Over a year after the building began, Darwen Jubilee Tower was officially opened on September 24th 1898. This picture was taken on the opening day and to the left is the celebratory bonfire assembled by the local schoolchildren in the picture. The metal and glass dome at the top of the tower was blown off in a gale in 1947 and replaced by a replica in 1972. Darwen Tower continues to survey much of Lancashire from a distance to this day from its lofty perch.

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

Mirroring the rivalry of the clubs, in 1900 the Blackburn Press took on the Burnley Press at Ewood Park. It isn’t known who won.

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

Ewood in the year 1900. Ewood Park would have been behind the houses to the right as this picture looks along Bolton Road towards the town centre.

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

Rovers had been due an improvement in league form for quite a few years and after their last minute stay of execution the season before they improved markedly in 1898/99. Geordie Anderson would stay on for another two seasons before leaving Rovers for good in 1901 as the final link with the Cup-winning 1891 side. The most obvious improvement was in that they scored over 50% more league goals than the season before and after three years without any player scoring ten or more league goals; suddenly they had three players doing it in the same season. Leading the way with fourteen goals was Danny Hurst, originally brought in the season before as one of the many frantic signings that it was hoped would help the club avoid relegation. This was to be his best season for Rovers before he left for Workington in 1900.

Behind him on twelve goals was Ben Hulse, the Scouser was another player brought in the season before and would also leave in 1900. Rounding off the trio of double figure men was Tommy Jackson who had been brought in from Padiham but after scoring ten goals lost his centre forward position to Hulse and was released at the end of the season. Whereas the goalscoring figures improved, the defence was still as porous as a sponge. Other than a 6-2 loss at West Brom however, there were to be no disgraces for Rovers this year. The presence of the nineteen year old Bob Crompton as the regular left back meant there was some steel and skill added to the defence.

Irritatingly Burnley won both league games 2-0 and finished in third place, the highest position they would manage before World War One. Doing the double over the other local rivals of Bolton Wanderers may have been some source of comfort. Crowds at Ewood generally improved but there tended to be some wild variations. After 15,000 turned up for the visit of Sunderland, only 5,000 bothered to turn up when Stoke arrived the next month. They finished the season in sixth, a huge improvement over the previous shocker of a season although they were well off the pace set by the eventual league winners, Aston Villa.

Although the league form improved the FA Cup was almost a carbon copy of twelve months previous as Rovers once again got kicked out in the first round on Merseyside. This time it was the red half, Liverpool that administered a goodbye in the form of 2-0. So, all in all, a much improved season and reasons to be optimistic as the team looked forward to a season that would begin in one century and end in the next. Poor Tom Wilkie, a Scottish goalkeeper way before that breed had to put up with constant ribbing and jokes about them on Saint & Greavsie, had to leave after having two shocking games which then seemed to drain him off all confidence. As he couldn’t be risked in goal again for Rovers he was sent packing to Glasgow Rangers where his career did improve at least slightly. In came Bill Williams, a right winger from Everton and another winger in the shape of Arnold Whittaker, who would play 250 league games over the next nine seasons for Rovers before returning to the club he had come from, Accrington Stanley

Gone for good as a league side in that summer was their oldest rivals; Darwen. They had been relegated from Division Two in 1898/99 after losing eighteen games in a row (still a record) and conceding an enormous 141 league goals in 34 games (that’s over four goals conceded each game!). By the time the season had finished they had secured just two wins (that equates to one win every seventeen games) and a pitiful nine points. Their goal difference was a since unmatched minus 119. Quite simply, Darwen that season had the worst league campaign any team has ever had. These awful records have not been matched in incompetence since and are unlikely to be so. Unsurprisingly they didn’t apply for re-election and have not been close to being a league side since and so ended Darwen as the first major rivals of Blackburn Rovers. In the future Rovers would look to Burnley, Preston, Bury, Bolton and even Blackpool for some Lancashire challenges.

The league form was once again back to the level of disappointing in the 1899/1900 season, in results if not style. Despite improvements in performance they were a very inconsistent side and tended to follow a good run up with an immediately proceeding bad run. The league team of the 1890s Aston Villa once again won the league. Attendances as usual varied alarmingly but proof of the growing and burgeoning rivalry was evident as the two league games attracted the highest home crowds of the season for each club. Almost thirteen thousand saw the Rovers battle on unrewardingly at Turf Moor during Burnley’s 1-0 win.

Not that it was a good season for Burnley or indeed the other main rivals, Preston North End. The first game of the twentieth century for Blackburn Rovers was at home to Burnley on 1st January 1900. It was a great start to a new century as they won 2-0 in front of 14,000 fans thanks to goals from Dewhurst and Briercliffe. The new century was less than twenty four hours old before Rovers had shown those wannabes from Burnley just who the best owned the local bragging rights. At the end of the season Burnley were relegated after finishing second from bottom. This time they would not bounce straight back. The Clarets would not be back in the top flight for over a decade. Happy New Century Lads! It could be said that Rovers did not help them too much. They had played their last match of the season away to Preston and lost 2-0. That win took Preston above Burnley on that very last day of the season and therefore sent their Claret-and-blue clad rivals down. Two years after Burnley’s action saved Rovers (albeit that was not why they advocated the expansion of the league), the blue and whites proved unable to repay the favour.

Regarding the title, Aston Villa won it once again although there were some new victors in the cup in the form of Bury. As for our erstwhile heroes, they finished the season in fourteenth, a mere three points clear of safety after losing three of their last four games. It is amazing that in almost every single year in the first twenty or so league campaigns they finished poorly. The top scorer in the league was Arnold Whittaker, with eleven in his first full season for the club. However Fred Blackburn netted nine times in the league and added three more in the cup. For once they didn’t bow out in the first round. Although as they left this time in the second round it wasn’t exactly a huge improvement.

The first round saw an immense struggle against Southern League side Portsmouth. After two draws Rovers finally won the second replay which was held at Villa Park. The 5-0 conquest no doubt led many to wonder what all the huffing and puffing had been in aid for as Fred Blackburn bagged a hat trick and Hulse got the other two. Their next opponents were Preston North End, who used their home advantage to win 1-0 and end yet another ultimately disappointing cup crusade. It wasn’t such a bad year for Rovers overall though. Certainly it didn’t finish well but they were never threatened with relegation which was progression in itself after the worries of the 1897/98 close shave and they had been said to play some attractive football. Not only that but it was a new century for the town of Blackburn with its mills and cotton trade being essential components for Britain and its global empire. Analysts predicted that within fifty years the town of Blackburn would have over 220,000 inhabitants such had been its recent rapid rate of growth. They got that bit wrong (official figures out the town today at about 105,000 which is bumped up to approximately 140,000 when Darwen is added) but even without those numbers, Rovers would soon start the long hard slog to punching above their weight once again and becoming the greatest side in land.

Happy New Century....give it a while and it might just be a very happy time indeed for the Rovers...