Blackburn Rovers All-Time Greatest Team

This blogger Artur Yanturin of Russia copied many of my blog teams.  This blog was one of them.  It was my Russia All-Time Team here.  His team was written in 2020, but mine was uploaded in 2014.   His Spartak Moscow All-Time team entry of was published in October 2020, but mine was uploaded in 2017.  His entry of the Dutch-German rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona was written in 2020, but mine was uploaded in 2014.  He also copied many many of my blog entries.

His Facebook and Instagram

Blackburn Rovers First Division Champion 1913-1914

Please also see my All-Time World Cup Team Index.

Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal,
Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City, Everton, Ipswich
Aston Villa, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, 
Leeds United, Leicester City, West Ham, Wolverhampton Wanderers
North West England

This is my selection of a 25 member all-time team for Blackburn Roevers.  The number 25 was chosen because it is the official squad size for the Champions' League.

Blackburn Rovers was established in 1875, becoming a founding member of The Football League in 1888 and the Premier League in 1992. In 1890, Rovers moved to Ewood Park. Blackburn Rovers have been English champions three times, and have won six FA Cups, one Football League Cup and one Full Members' Cup. The club has spent most of its existence in the top flight of English football.

In 1992, Rovers gained promotion to the new Premier League a year after being taken over by local entrepreneur Jack Walker, who installed Kenny Dalglish as manager. In 1995, Rovers became Premier League champions.  The club's motto is "Arte et Labore", meaning "By Skill and Hard Work" in Latin. They have a long-standing rivalry with nearby club Burnley, with whom they contest the East Lancashire derby.

Premiership winner 1994-1995

Team
GK: Brad Friedel (USA)
Brad Friedel is the current holder of the English Premier League record for most consecutive appearances with 310.  He played with Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspurs.  He is one of the oldest player to start a game at the English Premiership.  He also played for clubs in Denmark and Turkey.  He earned 82 caps.  He represented the USA at the World Cup in 1994, 1998 and 2002. He is best remembered for reaching the quarterfinal in 2002.

Brad Friedel

GK: Tim Flowers (England)
Flowers began his career with Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1984.  He was Peter Shilton's unberstudy with Southampton before becoming their starter in the 1989–90 season. He was notably part of the Blackburn Rovers side that won the Premier League in 1995. He also played for  Swindon Town, Leicester City, Stockport County, Coventry City and Manchester City.  He had 11 caps.  He went to both Euro 96 in England and the 1998 World Cup.

GK: Jimmy Ashcroft (England)
Jimmy Ashcroft was an amateur with Everton and Gravesend United before joining Woolwich Arsenal as a professional in 1900.  Ashcroft played 303 first-class games in eight seasons for Arsenal. He was sold to Blackburn Rovers in the summer of 1908, winnig the league in the 1911-1912 season.  Then, he played for Tranmere Rovers F.C.. He played 3 times for England.

RB: Bob Crompton (England)
Bob Crompton was a great player early into the 20th Century.  He was born in 1879. He began his career as a centre-half, but it was at full-back that he excelled. He played his entire career with Blackburn Rovers.  He played 41 times for England between 1902 and 1914, a record until Billy Wright broke it in 1952.

CB/RB:  Henning Berg  (Norway)
For Norway, Henning Berg earned 100 caps, playing in 1994 and 1998 World Cup Finals.  In Norway,  he played for Vålerenga and Lillestrøm. He spent 12 seasons in England, playing for Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers, winning the Premiership three times for both clubs.  He was a part of Manchester United that won the Champions' League in 1999, but missed the Final through an injury.

Henning Berg

CB: Colin Hendry (Scotland)
Hendry started his career with Dundee in 1983. and spent spells at Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, Rangers, Coventry City, Bolton Wanderers and Blackpool. He was part of the Blackburn squad that won the English Premiership in 1995 and the Rangers squad that won the Scottish domestic treble in 1998–99.  He played 51 caps for Scotland. He captained Scotland in the 1998 World Cup.

CB: Derek Fazackerley (England)
Derek Fazackerley made a record 671 appearances for Blackburn Rovers in an 18-year career between 1969 and 1987.  He is their Player of the Year in 1983.  In 2019, he was elected as a member of their Hall of Flame.  he also played for Chester City, York City, Bury and Kumu in Finland.

