The early years

The Blackburn Rovers club was formed in 1875 following a meeting on November 5th in the St. Leger Hotel on King William Street. The meeting was organised by two old boys of Shrewsbury school, John Lewis and Arthur Constantine. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the possibility of forming a football club to play under Association rules. Seventeen people attended the meeting, the majority of whom were Blackburn Grammar School old boys.

This patronage of the club by the educated middle classes was of vital importance. These men were at the heart of Blackburn's commercial life. Through their education and business acumen they were well placed to exploit the opportunities presented by the expansion of the fledgling game.

Rovers' first game, which took place at Church on December 11th 1875, was reported as follows in the December 18th edition of the Blackburn Times.

A golden era

Two more promotion near misses, in 1955-56 and 1956-57, when the team finished fourth on each occasion only served to underline the depth of talent at the club.

The gradual strengthening of the team as young players such as Ronnie Clayton, Bryan Douglas Roy Vernon and Peter Dobing were introduced and gained experience allied to the signing of men such as Matt Woods and Ally McLeod meant that Rovers were not to be denied a promotion spot much longer.

The 1957-58 season began with confidence high at Ewood for the team was now peppered with stars in the making. After a slow start the team started to show promotion form from the end of September onwards. At the turn of the year Rovers went on a cup run that brought famous victories over both Everton and Liverpool leading to an eventual semi-final meeting with Bolton Wanderers at Maine Road.

Cup semi-finals, European adventures, but league disappointment

2005-06 saw Rovers maintain their fine form in cup competitions with a run to the semi-finals of the Carling Cup.

After defeating Huddersfield Town, Leeds United, Charlton Athletic and Middlesbrough on their way to the last four of the competition, they were eventually knocked out by Manchester United 3-2 on aggregate over two legs.

On the league front a strong spell of results over the Christmas period saw Rovers move steadily up the table, summer signing Craig Bellamy making his mark in front of goal.