The 1890 FA Cup final team. Back Row – James Southworth, Jack Southworth, Richard Birtwistle (umpire and one of the founders of Rovers), John Horne, George Dewar. Centre row - Joe Lofthouse, Henry Campbell, John Forbes, Nat Walton, Billy Townley. Front row – John Barton,Jimmy Forrest.

This image is (c) Cottontown and is used with permission

Blackburn Town Hall as it would have looked in the 1890s when it hosted celebratory homecomings for the Rovers and their prize of the FA Cup. The town hall would be utilised in such a way up to and including the 1992 promotion to the Premiership.

This image is (c) Cottontown and is used with permission

The team that won the fifth FA Cup for Rovers. Back Row – Birtwistle (umpire), Brandon, Pennington, Barton, Southworth, Dewar, Forrest, Edward Murray (trainer). Front Row – Lofthouse, Walton, Forbes (captain), Hall, Townley.

This image is (c) Cottontown and is used with permission

Although Blackburn no longer had a team that could rule the nation for three years of FA Cup winning glory, they had one that would go close! Three cups in a row may have been a bridge too far but there would certainly be more glory for Rovers in the attempt. The Football Association had recognised the strength of the new Football League by exempting the members from the new qualifying round for the FA Cup, although that was not extended to the sides of the new Football Alliance league. Set up by clubs excluded from the new league in 1888, after one season it was absorbed to become the new Second Division of the Football League. The first winners of the Alliance had been Sheffield Wednesday (soon to play Rovers in a famous final) and the second champions, Sunderland, were promoted to top flight for the start of the next season (1890/91) and replaced the team that were to finish bottom in the second season of the Football League, Stoke. There were now two league divisions and league football was here to stay, as all acknowledged. Other members of that Football Alliance had been Darwen, the old enemies of Rovers who would soon lock horns again before fizzling out into mainly non-league obscurity.

Rovers brought in many new players for their second season of league football. Those to be the most influential throughout the season were the Scottish right-back Tommy Brandon who make over 200 league appearances for the club in two spells, another Scot in the inside left Henry Campbell. Finally there was the future cup final scoring centre half George Dewar (I’m sure by now you can guess which country he hailed from!) who would fall just short of playing in two hundred league and cup games for Rovers over the course of eight years. Not for the first time the side was dominated by Scots and, again not for the first time, they would be the driving force behind cup glory for the club.

The top scorer for the club would again be the newly capped England international Jack Southworth, although new boy Campbell would also reach double figures in the league along with Nat Walton whereas Billy Townley seemed to prefer his goals for the FA Cup if possible, as we shall soon see. The league would again be won by Preston North End although were no longer quite so invincible, losing four league games and being the victims of a shock defeat by Bolton Wanderers in the second round.

Rovers began the season well. After an opening day defeat by Everton they won four and drew one of their next five games including, for the second season in a row, a 7-1 victory against Burnley. Later on in the season Rovers would win 2-1 at Turf Moor to record their second league ‘double’ over Burnley…in two attempts! Not that Burnley seemed to be too happy with that second game as they had seen a goal of theirs dubiously disallowed. This did seem like typical sour grapes until they discovered that the referee was in actual fact the brother of the Rovers keeper! Crowds continued to improve in this second season and the largest crowd ever seen at Leamington Street saw Rovers lose to the champions Preston North End in a 4-3 thriller. After their good start they lost two games in a row before going on an excellent late autumn run, remaining unbeaten in seven league games, winning six. A poor end to the season put paid to a first title however as they lost four out of the last seven league games (they had only lost three in fifteen before then) meant they had to settle for third place in 1889/90. They did say farewell to league football at Leamington Street however with a crushing 8-0 demolition of Stoke.