CB Mike England (Wales)
At Spurs, Mike England won the inaugural 1972 UEFA Cup Final and was runner up in the same competition 2 years later; his goal in the first leg of the 1974 final unable to win the cup a second time for Spurs.  He also played for Blackburn Rovers, Seattle Sounders (USA) and Cardiff City.  He was capped 44 times and was also the youngest Welsh captain at one point. He also played as a center forward.

LB: Graeme Le Saux (Emgland)
Le Saux moved to England and debuted for Chelsea in 1989. He left joined Blackburn Rovers in 1993 and was part of their 1994–95 Premier League winning team. His return to Chelsea in 1997 in a £5 million transfer made him the most expensive defender in English football. He then played for Southampton. He played 36 times for England, starting all four England games at the 1998 World Cup Finals.

LB/RB: Keith Newton (England)
Newton started his career with Blackburn Rovers in the 1960–61 season. He went on to play over 300 games for them. He was a part of  Everton when they won the Football League First Division. He also played for Burnley between 1972 and 1978.  Newton played 27 times for England.  He gained the distinction of becoming the first England player to be substituted at a World Cup Finals.

LB: William Eckersley (England)
Bill Eckersley started as an amateur with Blackburn Rovers before gaining a professional contract in 1947.  He played his entire career with them, retiring in 1961.  For England, he earned 17 caps. he was a member of the 1950 World Cup team.  His final England appearance was the "Match of the Century" on 25 November 1953 where Hungary beat England 6-3. The match changed the face of English football.

Bill Eckersley 

CM/DM: Tim Sherwood (England)
Tim Sherwood played for Norwich and Watford before joining Blackburn Rovers in 1992.  He stayed there until 1999.  He was captain of Blackburn Rovers' Premier League title-winning side in 1995. He was on the PFA Team of the Year. He later played for Tottenham Hotspurs, Portsmouth and Coventry.  He played 3 times for England in 1999 at the age of 30 under manager Kevin Keegan.

CM/DM: Garry Flitcroft (England)
From 1991 to 1996, Garry Flitcroft played for Manchester City.  He then played for Blackburn Rovers from 1996 to 2006, serving as its captain for awhile.  He played briefly for Sheffield United F.C. Flitcroft played for the England U21s 10 times in 1993. He was also called up by the senior side under Terry Venables, but he never earned a single cap.

CM: Mark Atkins (England)
Mark Atkins played for Scunthorpe United for two seasons before he joined Blackburn Rovers in 1999.  He was an integral part of Blackburn's rise from the old Second Division to Premier League champions in 1995. He later played for Wolverhampton Wanderers, York City, Doncaster Rovers, Hull City, Shrewsbury Town and Harrogate Town.

CM: Tugay Kerimoglu (Turkey)
Tugay Kerimoglu was a part of Turkey's Golden Generation in 2000's.  He was capped 94 times for Turkey between 1992 and 2006.  He went to the Euro 1996, Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup.  He was a deep-lying midfielder who played mainly with Galatasaray and Blackburn Rovers.  He had a brief stint with Rangers in Scotland. He was the youngest ever captain at Galatasaray. He was named Blackburn's Player of the Year in the 2003–04 campaign. 

RM/RB: Ronnie Clayton (England)
Ronnie Clayton made his first-team debut as a 16-year-old in the 1950–51 season with Blackburn Rovers, and between then and 1969 made 581 appearances for his only Football League club. He then became player-manager of Morecambe.  At the international level, Clayton was capped 35 times for England, including five as captain. He was part of England's team at the 1958 FIFA World Cup.

Ronnie Clayton 

RW: Bryan Douglas (England)
During his career, he played for Blackburn Rovers from 1954 to 1969, totalling 438 league appearances and 100 goals. He is a native of Blackburn, where he spent his entire career. He also earned 36 caps and scored 11 goals for England. He appeared in two World Cups, in 1958 and 1962, appearing in all of England's matches in the two tournaments.

