Reappraisal.

Jimmy Pierce looks back at the Blackburn Rovers' team of 1994-1995 to dispel the myth that the club simply spent their way to the Premier League trophy.

 

Ask anyone to summarise how Blackburn managed to win their first League title for 81 years and they will undoubtedly recall Jack Walker's wealth, Alan Shearer's goals and his partnership with Chris Sutton (the "SAS") – probably in that order.

 

A quick internet search generates season reviews which invariably but frustratingly convey the message that "moneybags" Blackburn "bought their way to the title". While Rovers owe a huge debt of gratitude to their generous benefactor, which their fans continue to vociferously acknowledge, the emphasis on money is unjust and the assertion that they only won the league because of it is ignorant of the facts and holds no weight.

 

To win a league, a team must invest in playing staff. Rovers admittedly spent a considerable amount on their strike force, twice breaking the British transfer record and parting with £8.3 million, while also signing Tim Flowers in a record deal for a goalkeeper. However, in terms of financial outlay on the first team that won the league, that is just about it.

 

There is a mistaken assumption that the club also spent heavily on Graeme Le Saux, Colin Hendry and captain Tim Sherwood, perhaps because they became indispensable so quickly and were sold on for big profit. In fact, all three were acquired on the cheap: Hendry for £700,000, the same price the club sold him for two years earlier; Le Saux, who was out of favour at Chelsea, for around the same and Sherwood from Norwich City for a mere £400,000.

 

However, based on calculations of the reported transfer fees for the roughly first choice starting XIs of both clubs in the 1994-95 season (taking into account injuries and long-term suspension), Rovers spent far less than the incumbent champions, Manchester United. Peter Schmeichel, Denis Irwin, Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister, Andrei Kanchelskis, Paul Ince, Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs, Brian McClair, Mark Hughes and Andy Cole cost £19.33m.

 

Whereas Tim Flowers, Henning Berg, Colin Hendry, Ian Pearce, Graham Le Saux, Stuart Ripley, Mark Atkins, Tim Sherwood, Jason Wilcox, Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton set Rovers back a comparatively low £14.7m. Given that these squads – in particular United's – took years to assemble, perhaps a fairer assessment would be to look at the 1994-95 spend in isolation. Even on this basis, United's outlay exceeded their rivals'.

 

Comparisons with other clubs are also favourable. Blackburn's entire back four cost less than Newcastle paid for Darren Peacock and less than half of the sum required to bring Phil Babb and John Scales to Liverpool. In Carlton Palmer, Leeds United spent more on a single midfielder than Rovers did across their starting midfield four – illustrating that Rovers' spending was largely limited to their front two and not wasted unlike so many others.

 

How Blackburn happened to accidentally hoodwink so many into believing this "bought the league" fallacy is partly because of their wilful blindness to some of Kenny Dalglish's shrewd forays in the transfer market and abundance of unsung heroes. Take Mark Atkins, for example. Signed from Scunthorpe United for £45,000 as a right-back, he filled in for the injured David Batty in central midfield and made 30 league appearances during the title-winning campaign, scoring six times – the well timed volley at home to Southampton being the pick of a number of sweet strikes.

 

Other astute additions to play major roles included Henning Berg, who was a relatively unknown 23-year-old at the time of his move from Lillestrom for under half a million, and the largely forgotten Chris Pearce, who had only made four senior appearances before he joined the club for £300,000 – both insignificant sums even then.

 

Also fundamental to Rovers' success was the organisation and desire instilled in the side and, pivotally, the width provided by Jasson Wilcox (who incidentally came through the youth ranks as a trainee) and Stuart Ripley. Despite lacking natural pace, they both had the knack of being able to create the half a yard required to deliver crosses into areas where Shearer and Sutton thrived, scoring 49 of Rovers' 80 league goals.

 

Rovers' rise was remarkable. Dalglish took over an 'unfashionable' club lying in the bottom half of the old Second Division and won promotion to the new Premier League at his first attempt. The following two seasons saw the club finish fourth and then runners-up, before being crowned Champions of England.

 

It is not disputed that the club were able to offer substantial wages to attract players, but they bought wisely rather than overly and deserved nothing less than the success they achieved. It is a story that is unlikely to happen again and one that should be celebrated with respect and admiration, rather than viewed as the 1990's version of Roman Abramovich's Chelsea or present day Manchester City.

10/05/2015. By Andy Dunn.

 

This week marks the 20th anniversary of one of the most underrated achievements in modern-day English football, writes Andy Dunn.

 

On the 14th May, 1995, Blackburn Rovers won the Premier League title.

 

The late Ray Harford said the record books should show an asterisk next to the 1994-95 champions because such a triumph will never happen again.