Still, they won the one that they thought counted the most. It had been four years since Rovers had been known throughout the land as the legendary cup team and so it was time for them to get back to basics. A difficult first round match against Sunderland (to be a Football League side the season after) was settled 4-2 after extra time in front of a five figure crowd at Leamington Street. Offering less hassle were Grimsby Town (3-0) and Glossop (7-0) before they met Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham for a repeat of the semi final of the previous year. Wolves had a good side which finished fourth that year but a single Jack Southworth goal was all that was required to see Rovers back in the final. They would play Sheffield Wednesday in the first ever FA Cup Final ‘War of the Roses’ meeting.

Once again the Rovers and their fans travelled south in carriages and on trains to London for a Kennington Oval final which attracted over 20,000 customers. The long-time Rovers keeper Herbie Arthur had by then departed into retirement although he would be back for a swansong final season for Rovers and a game against Burnley that would go down as a part of East Lancashire folklore. Arthur had been largely replaced by John Horne. For the game Blackburn were heavy favourites and their team lined up as Horne, James Southworth, Barton, Forbes, Dewar, Lofthouse, Jimmy Forrest (captain), Campbell, Townley, Jack Southworth and Nat Walton. Of those eleven, three had appeared in previous finals for Rovers; Walton, Lofthouse and Forrest. Nine of those in the Rovers line-up were internationals, while the less cosmopolitan Wednesday were all English. Pre-match predictions varied from those believing Wednesday had no chance to those believing the final could be a great leveller. The ‘levellers’ were wrong, it was all Rovers.

The Lancashire side went ahead as soon as the sixth minute through Billy Townley and never looked back. By the thirty fifth minute they were 3-0 up after Walton and Townley again breached the Wednesday defence. It could have been at least double that and the goals had not yet stopped. The fourth came from Jack Southworth and led to a mini-rally from the Yorkshire side which resulted in Bennett netting a solo consolation goal before two more goals were scored by the Blue and whites, one of which was by former cup winner Joe Lofthouse and the other was the last of a William Townley hat trick. The first ever FA Cup final hat trick, a feat that has been equalled but never bettered, as was the tally of Rovers goals in the 6-1 win. Bury also scored six goals a decade or so later. The referee, Colonel Francis Mandarin, was overseeing his eighth and last final, of which the four Rovers victories were all included. So, the cup returned to Blackburn and to Leamington Street. The club however would be somewhere else by the new season. Before then, the traditional civic reception at the town hall was attended by many happy Rovers fans.

This was however to be the last hurrah at their Leamington Street Ground. After their landlord increased the rent to unacceptable levels, Rovers looked elsewhere for a suitable home. Their eyes naturally fell upon the international stadium across the town in the Ewood area of Blackburn. With excellent transport links such as a tram line along Bolton Road linking it to the town centre and the nearby Mill Hill train station, Ewood Park seemed the only logical choice for a team of the ambition of Rovers. After agreeing a ten-year lease at an annual rent of £60 per year (rising to £70 after five years) Rovers moved into their new ground in the summer of 1890 and played their first league game there against Accrington in front of a 10,000 crowd. During the summer Rovers had spent over £1,000 making adjustments to the ground to bring it up to a satisfactory standard to cope with a long season of league and cup football. Later on that season 18,000 would be drawn for the first Rovers home victory over Preston North end, by a 1-0 scoreline. The game at Deepdale had finished 2-1 meaning a Rovers double. The possibilities of Ewood were there for all to see.

Rovers brought in two more players for this season, yet again from Scotland. The goalkeeper John Gow arrived from Renton (who had ended the four year unbeaten streak of Rovers in the 1886 competition) and the inside left Coombe Hall. Although Gow would be a disappointing recruit and leave at the end of the season having lost his place in the team, Hall would stay for five seasons.

Their third league campaign ended in their worst final placing so far of sixth, yet they were only five points behind the new champions, Everton, meaning they were closer to the top points-wise than they were in the previous two campaigns than when they had achieved higher positions. They opened the campaign with a ridiculously high scoring 8-5 defeat at Derby yet successful for most of the rest of the season. They lost their four last games to blow any chance of the title. They did manage however a third ‘double’ over their Claret and blue neighbours of Burnley, 6-1 away and 5-2 at home this time around. In all they were certainly the best of the local sides, having beaten Burnley and Preston twice apiece as well as winning one and drawing one of the league games against Accrington.

