Fergie The Mayor of Darwen Alexander Carus cutting the first sod for the soon to be begun Darwen Tower on the 22nd June, 1897.

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

The Blackburn End at its most full. The concrete terracing had been completed in the mid-1890s although the regulars standing on there would have to wait until 1960 for a roof, partly funded by the cup run of that year.

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

A massive balloon about to be released to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria on 21st June 1897. After rising to above 3,000 feet, it eventually cam down fifty five minutes later in West Bradford, near Clitheroe. The buildings at the back to the right include the old Crown Hotel. That part of Victoria Street was demolished in 1965 and is now the dual carriageway of Barbara Castle Way. The buildings to the left remain.

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

John Lewis, co-founder and captain of Rovers and later a three time FA Cup final referee. Lewis was the chairman of Rovers from 1875 until 1888. In the 1980s he was honoured by the John Lewis Complex being named after him at Ewood. It comprised of a restaurant and executive boxes. It was appropriate that a man of his executive class and standing should be so honoured, certainly having the toilets named after him wouldn’t have been quite so apt.

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

The fortunes of Rovers had steadily been declining for years but the 1896/97 saw this change. Not in terms of the decline…just in terms of the speed in which that decline happened. Quite simply Rovers were in freefall and in great danger of a first relegation. That usual means of soothing the aches and pains of league football, the FA Cup, was absolutely no help at all. It was obvious where the problems were. All over the pitch! The team had been shy in front of goal the previous season yet scored even less this time round and yet it wasn’t as if they kept a tight ship at the other end. The 62 goals they conceded in this season was the worst record in the entire division. Of the cup winning sides of the start of the decade, only Geordie Anderson and George Dewar remained and they were hardly spring chickens by this then. Both would leave at the end of season to cut the final playing links with the cup sides although Anderson would make a fleeting return in a desperate attempt to help out his by then doleful old side.

The season had actually started very well for Rovers with only one loss in the first six games which included a thumping 4-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday and a 3-2 win over Burnley. For the next three months however they were wretched, despite a 1-0 win at Turf Moor which meant that Rovers did the double over them that season. Preston weren’t quite so accommodating, winning 3-1 at Deepdale and then 4-0 (ouch!) at Ewood. It was probably the nature of some of the defeats that were more worrying than the defeats themselves as quite simply they were often being walked over. Aston Villa went on to win the league and cup double that year to match the feat of the Preston ‘Invincibles’ of 1889 and won 5-1 at Ewood on their way. Their worst results came away from home though as they lost 6-0 at both Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday, as well as 7-0 at Sheffield United.

By March they looked to be in real trouble but somehow put together a run of three victories which carried them to safety. However as they then followed that up by losing their last three games they finished 14th out of the 16 clubs and so were only just safe. The two teams below them were Burnley and, surprisingly, the mighty Sunderland. Sunderland survived via the test match playoffs but Burnley automatically went down; however they would soon be back in the top flight but not before clashing with Rovers once again. Once again no Rovers players managed to take their scoring tally into double figures.

There was one very bright spot for Blackburn Rovers though as in the home game against Stoke, which was won 2-1, there appeared the man who would go on to become the greatest Blackburn Rovers player of all time. Blackburn born and bred, Bob Crompton was only 16 when he made his debut and wouldn’t regularly play in the side for another eighteen months but in time he would acquire the nickname ‘Mr Blackburn Rovers’. Crompton would go on to become the greatest player in the country between the turn of the century and the start of the First World War. The 41 caps he gained for England (many of those as captain) were easily a record at the time and, as so few internationals were played in each year; they represented a huge amount, certainly by modern standards he would have earned over a century of caps. For well over a decade he was the first name on the England team sheet. There is much more that will be said about Crompton but suffice it to say for now that he is the greatest player Rovers have ever had and also one of the best England ever had. That is as true today as it was a century ago. That should be enough to cement his place in Rovers folklore yet Crompton then went onto to become one of the greatest managers the club ever had as well! Truly Mr. Blackburn Rovers…and so had begun a 45(!) year career at Rovers for Big Bob…

As has been mentioned, the cup was no source of relief for the beleaguered Rovers. A double of 2-1 home victories (over Sheff Utd then Wolves) led to an away game at Everton which saw Rovers exit the competition after a 2-0 defeat. Another new phenomenon to hit the club that year was a managerial casualty. Secretary Thomas Mitchell resigned after having been in the position for twelve years. As picking the team was his responsibility he felt the blame for declining standards should be his and he later went on to become the first professional manager of Arsenal. Mitchell was replaced by Joseph Walmsley, a manager of a Blackburn cotton mill who was passionate about his home town team. Although he would become very popular during his nine year stint his departure is the darkest of any secretary/manager that Rovers have ever had, involving tales of corruption and bribery, although more of that anon. After leaving Rovers Walmsley became landlord of the Florence Hotel which still serves ales to thirsty drinkers in the Cob Wall/Daisyfield area of Blackburn on the corner of Moss Street and Florence Street, to this very day.

