Sam Allardyce

Sam Allardyce

Samuel "Sam" Allardyce (born 19 October 1954) is an English football manager and former professional player. He is the current manager of Blackburn Rovers of the Premier League. He was previously manager of Bolton Wanderers from 1999 to 2007 and Newcastle United from 2007 to 2008. He led Bolton to a League Cup final as well as guiding them to UEFA Cup qualification for the first time in their history. He is often referred to by the nickname "Big Sam".

Allardyce grew up on Dudley's Wren's Nest estate and was educated at Sycamore Green Primary School and later at Wren's Nest Secondary School.

He joined Bolton Wanderers as a centre-half in 1973 and is best remembered as a player for being part of the side which won the Second Division title in 1977–78 to secure promotion to the First Division.

Allardyce was signed by Ken Knighton to play for Sunderland for whom he played 25 times during the 1980–81 season. He also played for Huddersfield Town, Coventry City, Millwall and Preston North End, whom he captained to promotion from the Fourth Division in 1986–87.

He played in the United States in the nascent North American Soccer League for the Tampa Bay Rowdies. The football team shared facilities with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Allardyce applied many practices of American football (gridiron) towards soccer (with regards to training, player management and tactics). These innovative ideas helped him progress in football management.

Allardyce was named as assistant manager (player-coach) to Brian Talbot at West Bromwich Albion in February 1989—ironic as he was a supporter of Wolverhampton Wanderers, one of Albion's fiercest rivals. On the playing side, Allardyce appeared in only one game for Albion, coming on as a substitute against Newcastle United in November 1989. His spell at the Hawthorns lasted two years before he and Talbot were sacked as the club slid towards relegation to the Third Division for the first time in their history.

Allardyce then took up the role of player/manager of Limerick and guided the League of Ireland team to promotion by topping the first division with a number of points to spare in 1991–92 in his only season at the club. He made his League of Ireland debut on 6 October 1991.

After his one successful season in Ireland Allardyce returned to England and to Preston North End for the start of the 1992–93 season to take up the role of coach/assistant manager under Les Chapman. Ten games into the season however Chapman was sacked and Allardyce given the role of caretaker manager. His short spell in charge was an impressive one with Preston putting in some fine performances, picking some much needed league points along the way. The clubs board though felt that Allardyce's managerial inexperience at league level worked against him and opted in December 1992 to appoint the more experienced John Beck who in turn appointed Gary Peters as his assistant. Allardyce carried on with the club in his original coaching capacity for another 18 months but the disappointment of missing out on the Preston job spoke volumes and when in July 1994 arch rivals Blackpool offered him the manager's job after sacking Billy Ayre, Allardyce jumped at the chance.

Allardyce's spell at Bloomfield Road included his leading the club, in 1995–96, to their most successful season in years; however, he was sacked at the end of the campaign after failing to guide them to Division One. Blackpool finished third, missing out on automatic promotion on the last day of the season, and were then beaten in the play-off semi-finals by Bradford City after winning 2–0 away at Valley Parade, only to lose 3–0 in the reverse leg on home soil. In matches in the Football League, Allardyce still has the highest win percentage (44.57%) of any Blackpool manager. Five years after his sacking, Allardyce stated that he still had no idea why the club relieved him of his position.

In January 1997, Sam Allardyce made his return to football as manager of Division Two basement club Notts County. He arrived too late to save them from relegation, but they won promotion at the first attempt by finishing top of Division Three at the end of the 1997–98 season. Notts County broke several club and national records, winning the title by a 19-point margin and becoming the first post-war side to win promotion in mid-March.

He remained in charge at Meadow Lane until 19 October 1999, when he returned to Bolton Wanderers in Division One and became their new manager.

Despite being in the bottom half of the table when he took over, Bolton reached the 1999–2000 Division One playoffs, losing to Ipswich Town and had an eventful run to the League Cup and FA Cup semi-finals.

Bolton went one better in 2000–01 by reaching the playoff final where they beat Preston North End 3–0 to achieve promotion to the Premiership after a three-year absence. Allardyce said he planned to walk away from football at the end of his 10-year contract at Bolton Wanderers, when he would have been 56.

Bolton went top of the Premiership after gaining ten points from the first four games of the 2001–02 campaign. However, the Bolton squad was not strong enough to mount a sustained challenge and their safety was not ensured until the penultimate game of the season. They continued to struggle in 2002–03, avoiding relegation by just two points and one place.

After two years in the bottom half of the table, Bolton went on to substantially improve, and established themselves in the Premiership. 2003–04 saw Allardyce's side finish eighth and reach the Carling Cup final, losing 2–1 to Middlesbrough.