LW: Damien Duff (Ireland)
Duff won two Premiership titles with Chelsea with Chelsea in  2004–05 and 2005–06.  After four seasons at Stamford Bridge, he left for Newcastle United where he won the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup, and then moved on to Fulham, with whom he played in the 2010 UEFA Europa League Final. For Ireland, he was capped 100 times. He was remembered for his performance at World Cup 2002 and captained Ireland at Euro 2012.

Damien Duff

LW: Jason Wilcox (England)
From 1989 to 1999, Wilcox played for Blackburn Rovers, winning the 1995 Premiership with them.  He was one of the only first-team players of that era who came from the club's own youth system. With Leeds United, he was a part of the team that reached the semifinal of both UEFA Cup and the Champions' League.  He earned 3 caps in England.  He narrowly missed out on both Euro 1996 and 2000.

AM: David Dunn (England)
Dunn was a youth product of Blackburn Rovers, where he had two spells (from 1998 to 2003 and 2007 to 2015). He also played for Birmingham City in between his two spells with them.  After he left Blackburn Rovers in 2015, he spent a season with Oldham.  Dunn played many times for the English Under-21 team.  He was called up by the senior side in 2001, but he only managed to make his only appearance with England in 2002 during a match against Portugal.

David Dunn

SS: Eddie Latheron (England)
After playing for South Bank Corinthians, Latheron  joined Grangetown Athletic, playing in the Northern League. From 1906 to 1917, he played for Blackburn Rovers, helping them to win the Football League title in 1912 and 1914. He also made two appearances for England in 1913 and 1914. He was killed at the Battle of Passchendaele in World War I.

CF: Jack Southworth (England)
Jack Southworth was an early pioneer of the game.  He played for Chester, and scored their first ever goal against their local rivals Wrexham Olympic in 1886.  From 1887 to 1893, he played for Blackburn Rovers.  He scored Blackburn's first ever goal in the league in 1888.  He then played for Everton. From 1889 to 1892, he played 3 times for England.

ST: Simon Garner (England)
In 1978, Simon Garner made his senior debut with Blackburn Rovers. He played for them until 1992, where he became their all-time leading scorer.  He was Blackburn Player of the Year in 1984. He played two seasons with West Bromwich Albion, helping them to win promotion from Division Two.  He also played for Wycombe Wanderers and Torquay United.

ST: Chris Sutton (England)
From 1991 to 2007, Sutton plated Norwich City, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Celtic, Birmingham City and Aston Villa. Sutton scored over 150 career goals in over 400 league appearances spanning 16 years in the English and Scottish Premier Leagues.  Sutton became the most expensive player in English football in 1994, when he was transferred from Norwich City to Blackburn Rovers for £5 million. In 1997, he made his single cap.

ST: Alan Shearer (England)
Shearer is the all-time leading top-scorer for the Premiership.  In 1992, he joined Blackburn Rovers from Southampton in a record transfer. He won the Premiership for 1994-1995 season.  In 1996, he joined his home town club, Newcastle United for a world record transfer fees. He was FWA Player of the Year in 1994, and PFA Player of the Year in 1995 and 1997.  For England, he earned 63 caps. In 1996, he led England to the semi-final of Euro 1996 at home, himself winning the Golden boot award. 

SAS: Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton

Honorable Mention
Jimmy Forrest (England), Lucas Neill (Australia), Ryan Nelson (New Zealand), Terry Gennoe (England), Bobby Mimms (England), Paul Robinson (England), Michel Salgado (Spain), Ally MacLeod (Scotland), Kevin  Gallacher (Scotland), Matt Jansen (England), Stuart Ripley (England), Andy McEvoy (Ireland), Thomas Briggs (England), Walter Aitkenhead (Scotland), William Townley (England), Fred Pickering (England), David Bentley (England), Morten Gamst Pedersen (Norway)

Squad Explanation
--  Bob Crompton, Ronnie Clayton, Bryan Douglas, Derek Fazackerley. Simon Garner, Alan Shearer and Brad Friedel are members of Blackburn Rovers Hall of Fame.  They all made this team.
-- Blackburn Rovers are one of few clubs that had won the Premiership.  Their 1994-1995 winning team included Alan Shearer, Jason Wilcox, Graeme Le Saux, Tim Flowers, Colin Hendry, Chris Sutton, Henning Berg, Tim Sherwood, Garry Flitcroft and Mark Atkins.  I just could not find a space for Stuart Ripley.
-- Alan Shearer was the Premiership top scorer in the season 1994–95 and 1995–96 while playing for Blackburn Rovers(he won his third scoring title with Newcastle United).  He was the FWA Footballer of the Year in the 1993–94 season, and the PFA Players' Player of the Year in the 1994–95 season. He is considered Blackburn Rovers' greatest player.