He was right.

 

The feat should rank alongside the deeds of the Treble-winning Manchester United team in 1998-99 and the Arsenal Invincibles in 2003-04.

 

The argument that Jack Walker simply bought the title is lazy and ill-judged.

 

Sure, his vast wealth played more than a significant part, enabling manager Kenny Dalglish to twice break the British transfer record and sign Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton.

 

But from the moment Dalglish returned to club management at Ewood Park in October, 1991, Blackburn did not just toss 50 pound notes at big names.

 

The recruitment policy was ­particularly astute. On casual reflection, you might think Graeme Le Saux, Colin Hendry and Tim Sherwood were ­expensive, big-name signings (a re-signing in Hendry’s case).

 

They were when they LEFT Blackburn. Sold for a combined £12million, having been bought for a combined £1.8m.

 

Sherwood arrived from Norwich but had been close to joining Derby County. Derby and Blackburn were then both in English football’s second tier and Sherwood had told Arthur Cox he would sign. And then the call came from Kenny.

 

Cox bore no grudges. “If you were my son, I would probably tell you to sign for Kenny,” he told ­Sherwood.

 

And there you have one of the reasons why it will never happen again.

 

Give Rovers comparative spending power to the Walker era – and imagine they are in the top flight – would any player now turn down Manchester United, as Alan Shearer did, in favour of Blackburn? Of course not. There is now a generation of football followers who will never comprehend the aura Dalglish had.

 

And his enthusiasm for the pursuit of what would now, sadly, be called ­Walker’s project was infectious.

 

Dalglish established a camaraderie among an overwhelmingly British squad that was a joy to behold.

 

Blackburn’s rise from the bottom half of the old Second Division [pre-PL days] when Dalglish took over to Premier League status is hardly unusual.

 

Bournemouth’s rise is far more dramatic. But Bournemouth will NEVER win the Premier League title.

 

The elite clubs with large fan bases have become commercial behemoths.

And, of course, once a club qualifies for European competition, it is subject to the Financial Fair Play rules.

 

UEFA would have thrown the book at Blackburn if FFP had been in place in the mid-Nineties. The monopoly on success of major city clubs is now unbreakable.

 

Blackburn’s population is little over 100,000. Since Walker’s days, there have been benefactors who have enabled clubs to win the Premier League – most notably, Roman Abramovich and Sheikh Mansour.

 

But they chose Chelsea and Manchester City – Blackburn Rovers chose Jack Walker, the local man, the local supporter, who wanted to give something back to the town where he made his fortune.

 

His massive investment allowed his club to win the title. But the ­determination, skill, commitment and quality of his manager, staff and players was of equal importance.

 

That is all too often forgotten. They were well-paid but they bought into his dream.

It was a dream not a project.

06/05/2015. By Conor Neville.

For those of us in our mid/late-ish twenties, we are coming up to the 20th anniversary of the big switch. Primary schools in many parts of the country were scenes of epic debate. The question of the hour was being thrashed back and forth. Should we switch our allegiance en masse to the champions elect Blackburn Rovers or remain true to the has-beens of Manchester United?

 

The 1994-95 season has lumbered our generation with a small band of rueful Blackburn Rovers fans, who everyday curse their youthful short-sightedness.

 

Like Leeds' victory in 1992, Blackburn's title win was overshadowed in the eyes of posterity by their abject defence of the title.

 

After scooping the big one, Kenny Dalglish abruptly stepped up to become Director of Football. The move was perplexing at the time but he later said he was on the verge of leaving the previous summer and had to be persuaded to stay on.

 

His replacement was the somewhat less inspirational Ray Harford. They slumped to seventh in the championship, a finish which came to be viewed as respectable considering what happened later. Their efforts in the Champions League were also particularly abysmal and are rarely recalled.

 

The following year Shearer left for Newcastle and the club were on the flight path to relegation.

They were just returning to where they had been before.

Back in the stygian days of the 1991-92 season, Blackburn were ambling about in the nether reaches of the Second Division (now 'The Championship' to be fair) when Jack Walker made his first investment in the club, excluding, of course, all the match tickets he had paid for all his life.

For those of us in our mid/late-ish twenties, we are coming up to the 20th anniversary of the big switch. Primary schools in many parts of the country were scenes of epic debate. The question of the hour was being thrashed back and forth. Should we switch our allegiance en masse to the champions elect Blackburn Rovers or remain true to the has-beens of Manchester United?

 

The 1994-95 season has lumbered our generation with a small band of rueful Blackburn Rovers fans, who everyday curse their youthful short-sightedness.

 

Like Leeds' victory in 1992, Blackburn's title win was overshadowed in the eyes of posterity by their abject defence of the title.