2004–05 saw Sam Allardyce and Bolton finish sixth to win qualification in the UEFA Cup for the first time in the club's history, equal on points with 2005's UEFA Champions League victors Liverpool. In the early months of 2005–06, Allardyce once again took Bolton into the top half of the Premiership and also steered them into the knockout rounds of the UEFA Cup. Bolton eventually finished eighth that season.

In early 2006 it was confirmed that Sven-Göran Eriksson would leave the England manager's job after the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and as a successful English manager, Allardyce was touted as a major candidate for the post. Bolton confirmed that they would let him talk to the FA if they approached him. However he was never offered the job, which was eventually given to Steve McClaren.

Speculation arose on 28 April 2007, that Allardyce would quit as Bolton manager at the end of the 2006–07 season, a move that the board initially denied. However, Bolton announced on the next day that Allardyce was to leave the club after eight years, effective immediately. Sammy Lee was announced as his replacement the following day.

After the resignation of Glenn Roeder, manager of Newcastle United, on 6 May 2007, Allardyce immediately became the leading contender with bookmakers and the media for the resulting vacancy, and it was confirmed that Allardyce had held a meeting with Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd in London. On 15 May 2007, Newcastle United announced that Allardyce had signed a three-year contract to manage the club. On 21 May 2007 Allardyce had already axed six players from Newcastle United before the 2007–08 season has started. They included Olivier Bernard, Craig Moore, Oguchi Onyewu, Titus Bramble, Pavel Srníček and Antoine Sibierski. He made his first signing as Newcastle United manager on 7 June 2007, with Australian international striker Mark Viduka from local rivals Middlesbrough on a free transfer.

After a series of disappointing results in the run-up to Christmas, and after gaining only one point from a possible six from bottom-of-the-table Wigan and Derby, there was speculation that Allardyce's tenure at Newcastle could be under threat.

On 9 January 2008, Sam Allardyce parted company with Newcastle United by mutual agreement.

He was appointed as manager of Blackburn Rovers on a three-year contract on 17 December 2008. His first game in charge was a 3–0 victory over Stoke City at Ewood Park three days later.

On 19 September 2006, Allardyce, and his son, Craig, were implicated in a BBC Panorama documentary for taking "bungs" (backhanders) from agents for signing certain players. Two agents, Teni Yerima and Peter Harrison, were secretly filmed, each separately claiming that they had paid Allardyce through his son. Allardyce denies ever taking, or asking for, a bung.

The Trotters manager was implicated in an exposé into the football transfer market. The programme called Undercover: Football's Dirty Secrets was aired on the same night that Bolton beat Walsall 3–1 in the Carling Cup, so he missed the original showing. As a result of the allegation, Allardyce refused to speak to the BBC. While he also stated he was going to sue the broadcaster in order to clear his name, Allarydyce failed to issue libel proceedings, allowing the year-long window following the show's broadcast to elapse.

To the top

Mark Viduka

Mark Anthony Viduka (IPA: ) (born October 9, 1975 in Melbourne) is an Australian football centre forward of Croatian and Ukrainian descent. He plays for Newcastle United in the English Premier League and for the Australian national team, which he captained at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany to the last-16.

Viduka started his career in Australia with Melbourne Knights in 1993, and became an Australian international in June of the following year. In his two seasons with the Melbourne Knights he was top goal scorer in the National Soccer League and was twice awarded the Johnny Warren Medal for NSL Player of the Year in 1993/94 and 1994/95. Viduka's time at the Melbourne Knights included one NSL title in season 1994/1995.

In 1995 he moved to Croatia to play with Croatia Zagreb (now Dinamo Zagreb). The grandstand at Knights' Stadium, home of the Melbourne Knights was renamed the Mark Viduka Stand in his honour and paid for with his transfer money.

He spent three and half seasons with the club, helping them to win three Doubles in Croatia between 1996 and 1998. He was also part of the Croatia Zagreb team that reached the third round of the UEFA Cup in 1997 and went on to make his UEFA Champions League group stage debut with the club a year later.

Celtic bought Viduka in December 1998 for £3.5 million. In the same month as his signing, Celtic announced that Viduka had quit the club without kicking a ball for them, citing stress as his reason. A week later Zagreb complained that they had not received their fee for the player. These issues were eventually resolved and Viduka made his first appearance in a Celtic shirt on 16 February 1999, scoring for the under-21 team as an over-age player in a 4–2 victory against Motherwell. He was voted Scottish Player of the Year for 1999-2000 after scoring 27 goals in his first full season at Celtic Park. He was regarded as a skilled player, able to hold the ball up well and bring other players into the game. He did however incur the wrath of the Celtic support when he claimed to be only playing at about 75% of his capability during his time in Glasgow.

