. It was on this ground Blackburn Rovers played for the first time under artificial light against Accrington on 4 November 1878.[18]
26 February 1881 England 0 Wales 1
Due to the increasing demand in football in the area and in particular for Blackburn Rovers the committee felt that a private ground was more fitting. Therefore in 1881 the club moved to Leamington Road, Blackburn Rovers' first purpose built ground including a £500, 700 people capacity seated grandstand. The first game played at this ground was held on 8 October 1881 against Blackburn Olympic resulting in a 4–1 win for Rovers. Whilst at Leamington Road and under Thomas Mitchell the club won three FA Cups and was inaugurated into the Football League as a founding Member in 1888. However regardless of the clubs success they had to leave Leamington Road due to increases in lease costs.[18]
14 March 1885 England 1 Wales 1 19 March 1885 England 2 Scotland 3
Built in April 1882 as Ewood Bridge. The ground was an all purpose sporting venue hosting football, athletics and dog racing. The Blackburn Rovers committee felt this was the ideal venue for the club after already playing their for numerous games in 1882. The first game played at the new Ewood Park ground was on 13 September 1890 against Accrington, the 0–0 draw was viewed by 10000 people and on 31 October 1892 artificial lights were installed.[18] Ewood is the oldest consecutive home of a Premier League team, Blackburn having been there longer than Chelsea and Liverpool have been at their present homes, even though their stadia were constructed first. This stadium sits on the bank of the River Darwen in Blackburn, Lancashire. Blackburn is one of only two football clubs (the other being the Wanderers) to win the FA Cup for three seasons in a row, retaining the exclusive right to place their club logo on the corner flags, despite these victories being achieved at their previous stadium. Ewood Park is also the only football ground in the Premier League to have a multi-faith prayer room.[19]
Blackburn Rovers supporters have formed several support clubs related to the team, and almost all of them are partially focused on making trips to Ewood Park easier. In addition, although Rovers home games are the least attended in the Premier League for the size of the stadium, on average nearly an amount equal to a fifth of Blackburn (pop. approximately 100,000). Blackburn also have a very vocal support group when it comes to big decisions being made for the club, a support group created on a media site, objecting to the appointment of Sam Allardyce as replacement for outgoing boss Mark Hughes for instance.
In January 2006, Blackburn Rovers Supporters Football Club (BRSFC) was formed by a group of Blackburn Rovers supporters through the clubs official message board. This team is not one of a group of breakaway teams such as FC United of Manchester (Manchester United) which was created by disgruntled fans in the wake of Malcolm Glazer's takeover at Old Trafford. BRSFC enjoys an affiliation with Blackburn Rovers Football Club and are registered with the Lancashire Football Association.
Celebrity fans include the current Doctor Who Matt Smith, comedians Jim Bowen and Lee Mack, former Justice Secretary Jack Straw, fashion designer Wayne Hemingway and former World Superbike champion Carl Fogarty.
Other supporters of Rovers include professional footballers Phil Jones (Manchester United), former England International James Beattie and current Republic of Ireland U-21 footballer Anthony Pilkington (Norwich City).
As of and including 1 September 2011[25]
Derek Fazackerley, 593+3sub, 1970/71 to 1986/87
Simon Garner, 194 goals (168 league), 1978/79 to 1991/92
62,255 v Bolton Wanderers, FA Cup 6th round, 2 March 1929
£8m to Manchester United for Andrew Cole in December 2001
£18m from Manchester City F.C. for Roque Santa Cruz in June 2009
11–0 v Rossendale United, Ewood Park, FA Cup 1st round 13 October 1884
9–0 v Middlesbrough, Ewood Park, Division 2, 6 November 1954
8–2 v West Ham United, Division 1, 26 December 1963
0–8 v Arsenal, Division 1, 25 February 1933, 0–8 v Lincoln City, Division 2, 29 August 1953[26]
1–7 v Notts County, 14 March 1891 1–7 v Middlesbrough, 29 November 1947
13: 5–8 v Derby County, 6 September 1890
60 (1974/75)
91 (2000/01)
20 (1965/66)
35 (1998/99)
Walter Crook, 208 (1934–46)
Ted Harper, 43, Division 1, 1925/26
Tommy Briggs, 7 v Bristol Rovers, Ewood Park, Division 2, 5 February 1955
8, 1963/64
13, Jack Southworth, 1887–1893
Ronnie Clayton, 56, 1949–1969
Derek Fazackerley, 38, 1969–1987
Harry Dennison, aged 16 yrs and 155 days against Bristol City, Division 1, 8 April 1911
Bob Crompton, 40 yrs and 150 days against Bradford, Division 1, 23 February 1920
24 games including 3 consecutive FA Cup wins, 1884–86. Still an FA Cup record
Reference for above facts[27]
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