 

After scooping the big one, Kenny Dalglish abruptly stepped up to become Director of Football. The move was perplexing at the time but he later said he was on the verge of leaving the previous summer and had to be persuaded to stay on.

 

His replacement was the somewhat less inspirational Ray Harford. They slumped to seventh in the championship, a finish which came to be viewed as respectable considering what happened later. Their efforts in the Champions League were also particularly abysmal and are rarely recalled.

 

The following year Shearer left for Newcastle and the club were on the flight path to relegation.

They were just returning to where they had been before.

Back in the stygian days of the 1991-92 season, Blackburn were ambling about in the nether reaches of the Second Division (now 'The Championship' to be fair) when Jack Walker made his first investment in the club, excluding, of course, all the match tickets he had paid for all his life.

Manager Don Mackay was sacked. Kenny Dalglish, not long gone from Anfield, was drafted in as manager and Blackburn shot up the table, eventually snaking into the playoffs in sixth spot. In Wembley in May, they beat Leicester 1-0 and were promoted to the newly founded Premier League.

 

Once they arrived in the big-time, they bared some of their financial muscle, with Walker buying England striker Alan Shearer off Southampton.

 

Ewood Park was still a dowdy old ground. For the second half of the 1992-93 season, it was, like the vast majority of stadiums in the Premier League, a construction site.

 

But Blackburn's form was superb. They smashed title chasers Norwich and Aston Villa 7-1 and 3-0, jamming the final nail in the latter's title hopes in April. They eventually had to make do with 4th place.

The following season, they built on their progress once more. Manchester United tore out of the blocks at the beginning of the 1993-94 season. By Christmas, the title race looked over. Blackburn were the best of the rest but there was no question of them actually challenging for the title. It was a one-horse race.

 

By April, when Alan Shearer slammed in two goals to beat Manchester United 2-0 at Ewood Park, the title looked a tantalising live prospect. United, a tempestuous outfit back then, slick but snarling, had gotten bogged down in suspensions and had absent-mindedly let points slip at home to Chelsea and away to Wimbledon.

Sadly, the prospect of actually winning the title seemed to spook Blackburn and as soon as they got in position, they dropped points again, losing 2-1 up in Coventry.

 

They were huffing and puffing now and came back stronger in 1994-95. They didn't allow Manchester United a big lead in 1994-95, although they did trail at Christmas following Eric Cantona's late headed winner at Old Trafford. Shortly afterwards, Cantona would react to Matthew Symonds taunting him about the prospect of an early bath and all bets were off.

 

United stumbled and Blackburn established a strong lead in the early months of 1995. From late October to mid-April, they won 19 games, drew 5 and lost 2. Their scoring stats were remarkable with the SAS going great guns up front. In truth it was the SAs, with the Shearer accounting for about two-thirds of the pair's league goals.

 

By mid-April, they led by six points with five games remaining. A few more wins would do. However, they stumbled badly in the run-in. Defeats at home to Man City, at Upton Park and in the final match meant they rather fell over the line.

The most iconic moments from their title victory are Tim Flowers breaking the world record for use of the word 'bottle' after their ridiculously nervy 1-0 win over Newcastle in the penultimate game and the sight of Kenny Dalglish celebrating seconds after Liverpool's winner in the final match because word has just come through that United had drawn at West Ham.

Goalkeeper - Tim Flowers

He's got bottle there's no question. Flowers earned a smattering of England caps during the Terry Venables/Glenn Hoddle era but was never truly first choice. Joined Blackburn in 1993 and stayed until they got relegated six years later. Famously was beaten by the combined efforts of Stan Collymore's crappy shot and an incompetent groundsman (harsh?) in 1996-97. Currently working as a goalkeeping coach at Nottingham Forest, where he has linked up with old teammate Stuart Pearce.

 

Left Back - Graeme Le Saux

Le Saux spent the duration of his career being abused for being a Guardian reader (presumably Guardian reader was slang for homosexual back in 'em days. It's not what footballers do innit?) An ever-present for Blackburn, he returned to previous club Chelsea in 1997, wining the Cup Winners Cup in 1998.

 

Wrote an autobiography in 2007 entitled 'Left Field', which made headlines for detailing the homophobia he endured during his career. Now works as a commentator for NBC's coverage of the Premier League.

 

Centre Back - Colin Hendry

Whenever there was a profile of Hendry - a montage of his best bits if you will - the producer always slapped on the obligatory Braveheart music. Distinctive both for his long blond mane and for the frequency with which he suffered head wounds. Bravery, sure.

 

Stayed at Blackburn until 1998 when he left for Rangers.

 

Went into management after his career ended. He had two spells at Blackpool and Clyde, both of which were short and characterised by poor results.