On 4 December 2007, whilst presenting his show on talkSport, Ian Wright claimed that during half time of Celtic's February 2000 Scottish Cup defeat against Inverness Caledonian Thistle an unnamed striker refused to go back out for the second half of the game. Wright refused to name the player, but spoke of his disgust at the lack of professionalism displayed by the player and also explained that it was Wright himself who came on as a substitute for the player, making it apparent that he was talking about Viduka.

Leeds United manager David O'Leary signed Viduka just before the 2000–01 season for £6 million. At Leeds he was expected to line up in a three-pronged attack alongside Harry Kewell and Michael Bridges, but injuries to those two saw him form a partnership with Alan Smith in Leeds UEFA Champions League matches, while Robbie Keane also benefited in their Premiership matches together. In his first Elland Road season, Viduka scored 22 goals, including all four in a memorable 4–3 win over Liverpool at Elland Road. He signed a five-year deal in the summer of 2001.

In the 2002–03 campaign Viduka scored another 22 goals, however Leeds' off-pitch financial troubles prompted the club to sell key players, including Harry Kewell and Robbie Keane. This prompted speculation that Viduka would join the Leeds exodus with Barcelona confirming their interest in the Australian international along with Premiership clubs Liverpool and Manchester United.

With the relegation of Leeds United to the Football League Championship, the sale of Viduka to Middlesbrough was completed.

Viduka's debut season at Middlesbrough was initially impressive, albeit frustrated by injuries. In the 2005–06 season however, Viduka was in sensational form in all competitions for Middlesbrough, reaching double figures early on in the season. He also played an important part in spearheading Middlesbrough's campaign in the UEFA Cup where they twice had to score four goals in a game to proceed. They eventually lost in the final to Spanish side Sevilla on 10 May 2006.

With his contract due to expire at the end of the 2006–07 season, Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate expressed his interest in keeping Viduka. In August 2006, he was awarded the number 9 shirt at Middlesbrough, his preferred number at all his previous clubs. Following another successful season, in which he scored 19 goals, Viduka attracted interest from other clubs who were hoping to sign him on a free transfer as he became out-of-contract. Southgate reiterated his wish to retain Viduka's services and revealed he would offer him a new contract, however Viduka joined north east rivals Newcastle United on a free transfer on 7 June 2007.

In signing for Newcastle United, Viduka became manager Sam Allardyce's first signing at the club. His contract was for two years, with the option of a third year.

He made his Newcastle debut in a Premiership match at Bolton Wanderers on August 11, and scored his first goal for Newcastle on August 26, against his former club Middlesbrough.

On September 23, he scored a further two goals against West Ham United to bring his tally up to three for Newcastle. On December 23, he again scored two goals against Derby County, After an injury lay off over the new year, Viduka was brought back into the side by new manager Kevin Keegan, where he played as part of a 4-3-3 formation along with Michael Owen and Obafemi Martins. This new formation brought about a change of fortune for Newcastle, as the three strikers rescued them from a relegation battle, with Viduka scoring two more goals over the rest of the season and setting up others for Martins and Owen before picking up an Achilles' heel injury before the last game of the season.

He made his return to the first team after 6 months out injured at former club Middlesbrough F.C, coming on for Obafemi Martins as a substitute on November 29th 2008. This was a great relief for manager Joe Kinnear, who stated that he had previously feared the Australian's career might have been prematurely ended by his injury woes. Later, Kinnear suggested to reporters that Viduka might call time on his career at the end of the 2008/09 season. However, Viduka later expressed his desire to continue playing past this season. After acquiring a groin injury in late December, his future at the club is now, yet again in question.

He has captained the Australian national team since September 2005, in place of the injured Craig Moore, the regular captain. Viduka thrived under Guus Hiddink's tenure as coach of the national squad and led Australia as it qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany over a two-leg qualifier against Uruguay, the first time in 32 years that Australia qualified to participate in the event. On May 21, 2006 he was named as the Australian captain for the World Cup.

He also led Australia's national team to their first World Cup Finals victory with a 3–1 win over Japan in June 2006, as well as guiding them through an encounter with Brazil, losing 2–0, and a controversial bout with Croatia, ending with a 2–2 draw. He then led Australia into the second round, where they lost their round of 16 match to Italy. Although a regular scorer in the Premier League, has struggled to score any significant goals for the Socceroos, and the 2006 World Cup was no different.

Viduka considered retiring from international competition after the 2006 World Cup, citing increasing family commitments as the primary reason. However, in September 2006 he confirmed that he would continue playing for Australia and intended to compete in the 2007 Asian Cup. In a friendly against Singapore a week before the start of the Asian Cup, Viduka scored two headed goals in a 3–0 victory for Australia, Harry Kewell scored the third. It was the second time he scored two goals in an international match, having previously done so against the Solomon Islands in 2005.