Their third league campaign ended in their worst final placing so far of sixth, yet they were only five points behind the new champions, Everton, meaning they were closer to the top points-wise than they were in the previous two campaigns than when they had achieved higher positions. They opened the campaign with a ridiculously high scoring 8-5 defeat at Derby yet successful for most of the rest of the season. They lost their four last games to blow any chance of the title. They did manage however a third ‘double’ over their Claret and blue neighbours of Burnley, 6-1 away and 5-2 at home this time around. In all they were certainly the best of the local sides, having beaten Burnley and Preston twice apiece as well as winning one and drawing one of the league games against Accrington.

In the FA Cup they defeated Middlesbrough Ironopolis (no relation to Middlesbrough AFC, the modern league side) but had to play them again after the Teesiders complained and were promptly beaten again (3-0). Jack Southworth hit a hat trick in a 7-0 walkover of Chester and Wolves were beaten 2-0. The semi final was against fellow league side and former cup winners West Bromwich Albion in a classic at the Victoria Ground, Stoke, which was decided with a late Rovers winner from a goalmouth scramble. Such was the confusion that even to this day it is unknown whose boot was stuck out and connected for the winner.

Their opponents were to be Notts County who finished above Rovers in the league, mainly thanks to their 7-1 win at Ewood a week before the final. In a desperate attempt to save face Rovers declared that they had been taking it easy to make County overconfident for the final. This was obviously not true as they dropped their calamitous keeper John Gow and drafted in their stand in, who went by the not so classically name (for a footballer) of Rowland Pennington. Regardless, County started as favourites, which a team who had recently beaten their opponents 7-1 would be expected to. However, if that match had been a draw then Rovers would have actually finished above Notts County in the league, so it would have been an unwise person to have not have at least anticipated a closer game.

There had been some hopes that this game would be the first final (or first major game for that matter) to use goal nets although these failed to materialise. The Rovers team that day was Pennington, Brandon, Forbes (captain), Barton, Dewar, Forrest, Lofthouse, Walton, Jack Southworth, Hall and Townley. County started the game well and looked confident but after eight minutes they were shocked after a Lofthouse throw in was followed by a goalmouth scramble and the centre half Dewar opened the scoring for Rovers. For the next ten or so minutes County had plenty of possession but didn’t seem able to convert it into any decent chances and when Southworth finished a fast paced counter attack to make it 2-0 they must have regretted trying to walk the ball into the net. The hero of the previous final, Billy Townley, couldn’t manage a hat trick this year but did head the third to make the half time score 3-0 to Rovers. The Nottingham side did pull back one in the second half and frantically strove for a second but for no avail and the score had finished 3-1 in front of 23,000 or so at a packed Kennington Oval. It was to be the fifth success for Rovers at the ground yet they wouldn’t play there again.

Five FA Cups in eight years wouldn’t be equalled again and it meant they were now equal with The Wanderers in numbers of cups won. Jimmy Forrest also equalled a record, with his fifth winners’ medal, a feat that has still to be bettered. It was to be the end of the heyday of Rovers the all-conquering FA Cup team. There would be another victory to come but after winning five out of eight, just one win in the next century and more would seem a poor return.

If I was pompous I’d say that this was a definitive fin de siecle in the progression of the Rovers (end of period) but as this is about football I’ll belt up with that kind of talk. Instead of it was just the beginning of Rovers as what they were. They would have many decades of top flight football to come but actual success in the cup would be a thing of the past. With their new ground at Ewood Park and attendances on the increase there seemed much to look forward to. However, in a repeat of the last time they stopped winning trophies, it ended with a bump rather than at a gradual pace. Mediocrity would soon be the order of the day...