History of Blackburn Rovers F.C.
| Full name | Blackburn Rovers Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Rovers, Blue and Whites | ||
| Founded | 1875 | ||
| Ground | Ewood Park, Blackburn, Lancashire | ||
| Capacity | 31,367 | ||
| Owner | Venky's London Limited | ||
| Chairman | Vacant | ||
| Manager | Gary Bowyer | ||
| League | Football League Championship | ||
| Championship, 8th | |||
| Website | Club home page | ||
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Blackburn Rovers are an English football club formed in 1875.
The early years
The club BlackTURD Rovers was the idea of John Lewis and Arthur Constantine during a seventeen-man meeting at the Leger Hotel, Blackburn on 5 November 1875. The club's first secretary was Walter Duckworth, and Lewis was its first treasurer.
The first match played by Blackburn Rovers took place in Church, Lancashire on 11 December 1875.[1]
During the 1876–77 season, Rovers finally gained a ground of its own by renting a piece of farmland at Oozehead. Occasional games were also played at Pleasington Cricket Ground.
Subsequently Blackburn Rovers rented Alexandra Meadows, the home of the East Lancashire Cricket Club, for their matches. The inaugural game at Alexandra Meadows was played against Partick Thistle.
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 FA 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.
During the 1881–82 season, the club continued to rent the facilities at Alexandra Meadows, but began to look towards a move elsewhere. As the leading club in the area, it was felt that Rovers needed its own ground. A ground was leased at Leamington Street and £500 was spent on a new grandstand capable of seating 600–700 spectators. Boards were placed around the pitch to help prevent a repeat of the crowd troubles with Darwen, and a large ornate entrance arch was erected bearing the name of the club and ground.
On 25 March 1882, the club won through to the final of the FA 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. There was no repeat of the previous season's success during the 1882–83 season, when Rovers suffered a bitter defeat 1–0 at the hands of Darwen in the second-round. Local rivals Blackburn Olympic went on to be the first provincial team to actually win the FA Cup.
Rovers won the FA Cup in 1884 with a 2–1 victory over Queen's Park F.C.. The same teams played the FA Cup final again the next season, with Blackburn Rovers again emerging victorious, with a 2–0 win. Rovers repeated this success again the next season, winning the final against West Bromwich Albion.[2]
The Football League and Ewood Park
On 2 March 1888, William McGregor, a Birmingham shopkeeper and a committee member of Aston Villa Football Club, sent a letter to five clubs — Blackburn Rovers among them — suggesting that twelve of the leading clubs should organise a series of home and away matches between themselves. With the introduction of professional players, it seemed natural that better organisation should be brought to the complex and chaotic system of friendly and competitive matches prevalent at the time. On 22 March 1888 John Birtwistle represented Blackburn Rovers at a meeting of a number of clubs at the Anderton Hotel in London. This meeting, and subsequent ones, led to the creation of the Football League, with Blackburn Rovers as part of it. Rovers finished the inaugural season of the league in fourth place, and unbeaten at home.
Blackburn Rovers again reached the FA 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 FA Cup final. The summer of 1890 brought yet another significant event in the history of Blackburn Rovers with the decision to move again. The choice of new home was Ewood Park, and it remained the club's home for the next century or more.
Ewood Park was built in 1882, the idea of four local businessmen, and it had hosted a number of sporting events. In 1890 Blackburn Rovers purchased the ground and spent a further £1000 on refurbishments to bring it up to standard. The first match was played on 13 September 1890 against Accrington, with a 0–0 draw result.
The 1890–1891 season saw Blackburn Rovers win the FA Cup for fifth time against Notts County F.C. with a 3–1 victory.
Early 20th century
They were league champions in 1912 and 1914, and FA Cup winners in 1928.
Mid 20th century
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. Their final match prior to relegation was a triumph. By the last game of the season, they were already certain to be relegated, but at Villa Park, they beat the home side, thus dragging the only other team of the original Football League who had never been relegated, Aston Villa, with them. They struggled in the second division for the next two seasons, until winning the Second Division title in the final season before the war.
When the league resumed after the war, Blackburn Rovers were relegated in their second season (1947–48) and 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. Full back Dave Whelan was lost during the game to a broken leg, the game being played in the days before substitutes were allowed. Despite losing, cup final man of the match was future Scotland manager Ally MacLeod (left winger MacLeod scored 47 goals in 193 appearances for Rovers). During the 1960s Blackburn Rovers had several players who made it into national teams. They were again relegated from the First Division in 1966 and began a 26-year exile from the top division.
1970s and 1980s
During the 1970s, Blackburn Rovers bounced between the Second and Third Divisions, winning the Third Division title in 1975.
They were promoted 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 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).