On Australia's first ever Asian Cup participation, Viduka captained the side and he scored their solitary goal against Iraq, a game which they ultimately lost 1–3. In the next match he scored two goals against co-host team Thailand, defeating them 4–0, other goals scored by Michael Beachamp and Harry Kewell and making them fall out of the remaining competition. At one stage he led the goalscoring at the Asian Cup tournament, although his team was eliminated in the quarter-finals in a penalty shootout against Japan. Subsequent to that loss, question marks hang over whether Viduka will continue his international career.

Viduka and his wife, Ivana, have three sons: Joseph (born 2002), Lucas (born September 2006), and Oliver (born May 2008).

He had a song written about him by English singer/songwriter and Middlesbrough fan, Alistair Griffin (who also previously co-wrote the football song recorded by Terry Venables). The song lyrics were written to the tune of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate embraced the tune as a way of raising money for his chosen charity, Macmillan Cancer Support. Leonard Cohen has now given permission for the song to be released as a charity download single.

Viduka is a fan of Australian rules football and supports Collingwood Football Club.

To the top

Newcastle United F.C.

Newcastle United Football Club (also known as The Magpies or The Toon) is an English football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, who currently play in the Premier League. The club was founded in 1892 after the merger of two local clubs, Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End. Since their founding year, the club have played at their home ground of St. James' Park. Training facilities are located at Darsley Park.

They have won the First Division Championship four times and the FA Cup six times, though their last league success was in 1927. In European competition the most notable honour the club has won is the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, in 1969.

They have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with local team Sunderland. The Tyne-Wear derby between Newcastle United and Sunderland has been played since 1898. The club's traditional kit colours are black and white striped shirts, with black shorts and socks. Supporters of Newcastle United refer to themselves as the Toon Army.

The club was founded in December 1892 by the merger of two local teams Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End who were previously rivals in the Northern League, but after West End fell into financial difficulties they decided to merge. The deal included the lease on West End's stadium St. James' Park and several names were suggested for the new club, including Newcastle Rangers and Newcastle City, however they chose the name Newcastle United. Newcastle United went on to win the League Championship on three occasions during the 1900s; 1905, 1907 and 1909. The club's success continued in cup competitions, as they reached five FA Cup Finals in seven years, appearing in the final of 1905, 1906, 1908, 1910 and 1911. However they went on to win just one of them, the 1910 Final against Barnsley, in a replay at Goodison Park. However, there was still one particular low point during this period, as the team suffered a 9–1 defeat by fierce rivals Sunderland in the 1908–09 season. Sunderland still count the result as their record highest win.

The team returned to the FA Cup final in 1924, in only the second ever final at Wembley Stadium. They were successful in defeating Aston Villa and therefore winning the club's second FA Cup trophy in its history.

Newcastle won the League a fourth time in 1927, the last time they have to date. Notable players during this period include the likes captain Hughie Gallacher (the most prolific goals per game scorer in the club's history), Neil Harris, Stan Seymour and Frank Hudspeth.

During the 1950s, Newcastle won the FA Cup trophy on three occasions within a five year period. In 1951 they defeated Blackpool 2–0, a year later Arsenal were beaten 1–0 and in 1955 they defeated Manchester City 3–1. Newcastle had gained a high profile, and so had their players; 'Wor Jackie' Milburn and Bobby 'Dazzler' Mitchell in particular. Other players of this time were Frank Brennan (like Mitchell a Scot), Ivor Broadis, Len White and Welshman Ivor Allchurch.

The old war horse Joe Harvey, who had captained the team to much of their post-war success, returned to revitalise Newcastle. He teamed up with Stan Seymour to rebuild them and they won the Second Division Champions in 1965. Newcastle then became very much an unpredictable and inconsistent team, always capable of defeating the best, but never quite realising their potential.

Harvey's team qualified for Europe for the first time in 1968 and surprised many the following year by winning the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, (which was the forerunner of the UEFA Cup), beating Sporting Lisbon, Feyenoord, Real Zaragoza and Rangers along the way, before triumphing over two legs against Hungary's Újpest in the final. Newcastle possessed a reliable team and Newcastle's tradition of fielding a popular goalscorer at number 9 continued, as Welshman Wyn Davies was prominent.

