History of Blackburn

Club Overview

Blackburn Rovers FC was founded by John Lewis and Arthur Constantine on November 5th 1875. In 1880 the club moved to its current home stadium Ewood Park, located in the Lancashire area of Blackburn, England. It was one of the only teams to be the founding members of both the Premier League and Football League. The team’s colors are blue and white.

Over the years the club was gone through periods of success and failure. The club was most successful during its early years of existence, wining the League Division 1 and FA Cup three years in a row. During that time period, English football legends such as Hughie McIntyr played for the squad. The Rovers worst performance came from the 1970s till the start of the new millennium, as the club was stuck in the Second Division. It wasn’t till Jack Walker invested in the team in 1990 got promoted again into the Premier League. Overall the club was won a total of 6 FA Cups.

Club History

The idea of having a football team that would play out of Blackburn under football association rules was first discussed in a meeting on November 5th 1875. The founders John Lewis and Arthur Constantine, two football fans that both came from the middle class and were well educated, wanted to create a football team which could compete with other clubs from England, during a time which football was on the rise. Only a week later, the Blackburn Rovers Football Club was formed

The Rovers first game took place at a church on December 11th 1875, as they played against the church club in a game which ending in a draw. The club wore the colours light blue and white, influenced by the Cambridge educated members of the club.

Still in its early stages the organization did not have a high source of revenue, as it did not have a playing ground of its own. Its sole income came from the player’s subscriptions. However, in the 1876-1877 season the club finally found a spot to play, renting out some farm land in Oozehead, on the west side of town facing Preston New Road. The new ground featured a watering hole and other such difficulties, making it a hard place to play football.

Due to the poor playing conditions, the Rovers did not stay long on those fields. The club started renting out Alexandra Meadows, the home of the East Lancanshire Cricket Club. The Blackburn Rover’s first game at the new stadium was held on January 2nd 1878, when the club defeated the Scottish team Partick Thistle by a score of 2-1 with two goals from Richard Birtwistle.

That same season the club joined the English Cup for the first time. After defeating Tyne Association and the Darwen Rovers, the club was defeated 6-0 by Nottingham Forest and was eliminated from the competition. At the same time period the club’s dominance in the Blackburn area was being challenged by another football club from Blackburn.

This forced the Rovers to increase their standards of play. The club began to recruit players from Scotland for assistance. Their first acquisition was Rangers captain Hughie McIntyre. At the same time, the club Darwen was also looking towards Scotland for players. This established a bitter rivalry between the two teams. The bitterness between the two clubs was most evident during the Lancashire Cup, as the crowd invaded the pitch on more then one occasion, forcing the referee to abandon the game at half time.

The next meeting between the two teams occurred at the FA Cup in 1882 after the Blackburn Rovers moved to their new grounds on Leamington Street called Ewood Park. Blackburn defeated Darwen and advanced into the next round of the competition. Despite making it to the finals of the competition, the club lost by a score of 1-0 to Old Etonians.

Following that defeat the Rovers won back to back FA Cups for three years in a row, in 1884, 1885 and 1886. The club defeated Queen’s Park FC for the first two years and West Bromwich in the third. The superstars of the squad at that time were Brown and Forrest. The Rovers also beat their city rivals, the Blackburn Olympic to become the first team to bring back the trophy for Blackburn.

Legal professional football started in England in 1886. This allowed Blackburn to spend money for the footballer’s wages. Despite this new professionalism, the club did not perform well during the 1890’s. The Rovers avoided relegation when the amount of teams playing in the First Division increased from 16 to 18.The club went up and down in the Premier League tables, with their best finish being ninth place during the entire decade.

The Rovers’ performance started to improve during the 20th century. After the club concentrated on spending their money towards renovated its stadium, the organization put funds towards acquiring new players. Some of the key players which the Rovers acquired were Jimmy Ashcroft, the England international goalkeeper from Arsenal and Eddie Latheron. These new players made a huge contribution to the Rovers long time high standings in the English Premier League. The club won the League Division 1 (currently the Premier League) title in 1911-1912 and 1913-1914 seasons. However due to World War, football in England was put to a halt.

The pre-war success of the Rovers did not follow after football was reestablished in England in 1919. The club was on the edge of relegation despite the addition of David Rollo, Frank Reilly, Ronnie Sewell and Levy Thorpe to strengthen the defense. It took the signing Norman Rodgers for the Rovers to start a slow recovery, resulting in the club finishing 11th place. The club also appointed their first full time manager, Jack Carr, who resigned are embracing defeats by amateur teams.

Bob Crompton replaced Carr and the club relied heavily on him to change the club’s fortunes. Crompton took the club to 12th, 7th and 6th place finishes during his stay with the team. The highlight of his career however was wining the FA Cup in 1928.

Crompton was sacked in 1931 due to financial instability of the team. As the Great Depression came, fans did not have any money to pay for tickets to the game. The Rovers found increased difficulties in trying to compete with larger club organizations. In order to balance the books the club sold its best players to larger clubs, causing fans to protest against the organization.

With a weakened team, the club could not compete well with other teams in the First Division, resulting in relegation. However, life in the Second Division was not any easier as the Rovers lost many matches, including a humiliating run the FA Cup in 1937. The club finished 16th place the following season, one step away from being demoted to Division Three.