 

Has endured a terrible few years. His wife died in 2009 after a botched operation, he was declared bankrupt in 2010, with a betting company chief among his creditors.

 

In the past few days, he has been formally charged with harassing and abusing his ex-girlfriend. His court date is scheduled for the 26th of this month.

Centre Back - Ian Pearce

He and Tony Gale alternated throughout the season with Pearce making more appearances overall. He signed in 1993 and left for West Ham four years later.

 

Was unafraid to travel down the Leagues for a game and ended his playing career at the start of this decade with lowly Lingfield.

 

Right Back - Jeff Kenna

his dotage, he found the defences rather more amenable.

He managed Lincoln City in 2009-10.

 

Last year, he became the second member of the Blackburn  title winning side to enter bankruptcy after getting caught up in a foreign currency scam.

Only joined Blackburn in March 1995, but tribal pride demands his inclusion here. Kenna was at Blackburn for seven years, featuring in their Champions League run the following season and hanging tough with them despite relegation in 1999. Thereafter, he endured a series of unglamorous loan spells before moving into management in the League of Ireland.

 

Kenna did an excellent job with Galway United, keeping the club in the top flight under extremely difficult financial circumstances. They were to implode altogether with a couple of seasons. This earned him a more high profile job in Inchicore. However, his spell at Pats was a disappointment and he left after one season. Has been coaching in the US in recent years.

 

By mid-April, they led by six points with five games remaining. A few more wins would do. However, they stumbled badly in the run-in. Defeats at home to Man City, at Upton Park and in the final match meant they rather fell over the line.

 

The most iconic moments from their title victory are Tim Flowers breaking the world record for use of the word 'bottle' after their ridiculously nervy 1-0 win over Newcastle in the penultimate game and the sight of Kenny Dalglish celebrating seconds after Liverpool's winner in the final match because word has just come through that United had drawn at West Ham.

Right Midfield - Stuart Ripley

The scorer of Blackburn's first goal in the Premier League in August 1992, Ripley earned England caps in the mournful dead rubber against San Marino in 1993 and a match against Moldova in 1997.

 

One of the most interesting 'where are they now' cases in English football, Ripley has done extremely well since leaving the sport behind and qualified as a solicitor in 2010. Is currently a member of the FA's judicial panel so the next time they made some capricious decision you know who to blame.

 

Centre Midfield - Tim Sherwood

His presence at Ewood Park prevented Blackburn going after Zinedine Zidane. Sherwood was the man held the Premier League trophy aloft, shaking it vigorously for the benefit of the exultant away fans. An important player, he played for almost two decades at Watford, Blackburn, Spurs and Portsmouth.

 

Centre Midfield - Mark Atkins 

A forgotten man despite playing 34 games that season compared to David Batty's six. The bulk of Atkins' career was played out in the lower divisions and his presence as an almost ever present makes a mockery of the assertion that Blackburn bought the League title.

 

Left in the summer of 1995 for Wolves, thereafter drifting to York City and Shrewsbury Town.

Until last year he was manager of Matlock Town in the Northern League.

 

Left Midfield - Jason Wilcox

One of the brightest and most influential players in that side, he scored five goals and linked up well with the SOS up front. Joined Blackburn when they were in the doldrums in the late 80s and hung around for the whole decade, just in time to get relegated with them in 1999. He moved to Leeds United and was part of the side who got all the way to the Champions League semi-final in 2001.

Currently works as Manchester City's U18 boss. Had a weekly column in the Lancashire Telegraph.

 

Centre Forward - Alan Shearer

Scored a rather impressive 34 goals for Blackburn that season, which was only three more than he managed the previous year and only three more than he managed in less games the following season.

 

Won the PFA Player of the Year that year to go with his Football writer's award from 1993-94. In truth, he never actually got any better than he was during his spell at Blackburn though he continued to score goals for Newcastle for the next decade.

 

Currently specialises in making ads which jinx former clubs.

 

Centre Forward - Chris Sutton

Shearer's junior partner had been a star at Norwich and enjoyed a decent season that year with Blackburn, scoring 15 goals and complimenting his powerhouse striking partner well.

 

Subsequently, went to Chelsea where his form was abysmal, a fact that didn't stop Garth Crooks asking, after Sutton had nailed his third goal of the season in a 5-0 demolition of a minnow in an FA Cup in March, whether an England call-up was on the horizon. To be fair, Sutton had the good grace to laugh.

Later moved to Celtic where, in his dotage, he found the defences rather more amenable.

He managed Lincoln City in 2009-10

Last year, he became the second member of the Blackburn  title winning side to enter bankruptcy after getting caught up in a foreign currency scam.