In the years that followed European success, Harvey brought in a string of talented entertainers who thrilled the Newcastle crowd. Players such as Jimmy Smith, Tony Green, Terry Hibbitt and in particular striker Malcolm Macdonald all became favorites among the supporters. Nicknamed 'Supermac', Malcolm Macdonald was one of Newcastle's most popular figures and is still held in high regard by supporters to this day. He was an impressive goal scorer, which led United's attack to Wembley twice, in 1974 and 1976, against Liverpool in the FA Cup and Manchester City in the League Cup, but on each occasion Newcastle failed to bring the trophy back to Tyneside. A small consolation was back to back triumphs in the Texaco Cup in 1974 and 1975.

By the start of the 1980s, Newcastle had declined dramatically and were languishing in the Second Division. Gordon Lee had replaced Harvey as boss, yet he in turn soon gave way to Richard Dinnis and then Bill McGarry. But it was Arthur Cox who steered Newcastle back again to the First Division with ex-England captain Kevin Keegan the focus of the team, having joined the club in 1982. With managers such as Jack Charlton, Willie McFaul and Jim Smith, Newcastle remained in the top-flight until the team was relegated once more in 1989.

Later, Keegan returned to Tyneside to replace Osvaldo Ardiles as manager on a short term contract in 1992, taking what he claimed to be the only job that could tempt him back into football. Newcastle were struggling at the wrong end of Division Two; Sir John Hall had all but taken control of the club and he needed a minor miracle to stop Newcastle from tumbling into the Third Division for the first time in their history. Survival was confirmed by winning both of their final two league games, at home to Portsmouth and away to Leicester City, the latter to a last minute own goal, although as it transpired, Newcastle would have survived even if they had lost at Leicester.

The 1992–93 season saw a dramatic turn around in the club's fortunes. They won their first eleven league games before a 1–0 home defeat against Grimsby Town ended the run, two games short of the English league record of 13 consecutive wins. Playing an exciting brand of attacking football Newcastle became Division One champions with a 2–0 away win, coincidentally at Grimsby, and gained promotion to the Premier League.

Under Keegan, Newcastle continued to succeed, impressing with their attacking flair and a third place finish during the 1993–94 season, this was their first season back in the top flight. The attacking philosophy of Keegan led to Newcastle becoming labelled by Sky television as "The Entertainers". The following season Newcastle sold top scorer Andrew Cole to Manchester United and finished 6th that season.

With the transfer money in 1995–96, Newcastle rebuilt with the signing of David Ginola and Les Ferdinand amongst others. The club came very close to winning the Premier League that season, and were at one time 12 points ahead of nearest rivals Manchester United, but eventually lost out. One match in particular from that season stood out, the 4–3 defeat to Liverpool, which has since been described as the greatest ever Premier League match. On 30 July 1996, the disappointment of missing out on the title was lessened to an extent, as the club signed Alan Shearer for a then world record fee of £15 million. The 1996–97 season saw Newcastle once again finish in second.

After short and unsuccessful spells as manager from Kenny Dalglish and Ruud Gullit, former England manager Sir Bobby Robson was appointed as manager. His first home game in charge was particularly impressive; it was an 8–0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday, which remains the club's record home win. Good performances such as these helped the club ensure survival in the Premier League in Robson's first season. A title challenge emerged during the 2001–02 season, and Newcastle achieved qualification for the Champions League after finishing in 4th place. However, Robson was fired in 2004 after failing to qualify for the Champions League. Robson is still held in high regard by Newcastle supporters.

Graeme Souness was his replacement, but he proved to be an unpopular choice being fired on 2 February 2006, despite signing Michael Owen for a record £16 million. Glenn Roeder replaced Souness; the game after his time as manager Alan Shearer overtook Jackie Milburn as the club's highest ever goal-scorer. Shearer retired at the end of the 2005–06 season, with a total of 206 goals for the club. Despite finishing the 2005–06 season well, Roeder's fortunes quickly changed in the 2006–07 season, and he left the club by mutual consent on 6 May 2007. Sam Allardyce was named as Roeder's successor on 15 May, with what proved to be Freddy Shepherd's last act as Chairman, who sold his final shares in the club on 7 June to Mike Ashley and was replaced by Chris Mort.

Despite making a promising start to the season, Allardyce left the club on 9 January 2008 by mutual consent after less than eight months in charge. It was confirmed on 16 January, that Kevin Keegan would return to Newcastle as manager, eleven years and eight days since leaving the club on 8 January 1997. A popular choice amongst many Newcastle Fans Further appointments in January 2008 saw Dennis Wise join the club as Executive Director (Football), as well as Tony Jimenez as Vice President (Player Recruitment) and Jeff Vetere as Technical Co-ordinator. The idea was to complete a continental-style management structure working in support of Keegan. Wise and Vetere should make the initial assessment before calling in Jimenez to do the deal. In addition to this David Williamson was appointed Executive Director (Operations) in April 2008. Mort decided to step down as managing director and chairman in June and he was replaced by Derek Llambias, a long-term associate of Ashley.