1990s: The Jack Walker revolution
Back at the top (1991–1994)
Fat Jack Walker's takeover was too late to save Rovers from finishing 19th in the Second Division at the end of the 1990–91 season. Rovers began the 1991–92 season with Don Mackay still manager, but he was soon sacked to make way for Kenny Dalglish. Dalglish made several substantial signings during the season. After his appointment Rovers climbed the league, but later lost six games in a row, causing them to fall out of the play-off places, but Rovers fought back and a 3–1 victory at Plymouth got Rovers to the final play off place. The club reached the play-off final at Wembley where they beat Leicester City 1–0 thanks to a Mike Newell penalty.
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. Other expensive signings during the 1992–93 season included Chelsea defender Graeme Le Saux, Middlesbrough winger Stuart Ripley and Coventry striker Kevin Gallacher. They remained in the title challenge for most of the season before finishing fourth in the final table. Leeds midfielder David Batty and Southampton goalkeeper Tim Flowers were two key signings who helped Blackburn progress in 1993–94 and finish Premiership runners-up to Manchester United. Rovers broke the English transfer fee record again a few weeks later when paying Norwich City £5million for 21-year-old striker Chris Sutton.
Premiership Champions (1994–1995)
Blackburn bought the Premier League in 1994–95.
Ray Harford era (1995–1997)
Kenny Dalglish moved upstairs to the position of Director of Football at the end of the championship season, and handed over the reins to his assistant Ray Harford (1945–2003).
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 7–0 victory over Nottingham Forest on the day of the official opening of the redeveloped Ewood Park and a 4–1 win over Rosenborg were two highlights of an otherwise disappointing season. Alan Shearer became the first striker to score more than 30 Premiership goals in three successive seasons. Blackburn Rovers improved as the season went on, finishing seventh in the Premiership.
Alan Shearer was top goalscorer at Euro 96 and was linked to domestic and international clubs. The main talk in the national media was of Shearer joining hated rivals Manchester United. Blackburn Rovers, Alan Shearer and the Lancashire Evening Telegraph constantly dismissed the rumours especially the links with Manchester United. Local journalist Peter White stated that the club should never be forgiven should Shearer be allowed to join Manchester United.
| “ | "Rovers should never be forgiven for allowing that to happen. They know they would never be forgiven if they let Shearer go to the club the Rovers fans love to hate. Fans might just live with a move to Barcelona or Milan. But not to "that lot."[3] | ” |
However Shearer was sold to hometown club Newcastle United for a then world record fee of £15million in the summer of 1996.
It was clear that while Shearer was allowed to join Newcastle that Jack Walker would never have allowed him to join Manchester United. The chairman of Manchester United, Martin Edwards admitted this.
| “ | There was no way that Rovers would let him come here."[4] | ” |
Rovers failed to win in their opening 10 games of the 1996–97 Premiership and Harford resigned.[5]
On 16 December 1996 it was announced at an Ewood Park press conference that Sven-Göran Eriksson had signed an "unconditional contract" with Rovers to take over as manager at the end of the season on 1 July 1997 when his contract with Italian Serie A club U.C. Sampdoria expired.
It was hoped that the signing of Eriksson would usher in a new era of success after the continuing difficulties following Ray Harford's disappointing tenure as manager. "Not only do I want us to be a top club in this country, I want European football to be the norm for us", said club owner Jack Walker. "If we get support as high as we want it and the public back us in every way they can then we could even consider [redeveloping] the Walkersteel Stand".[6]
Renewed hope and downfall (1997–1999)
They were relegated in 1998-99.
The new millennium
Fighting for a comeback
They were promoted back to the Premier League in 2000–01.
Return and cup glory
In 2001–02, the club marked their first season back in the Premiership with a tenth-place finish and a new record signing, an £8m swoop for Manchester United's Andy Cole. They won their first-ever League Cup by beating Tottenham Hotspur 2–1 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff — where Cole proved his worth by scoring the winning goal in the 69th minute after Matt Jansen had put Rovers in front.
2003–2004: Setback
At the start of 2003–04 the sale of fan favourites Damien Duff and David Dunn meant that Rovers were always going to struggle to emulate the previous season's form, and there was anger from fans at their sales. In particular, Dunn, who had demanded a transfer after falling out with his manager.
2004–2008: Return of the Spark
Souness left just after the start of 2004–05 to take charge at Newcastle. Rovers appointed Welsh national coach Mark Hughes as his successor, a key player in the club's promotion and League Cup successes a few seasons earlier. Hughes secured Rovers Premiership survival for the 2004–05 season as well as an FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, with Rovers finishing 15th once again. He was able to strengthen the setup for 2005–06 with the £3.2 million transfer of much sought-after Wales international striker Craig Bellamy from Newcastle United. Following a 1–0 victory over league champions Chelsea F.C., Blackburn Rovers secured 6th place in the league and a spot in the UEFA Cup for the 2006–07 season — their third European qualification in five years. Bellamy scored 17 goals, 13 in the league, including vital goals in the 3–2 wins over Middlesbrough and the 2–2 draw at Portsmouth F.C..