-- Blackburn Rovers spent 26 years in the lower division before they won the promotion to the Preimership at the end of 1991-1992 season.  
-- Blackburn Rovers won two first division titles in the 1911-12 and 1913-1914.  Bob Crompton and Jimmy Ashcroft were on the 1911-1912 team while Eddie Latheron was from the 1914 team.
-- I do not know much about Jimmy Forrest who played in the 19th Century. So I put him on honorable mention for now.
-- Stuart Ripley and Mark Atkins were lesser known players for the 1994-1995 Premiership winning team, but they played plenty of the games that season and contributed to the Rovers' greatest glory in their history. Atkins made the team, but Ripley lost out to two old-timers, Ronnie Clayton and Bryan Douglas (see below).
-- Brad Friedel and Tim Flowers are easy choices for the top two goalkeepers.  During their prime, they were household names in England. The third keeper went to Jimmy Ashcroft who helped Blackburn Rovers to win the First Division title in 1911-1912. season. Terry Gennoe, Bobby Mimms and Paul Robinson made honorable mention.
-- Colin Hendry and Henning Berg were icons of the team during the Preimership era.  Derek Fazackerley is the team's all-time leading appearance leader.  The last centerback spot was between Mike England and Ryan Nelson.  I went with the older Mike England.  My selection might be influenced by England's play with Wales.  Ryan Nelson is the most controversial omission of this team.  
-- I selected two fullbacks who could play on the leftside.   Graeme Le Saux is an automatic selection. I could not decide between Keith Newton and William Eckersley.  Newton who could also play as a rightback.  They  kept rightback Michel Salgado off the team.  Rightback Bob Crompton was also an automatic selection for the club. I also believe that Ronnie Clayton and Henning Berg who was a right-half could also cover the rightback position.  So this position is well-covered.
-- Tugay Kerimoglu was often mentioned among the greatest ever players for the Rovers.  Tim Sherwood was another club legend.  I took Mark Atkins and Garry Flitcroft because the team needed an additional central/defensive midfielders.  
-- David Batty was a well-known midfielder.  However, he was injured throughout the Preimership winning season over here.  He only played 5 times. His career here was best remembered for an incident with his teammate Graeme Le Saux during the Champions' League game against Spartak Moscow. He did not make the honorable mention. The on pitch incident had nothing to do with his omission. 
-- Bryan Douglas is a native of Blackburn, where he spent his entire career with the Rovers.  It was one of the reasons that I selected him, but it was not all.  He also earned it through his performance on the field.

 Bryan Douglas 

-- Jack Southworth scored Blackburn's first ever goal in the league in 1888.  He was the league top scorer in the 1890-1891 season.  He also won two FA Cups with Blackburn Rovers.

-- Simon Garner is the club's all-time leading scorer.  Some fans considered him as the club's greatest ever player even though he played in the lower division for them.  The club actually went down to the third division while he was a player here.
-- William Townley helped Blackburn Rovers to win the FA Cup.  He was the first player to score a hattrick in the Final.  However, I opted for Damien Duff and Jack Wilcox who are home grown players.
-- Fred Pickering was once upon a time England's most expensive player when Everton paid hometown team Blackburn Rovers £85,000 to sign him in 1964.  He nearly made the 1966 World Cup team.

-- Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton formed an offensive duo known as "SAS" as Balckburn Rovers won the Preimership in 1995.  I have to select both even through both could have made it without one another on this team. Stuart Ripley was a key winger that contributed the greatness of the "SAS".  Unfortunately for him, I have Bryan Douglas and Ronnie Clayton ahead of him( see above).  Bryan Douglas was a one club player while Clayton only played non-league football outside Blackburn Rovers.  In his prime, he also captained the English national team.

Formation