As the summer transfer window closed weeks into the 2008–09 season, after three days of talks between the board and Keegan amid press speculation on 4 September, Keegan resigned after 232 days in charge, stating he was unable to continue as manager if he was not in control of who was bought by the club. Following conflicting statements released by the club over the facts of the dispute, extensive protests occurred against the board, in particular Ashley and Wise, during the next home game against Hull City on 13 September.

On the next day in a long official statement, Ashley announced he would be putting the club up for sale, while outlining the state of the club when he found it, the financial limitations his regime was under and the changes he had made to provide a stable future for the club. While making clear that his statement was not intended to be seen as an attack on Keegan and that he was "still a fan" of Newcastle and "did not buy Newcastle to make money", in light of safety concerns over attending future matches, he was "no longer prepared to subsidise" the club.

On 24 September the club registered their lowest ever attendance for a competitive match since the 1993 promotion to the top flight, a drop of over 4,000 from previous lows. This was for a League Cup visit of Tottenham Hotspur, which Newcastle lost 2–1. At the time, Tottenham lay bottom of the Premier League with 2 points, while Newcastle themselves lay 2nd bottom on 4 points.

Joe Kinnear took charge of Newcastle United on 26th September 2008 initially on a 10 week contract, managing the club until the owner Mike Ashley had sold the club. His contract was extended by one month in October 2008, and he was confirmed as the club's manager until the end of the season on November 28.

For much of Newcastle United's history, their home colours have been black and white striped shirts, with black shorts and black socks, though white socks are sometimes worn under some managers who consider them "lucky". For the first two years of the club's existence United continued to wear the home kit of East End, which included red shirts, white shorts and black socks; this was changed to the more familiar black and white striped kit in 1894. The new colours were adopted because many clubs in the same division as Newcastle also wore red and frequently clashed, including Liverpool and Woolwich Arsenal.

Conversely, United's change or away colours have been very inconsistent, there is no set in stone standard and the club changes the away colours often, but most commonly it has been a shade of blue (since the 1990s) or yellow. The yellow kit was especially common throughout the 1970s and 1980s and featured a green or blue trim, depending on the season; a yellow and green striped away kit even appeared in 1988—1990. Other common change colours have been grey, all black, all white and green. The most unusual away kit was likely the maroon and navy blue horizontal hoop colours from the 1995–96 and 2006–07 seasons, it was a tribute to West End.

The first club badge which Newcastle United wore on their shirts was the armorial bearings of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne which was worn as standard from 1969—1976, though it had been worn on previous occasions far earlier especially in FA Cup finals. A scroll at the bottom featured the city's motto in Latin; fortiter defendit triumphans which translates into English as, "triumphing by brave defence".

From 1976—1983 the club wore a specific badge which was developed to wear in place of the city's coat of arms. The design was of a circular shape which featured the club's name in full, it contained a magpie standing in front of the River Tyne with the historic Norman castle of Newcastle in the background. A more simplistic design followed in 1983, featuring the initials of the club's name, NUFC with the small magpie used in the previous crest within the horizontally laid C, this logo was relatively short lived and was discontinued after 1988.

From 1988 onwards, the club has assumed a pseudo coat of arms representing a reversion to a more traditional design and takes elements from the city arms. The current design is black with two white pallets, echoing the club's home strip. The supporters have been taken from the city arms. The crest is slightly modified from the city's with a red pennon with a red St George's cross on a blue chief.

Newcastle's home stadium is St James' Park, which has been their home since the merger of East End and West End in 1891, though football was first played there in 1880. At the turn of the 20th century the ground could hold 30,000, but this was soon expanded to 60,000. However, the ground was altered little in the next 70 years, and by the 1980s was looking dated.

The Bradford fire in 1985 prompted renovation, but progress was slow due to financial difficulties. The takeover of the club by Sir John Hall in 1992 resolved these difficulties, and the stadium was redeveloped to comply with the Taylor Report. In the mid-1990s, the club wished to build a new ground in the nearby Leazes Park, however these plans were quashed. In response to this, the club expanded St. James' Park further. Following the completion of the construction in 2000, St James' Park became the club ground with the second highest capacity in England with 52,387 seats, behind Manchester United's Old Trafford. It later became the third highest capacity after the completion of Arsenal's Emirates Stadium.