After qualifying for Europe, Rovers signed South African striker Benni McCarthy from Porto as a replacement for the departed Craig Bellamy. Rovers finished top of their European group and were drawn against Bayer Leverkusen, losing 3–2 on aggregate. The club was busy during the January transfer window, signing David Dunn, Stephen Warnock, Christopher Samba and Bruno Berner. Leaving the squad were Dominic Matteo, Andy Taylor (loan), Joe Garner (loan), Lucas Neill and Jay McEveley. In cup competitions, Rovers were knocked out of the Carling Cup in the Third Round. They defeated Everton, Luton, Arsenal (after replay) and Manchester City in the FA Cup. Thereafter, they faced Chelsea for a place in the final, losing 2–1 when Michael Ballack scored Chelsea's winner in extra time. Rovers finished the season 10th in the league, with McCarthy netting 18 league goals. The club also qualified for the Intertoto Cup and drew Lithuanian side FK Vetra[7] of Vilnius.
To prepare for the 2007–08 season Rovers bought Roque Santa Cruz, Maceo Rigters and Gunnar Nielsen. In the January 2008 transfer window, Robbie Savage left for Derby in a £1.5m (rising to £2m) transfer to seek first team football. Rovers were never at any stage during the season outside the top ten and made their best start to a campaign for 10 years and Santa Cruz brilliantly shone scoring 23 goals in all competitions.[8]
Ince and Allardyce, The Venky's, Relegation and 80 million in debt (THE GOLDEN YEARS)
After the 2007–08 season, Mark Hughes released three senior players who were out of contract — defenders Stéphane Henchoz and Bruno Berner and goalkeeper Peter Enckelman.
On 22 June 2008, it was announced by the club that Paul Ince had been brought in to manage Rovers, signing a three-year deal.[9] Ince was presented to the media on Tuesday 24 June. Ince's first job though as the Blackburn Manager is to persuade some of the wantaway players to stay.[10] On 4 July, Paul Ince signed experienced coach Archie Knox, who will be taking over as 1st team coach for the oncoming season.
Before the start of the 2008–09 season, regular goalkeeper Brad Friedel and England international winger David Bentley left the club. Goalkeeper Paul Robinson then became Ince's first signing on 25 July for a fee of £3.5 million.
Ince's reign as Blackburn Rovers manager got off to the perfect start, with a 3–2 away win against Everton FC in the first game to the 2008–09 season. Blackburn drew 1–1 at home to Hull City before two heavy defeats to West Ham and Arsenal. They bounced back well and recorded back-to-back wins against Fulham and Newcastle United, but faded drastically: three draws and seven defeats, including five defeats in a row to saw Blackburn slip to 19th in the table after 16 games. This led to Ince coming under increasing pressure: he enjoyed some success in the Carling Cup, with wins over Everton and Sunderland. Eventually Ince paid the price for poor results, and a 3–0 defeat away to Wigan saw him sacked a few days later. He was replaced by the former Bolton manager Sam Allardyce. Allardyce secured Premier League survival, and despite a difficult start to the 2009–10 season Rovers recovered well in the second half of the campaign to secure a comfortable 10th place finish with 50 points — placing them 20 points clear of the relegation zone.[11]
Then Indian chicken farmers bought ewood park and renamed it bollywood park. At half time the replaced the traditional pie and peas and brought in chicken buckets and somosas much to the delight of the inbred fans.
Venky's finally got rid of allardyce and appointed Lord Steve Kean who got woevers relegated =)
since then blackturd rovers have been in the shadow of their superior, premier league rivals the mighty fucking clarets
LONG LIVE THE VENKY'S
Grounds
| Years | Location | Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| 1875–76 | Church | n/a |
| 1876–77 | Oozehead | n/a |
| 1877–82 | Alexandra Meadows | n/a |
| 1882–90 | Leamington Street | 600–700 |
| 1890–present | Bollywood Park aka the venkydome | 31,367 |
References
- ↑ "1875 - 1884: The early years". History. Blackburn Rovers FC. 2 July 2007. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
- ↑ James M. Ross (5 February 2015). "England FA Challenge Cup Finals". RSSSF. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
- ↑ p.?, Lancashire Evening Telegraph Thursday 11 July 1996
- ↑ p.?, Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 30 July 1996
- ↑ "Ray Harford". The Telegraph. 11 August 2003. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
- ↑ p.32, Lancashire Evening Telegraph, Tuesday 17 December 1996
- ↑ Blackburn Rovers - Vetra: 4 - 0 Match report from ScoresPro.com
- ↑ http://www.premierleague.com/page/blackburn-rovers
- ↑ "Paul Ince Rovers New Manager". Rovers official website. 22 June 2008.
- ↑ "Warnock - Exciting times lay ahead!". BBC Sport. 23 June 2008.
- ↑ "Aston Villa 0-1 Blackburn". BBC News. 9 May 2010.
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