It was initially the misfortune of Walmsley to inherit a side rapidly going downwards. Quite simply it was the worst league season Rovers had in their first sixty years as a club. Things had never been this bad before and wouldn’t get this low again until well after the Wall Street Crash, and that was over three decades away itself. The FA Cup campaign couldn’t have been much worse, losing away to Everton for the second year in a row, this time by one goal to nil in the very first round. Still, at least they could concentrate on the league form. Unfortunately if there was one thing Rovers did not want to think about, it was the league form.

The campaign began with three straight defeats and kind of went downhill from there. There were a couple of bright spots, they won both games against Liverpool and, in the highlight of the campaign, trounced Preston 4-1 at Ewood. The problems were obvious though; the style of football was frightful, certainly they were no entertainers this side and also they didn’t have anyone who could regularly hit the back of the net. John Proudfoot, a signing from Partick Thistle who stayed for just the one season before moving to Everton, was the top scorer with nine goals, meaning that for the third successive year no Rovers player reached double figures. Today we often talk about wanting a 20-goal a season player, in those days they’d been happy for someone who could score half that.

The chaos around the club at the time showed in the figures. Twenty nine players represented Rovers that year, 10 more than two seasons before and a ridiculous figure seeing how few games Rovers played and considering there was no such thing as substitutes then. There were some purchases that would be successes in the future, mainly the forward Ben Hulse and goalkeeper James Carter. Another interesting addition was the two Blackburns of Blackburn of Blackburn. Namely Arthur & Frederick Blackburn, born in Blackburn and now playing for Blackburn Rovers. Actually Arthur hardly ever played and soon left for Southampton after just four league appearances. Fred was actually born in Mellor just outside Blackburn although that doesn’t quite work so well. However unlike his namesake he was a success as a left winger and stayed at Rovers for eight years, playing over 200 times in league and cup games as well being capped three times by England and scoring once. There was another player surnamed Blackburn who played once for England in 1924 but as he had nothing to do with Rovers, we don’t really care about him.

The constant shuffling of players in no way had any positive effect and actually probably contributed to the by now annual shabby end of season form for Rovers. One win in their last eleven games meant that Rovers finished 15th out of the 16 clubs. They ended up down there only after the last game, which they lost at Bury and which allowed them to leapfrog Rovers to safety. Stoke were relegated as the bottom placed team and Rovers had to determine their fate by playing test matches against Burnley and Newcastle United, both of whom were chasing hard for promotion from the Second Division. Elsewhere that year Sheffield United won their one and only league title, while Nottingham Forest won their first FA Cup, although unlike Sheff Utd they would repeat their success, albeit not for over sixty years.

Rovers brought players back specially for the test matches, including FA cup winner Geordie Anderson, Harry Marshall and Josh Hargreaves. They were so desperate for goals they even brought in Peter Turnbull, who had been top scorer two seasons ago with a paltry seven league goals, he was hardly the 1898 version of Jimmy Greaves….Regardless of these desperate acquisitions, Rovers did not improve. In fact they got worse. They lost both their opening two games in the test matches meaning they were relegated before they even played their third or fourth games. Think it can’t get any worse? Well…seeing as both those games had been against Burnley, it evidently can. The first match saw a Tommy Briercliffe goal for Rovers count for little more than consolation, as Burnley won 3-1 at Ewood. The return at Turf Moor ended 2-0 to the home side and Rovers were down. What seemed like a bright spot, a thrilling 4-3 win at home to Newcastle in front of barely a thousand fans was soon blanked out as Newcastle won the return by 4-0.

Rovers were humiliated and relegated. Surely nothing could save them now. Of course not, what do you expect? The world to turn upside down and for a saviour to ride across from Burnley to save the day is some bizarre inversion of reality? You couldn’t make it up…

Yet just to prove that fact is stranger than fiction, that is exactly what did happen. Despite being promoted Burnley proposed that the First Division should be enlarged from 16 teams to 18. At the vote, the co-founder of Blackburn Rovers, John Lewis, bizarrely voted against the proposal yet it was carried through despite this. So not only had Burnley saved Rovers from relegation, they saved them from themselves as well! The bottom club, Stoke, also remained in the division.

No club has ever had a greater escape. From actually being relegated to being rescued due to no endeavour of their own, they were safe. Rovers deserved to go down, but they didn’t. So why bother feeling miserable, there was the future to look forward to. John Lewis went on to referee three FA Cup Finals before becoming vice-president of the FA. Lewis remains one of the most important figures in the growth of football that this country has ever had. We, however, are concerned with Rovers. They were long overdue an improvement on the pitch to match their astounding luck. They would get one immediately and while they wouldn’t set the world alight they would at least have some thing to be proud of…