Two stands, the Sir John Hall stand and the Milburn stand, have two tiers and are of cantilever construction, whereas the East Stand and the Gallowgate End are roughly half as high, and each have a single tier. This can make the stadium look quite lopsided. The Gallowgate End is traditionally home to Newcastle's most vociferous supporters, as it was once the stand with no roof covering. In recent years, a fan based group named Toon Ultras began to assemble in Level 7 of the Sir John Hall Stand to attempt to "Bring Back The Noise" which supporters feel was lost when the club expanded the stadium and split fans to cater for executive boxes.

It was announced on 2 April 2007 that the club intend to submit plans for a new £300 million development that would increase the stadium's capacity to at least 60,000.

Supporters of Newcastle United are often referred to as the Toon Army, the Magpies, or the Geordies. The name Toon originates from the Geordie pronunciation of town. Magpies refers to the black and white colours of the club, similar to the Magpie bird. Geordie is a regional nickname for people from Newcastle, of debated origin, which is often applied in the media to supporters of NUFC in general.

NUFC is often equated in the media and by supporters as having one of the best supported clubs in the country on account of the high average home attendance record of St James' Park, as the third (formerly second) largest Premiership football ground by capacity since expansion in 1998. This is countered by detractors who point out that the club benefits from being located in a 'one club city', implying that other clubs in the country have to compete for support with other clubs within their catchment area. This is despite Newcastle being only the 20th largest city in England by population, and being located in only the 13th largest county in England, which also comprises Sunderland A.F.C..

In a 2007 Virgin Money survey of football supporters who held season tickets or otherwise paid to attend games, it was found that Newcastle fans were the most dedicated in terms of making sacrifices in order to attend the game In a 2004 survey by Co-operative Financial Services, it was found that Newcastle topped the league table for the cost incurred and distance travelled by Newcastle based fans wishing to travel to every Premier League away game. The cost was highest whether travelling by car, train or coach. The total distance travelled was found to be equivalent to a round-the-world trip.

In addition to the city and the North East of England, the club has followers in Yorkshire, London, Isle of Man, Italy, Iceland, Finland, Scandinavia,, Denmark, Israel, North America, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The club's supporters publish fanzines such as True Faith and The Mag. In addition to the usual English football chants, Newcastle's supporters sing the traditional Tyneside song Blaydon Races.

Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair is known to be a keen supporter of Newcastle, as is Tyneside-born Abhisit Vejjajiva, the current Prime Minister of Thailand. Other famous supporters include Sir Frank Williams, founder and manager of the WilliamsF1 Formula One Team, Auf Wiedersehen Pet star Jimmy Nail, Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers, racing tipster John McCririck and AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson. TV presenters Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly also known as Ant & Dec are also Newcastle fans.

Following on from demonstrations against the board and Mike Ashley following the resignation of manager Kevin Keegan, on 16 September 2008 a new independent supporters group, the Newcastle United Supporters Club (originally styled the Newcastle United Supporters Group), was set up by fanzines True Faith and The Mag and the fan site NUFC.com, aiming to "represent the broad church of Newcastle United's support". Another group, the Newcastle United Independent Supporters Association, had existed since 2002 and was still commenting on NUFC up to the 2008 Keegan resignation.

Newcastle's longest-running and deepest rivalry is with their nearest major neighbour, Sunderland, colloquially known as the Mackems. Matches between the two are referred to as the Tyne-Wear derby. The two cities of Newcastle and Sunderland are just ten miles apart, so there is an intense feeling of a cross-town rivalry, heightened by a feeling that it is city against city with local pride at stake. Moreover, the close proximity means that as in derby matches, workmates and friends are often divided.

Jimmy Lawrence holds the record for the most Newcastle appearances, having played 496 first-team matches between 1904 and 1921 as a goalkeeper. Former captain and left back Frank Hudspeth comes second, having appeared 472 times and scoring on 37 occasions.

Alan Shearer is the club's top goalscorer with 206 goals in all competitions between 1996 and 2006 having surpassed Jackie Milburn's tally of 200 in February 2006. Milburn had held the record since 1957, his striking partner Len White is the third highest scorer at Newcastle with 153 goals. Albert Stubbins could be Newcastle's all time leading goal scorer but his goals are not counted as the majority were scored during World War II.

The most prolific goals per game striker in the history of the club is Hughie Gallacher - a strike-rate of over 82% with 143 goals in his 174 outings.

Newcastle's record home attendance is 68,386, against Chelsea on 3 September 1930. To the fury of the fans Gallacher had been sold to Chelsea and the Geordie public turned up by the thousand to welcome home their hero. As well as the record crowd in the ground thousands more were locked outside. The capacity of St James' Park is currently 52,387, so it is unlikely that these records will be broken in the foreseeable future. The highest attendance in the Premier League is 52,327, in a match against Manchester United on 28 August, 2005.

For the reserve and academy squads, see Newcastle United F.C. Reserves and Academy.

