Blackburn Rovers have been crowned English champions three times - including winning the Premier League title in 1995 - and have won six FA Cups and the League Cup.

Blackburn Rovers FC are a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, who currently play in the Championship, the second tier of English football.

Blackburn Rovers were champions of England in 1911/12, 1913/14 and 1994/95.

The 94/95 triumph made them the second team to lift the Premier League title as they ended Manchester United's dominance in the early years of the new era of English football.

Sir Kenny Dalglish led a team spearheaded by Alan Shearer, and financially backed by owner Jack Walker, to the title.

Blackburn were relegated to Division One in the 1998/99 season, but were promoted to the Premier League again in 2001 and were a stable force in the top flight for 11 years.

However, they have struggled to recapture their glory years during the Venky ownership period, which began in 2010 and are currently stuck in the Championship.

 

Blackburn Rovers early history

Blackburn Rovers FC were founded in 1875 and the club were one of the founding members of the Football League in 1888.

They won their first FA Cup title in 1884 with a 2-1 win over Scottish club Queen's Park and were a dominant force in the FA Cup throughout the course of that era.

Blackburn won the top flight title in 1911/12 and 1913/14 and they were FA Cup champions for the sixth time in 1927/28.

However, Rovers did not win another major trophy for almost 70 years.

 

Blackburn Rovers and quiet mid-20th century

Blackburn Rovers remained a stable club in the First Division, but disaster struck when they were relegated along with another hugely prestigious club, Aston Villa, at the end of the 1935/36 season.

They bounced up and down the divisions for decades to come but reached the 1960 FA Cup final under the astute supervision of manager Dally Duncan.

Rovers lost 3-0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers having played most of the match with only 10 men after Dave Whelan broke his leg.

Blackburn Rovers were top of the table after an 8-2 win over West Ham United away from home on Boxing Day in the 1963/64 season, but they fell some way off the pace of eventual champions Liverpool as the season progressed.

In 1966, Blackburn Rovers were relegated from the top flight.

They bounced around the divisions and remained in exile from top-tier football for the next 26 years.

 

Jack Walker takeover and Premiership title

Lifelong Blackburn Rovers supporter, Jack Walker, bought the club in 1991 and invested heavily in the team.

Under the guidance of Kenny Dalglish they won promotion to the Premier League at the end of the 1991/92 season after beating Leicester City 1-0 in the play-off final.

The 1992/93 season was Blackburn's first season in the top flight since 1966, and they finished in an admirable fourth place in the inaugural season of the Premiership, as it was then called. They also reached the semi-final of the League Cup and the quarter-final of the FA Cup.

The following season, Alan Shearer netted 34 goals across all competitions as Blackburn finished second in the Premiership eight points adrift of champions Manchester United.

In 1994/95, Jack Walker's financial backing bore fruit as Rovers pipped Manchester United to the Premier League title despite losing to Liverpool on a dramatic last day.

Shearer scored 37 goals across all competitions and was handed the Premiership golden boot and the PFA Players' Player of the Year award, while Dalglish won the Manager of the Year trophy.

At the end of the season, Dalglish moved into a new role as Director of Football and his assistant, Ray Harford, became manager.

However, Blackburn plummeted rapidly and were bottom of the league when Harford resigned in October 1996.

He was replaced by Tony Parkes, who led Blackburn Rovers to survival before being replaced by Roy Hodgson.

Hodgson secured UEFA Cup football for Blackburn Rovers with a respectable sixth-place finish.

However, they started the 1998/99 season in poor form and Hodgson was sacked in December. He was replaced by Bryan Kidd, who was unable to avoid relegation.

Walker passed away at the start of the 2000/01 season, which eventually saw Rovers secure promotion back up to the Premier League under Graeme Souness.

 

Second spell in Premier League and Venky takeover

Blackburn were a stable force in the Premier League for the bulk of their 11-year spell back in the top flight.

Benni McCarthy and Roque Santa Cruz formed a formidable strike partnership and Blackburn enjoyed some success under new manager Mark Hughes.

In November 2010, the trust set up by Jack Walker sold its 99.9% holding of the club to a new company, Venky's London Limited of the Rao family, for a reported £43m.

However, the Venky ownership was met with scepticism and Blackburn Rovers' fortunes tumbled on the field.

They were relegated at the end of the 2011/12 Premier League season with the unpopular Steve Kean at the helm.

Blackburn struggled to fight their way back to the top flight, and after a series on mid-table finishes they dropped out of the Championship at the end of the 2016/17 season.

However, they bounced straight back up to the Championship and have remained in the second tier ever since.

Charlie Mulgrew's goal against Doncaster Rovers in April 2018 was enough to secure their automatic promotion out of League One under the guidance of manager Tony Mowbray.

Mowbray cemented Blackburn's Championship security over the next four seasons, but after five years in charge he left the club after missing out on the play-offs at the end of the 2021/22 season.

In June 2022, the club appointed the former Newcastle United, AC Milan and Denmark striker Jon Dahl Tomasson as head coach on a three-year deal.

In his first season, he guided the club to seventh in the Championship, just missing out on the play-offs on goal difference.

But Tomasson left the club by mutual consent in February 2024 after the club slipped to 18th in the Championship, within five points of the relegation zone after failing to win any of their last eight league matches.

Former Birmingham manager John Eustace was named as his replacement.

 

Blackburn Rovers fanbase

Blackburn Rovers fans developed animosity towards their new owners as a result of the club's deterioration in the early years of the Venky ownership.

Ewood Park, Blackburn Rovers' home ground, has a capacity of 31,367.

 

Blackburn Rovers rivalries

Apart from fierce East Lancashire rivals Burnley, Blackburn Rovers have rivalries with Preston North End, Bolton Wanderers, Manchester United and Wigan Athletic.

 

Blackburn Rovers finances

Blackburn's ownership structure remains the same since the Venky's takeover in 2010, but CEO Steve Waggott has attempted to improve the new owners' image.

He told reporters: "They're watching every game. I keep asking them because every forum we have, the fans always say when they come can you get them back?

"I'm trying to position them where as and when football does resume with supporters in the stadium, it might be great timing for them to come back and pay a visit so that fans can see them."

"In amongst the hierarchy up there we're touching base constantly on a daily basis, maybe every other day and we have the owner's representative in Suhail who has been in India for the last few months.

"He is there with the global FD and Madam and Mr Desai, so we're constantly in touch with team performance and cash flow, as you can imagine, along with other operational issues at the club."

The V H group, which Venky's Ltd. serves as a holding company, is a conglomerate valued at a reported $2bn specialising in the poultry industry.