In order to have the save the Rovers from being relegated, the organization rehired Crompton. He drafted new players to the squad and change the team’s playing formation. As a result the club started winning more matches and eventually became highly ranked in the Championship Division. Eventually in 1940 the club was again promoted the First Division. The Rovers were only able to play three games before the start of World War II.

After the Great War, Crompton was not longer part of the team. The team relied on former Arsenal player Eddie Hapgood, to take them to first place Profits were low at this time, forcing the club to spend minimal amounts of money on acquiring new players. Despite starting the season out strong, the Rovers were not able to hold on to their top of the table position. The club sank to the bottom of the table and eventually got demoted to the Second Division.

While in the Second Division, the Rovers performed on a mediocre level. Despite having very talented rookies on the squad, the club finished mid table in their first two seasons. The highlight of the squad was Bill Eckersley who got international recognition for talent.

In order to bring the club back into the First Division, the Rovers signed Johnny Carey as manager in 1954. Carey was known for his ability to push his team to play at their fullest potential. He strengthened the team as young players such as Ronnie Clayton, Bryan Douglas played well with veterans.

The Rovers eventually got promoted once again to the First Division in 1957/58 season. The club even went to the final of the FA Cup, but lost to the Wolverhampton Wanderers after playing with only 10 men on the field. Several players from the Blackburn Rovers even made it to the international squad.

Following the team’s golden era, the club got relegated in 1966. This began the club’s 26 year exile from the First Division. During the 1970s and 80, the club bounced between the Second and Third Division. Despite changes in management, the club just did not have the talent to play in the First Division.

It wasn’t till 1991 that the club’s fortunes turned around as steel industry millionaire Jack Walker took over the organization and invested money into new talent for the squad. He also replaced the manager Don Mackay with Kenny Dalglish, the former manager of Liverpool who brought the club five titles. Amongst the new players that he brought to the squad were Chelsea defender Graeme Le Saux and Middlesbrough winger Stuart Ripley.

The Rovers instantly started doing well. They were easily defeated all their opponents and quickly climbed to the top of the Second Division. By scoring the only goal of game in the league play-offs against Leicester City, Mike Newell put the Blackburn Rovers back in the for Blackburn, premier League for the first time in 26 years. They were also in the European Cup for the first time in the 1992/93 season.

The club however did not have the same fortune in the FA Cup and UEFA Cup but became successful in the League Cup. Alan Shearer, the main goal scorer for the squad was injured and not able to participate in all three competitions. However, in the league the club was successful defeating tough squads as Liverpool FC. The Blackburn Rovers won the Premiership Cup in 1994/95. Dalglish got promoted to the director of football and Ray Harford took over the manager position.

During Harford’s reign, the club performed poorly. The Blackburn Rovers struggled in the Champions League, UEFA Cup and Premiership. The club was on the brinks of relegation. Alan Shearer was the only light of success during this time, as the striker became the top goal scorer of the 96 Euro and first striker to ever score 30 goals in three Premiership seasons. However at the end of the 96 campaign Shearer was sold to Newcastle.

Roy Hodgson took over Harford’s position in summer of 1997 and instantly had a positive effect on the club. The club began defeating top ranked teams in the EPL, finishing 6th in the league. He also helped the club recruit highly rated players such as striker Martin Dahlin and defender Stephane Henchoz.

However, during his second year as coach Hodgson’s success began to wear of. The team was again about to be get relegated and was poorly performing in major European competitions. The signing of young Southampton striker Kevin Davies was a disaster and the team’s captain and defensive midfielder was sold to Tottenham, leaving with team without any leadership. Brian Kidd, the assistant manager for Manchester United took over Hodgson’s position.

After a short stay with the team, Kidd was not successful with the squad. Despite all efforts he could not prevent the team from being relegated. Kidd eventually got replaced by Tony Parkes on a temporary basis. The club appointed Graeme Souness to take Parkers spot. That same year, 2000, Jack Walker died and the club dedicated a promotion challenge on his behalf.

After signing Andy Cole, Turkish international Tugay Kerimoglu and Italian superstar Corrado Grabbi, the Rover got the strength to make it back into the Premier League in 2001. However, the biggest achievement of that season was winning the Worthington Cup at Millennium Stadium after beating Tottenham by a score of 2-1.

From that point till present day the Rovers have not won any more trophies. They have been adding players and changing coaches in hopes of improving the squad. Currently, the squad is in 10th place of the EPL tables and is being coached by Paul Ince.

Club Rivalries

Burnley FC

Manchester United

Blackpool FC

Stars of the Current Squad

David Dunn -- Midfielder-- #8

Ryan Nelson--Defender-- Captain

Benny McCarthy-- Striker-- #10

Club Legends

Most Appearances

Most Goals

Player Recognition & Awards

Team Honours

Club Management

Paul Ince- Paul Ince is a former player for Manchester United and the first black player to captain the English National Team. He managed the second division teams Milton Keynes Dons and Macclesfield Town before joining Bolton in 2008.

Uniforms

Home	Away

Stadium

Ewood Park- The Blackburn Rovers have been playing at Ewood Park ever since 1882. The stadium is composed of four sessions and holds about 32,000 people. It is the oldest home to an English Premier League team.

Sponsors

Important Links

http://www.rovers.premiumtv.co.uk/

References

http://www.rovers.premiumtv.co.uk/