For details on former players, see List of Newcastle United F.C. players and Category:Newcastle United F.C. players.

As of 9 October 2008.

As of 8 September 2008.

Until 1997, Newcastle United had been owned and operated as a private company limited by shares (limited company) since its establishment on 6 September 1895.

In April 1997, following the emerging trend among other Premier League clubs, under the chairmanship of Sir John Hall the club was floated on the stock exchange as a public limited company (plc), with the stated aim of financing an enlarged Sporting Club Newcastle. The offer was less than successful, with most shares going to the Hall family, or his business partner Freddie Shepherd.

In 1997, Sir John Hall stepped down as chairman, remaining as a non-executive director, to be replaced as chairman by Freddy Shepherd, with the Hall family represented on the board by John's son, Douglass Hall and daughter Allison Antonopoulos. After a public scandal, Shepherd and Douglas Hall briefly resigned, returning after ten months in 1998.

At the end of 1998, after buying a 6.3% stake in the club for £10m, the media group NTL had considered a full takevoer of the club. This was later dropped after the April 1999 Competition Commission block of a proposed takeover of Manchester United by Rupert Murdoch, owner of BSkyB.

In 2007, in a surprise move, businessman Mike Ashley purchased a 41% share in the club through a holding company St James Holdings Ltd, in a deal for the combined stakes of both Douglass and Sir John Hall, apparently without knowledge of Shepherd who was ill in hospital. Under stock market rules, the purchase required the issuing of a formal takeover offer by Ashley to all other remaining shareholders, which comprised Shepherd, fans and institutional investors, at the same price or above. In the following weeks, as Ashley gained more shares, Shepherd, although publicly having stated the club was "impossible to buy" in response to previous approaches for the club from other parties, and indicating that he may launch a counter offer, Shepherd eventually agreed to sell his 28% stake before expiry of the offer, leading to a de-listing. The shares of Newcastle United plc were de-listed from the London Stock Exchange at 8 a.m. on 18 July 2007. with Shepherd and other directors leaving the club in the following months.

While Mike Ashley is sole owner of the holding company and hence the club, he has not given himself an official role on the board of directors of the club, first handing the chairmanship to Chris Mort on a sabbatical status, and then to Derek Llambias in time for the start of the 2008 season.

After fan protests over the shock resignation of Kevin Keegan, on 14 September 2008, Ashley announced he was putting the club up for sale, stating "I have listened to you. You want me out. That is what I am now trying to do". He stated he had spent £244m in purchasing the club and relieving debt. It was estimated by observers that while it remained a business that would interest many buyers, he would likely not be able to sell the club for more than a total of £300m.

It was reported shortly after the Ashley statement that NUFC had been one of two clubs along with Manchester City F.C. that the Abu Dhabi United Group had contacted with a view to a bid, before purchasing Manchester City for a reported £200m, announced on 1 September.

On 28 December 2008 the sale was called off by Ashley.

As of 5 August 2008.

The current main club sponsors are the Northern Rock bank and sportswear manufacturer Adidas. Through owner Mike Ashley, the club also has a relationship with the Sports Direct retail chain which he founded.

The club did not introduce shirt sponsorship until 1980. The club previously had a long standing relationship with the brewer Scottish & Newcastle, who owned the Tyne Brewery directly opposite the Milburn stand of St James' Park. During the 1980s and 90s the club strip featured the logo's of their beer brands McEwan's (in words on the away strip only) and Newcastle Brown Ale (the home strip, both as the full bottle logo, and as simply the blue star element of the brown ale logo). After the shirt sponsorship deal ended with the transition to NTL in 2000, and the Tyne brewery closed in 2004, the relationship effectively ended on 1 July 2007 near the end of the Ashley takeover process, when the club signed a £3m supply agreement with Carling, although Newcastle Brown Ale would still available in some parts of the ground, and as of May 2008 the Gallowgate Stand was still labeled as the Newcastle Brown Stand on the club website 'Club Factfile' page (although with changed ticketing arrangements for the 2008/9 season, a new seating plan was expected to be issued by July 2008).

To the top

Blackburn Rovers F.C.

Blackburn Rovers Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. It is one of only three teams to be founder members of both the Football League and the Premier League, the others being Aston Villa and Everton.

Blackburn Rovers Football Club was established in 1875, and in 1888 became a founding member of The Football League. In 1890 Rovers moved to its permanent home at Ewood Park. Until the formation of the Premier League in 1992, the majority of the club's success was pre-1930 when they won the league and FA Cup on several occasions. Their relegation in 1966 was followed by 26 successive seasons of football outside the top flight.

In 1992, Blackburn were promoted to the new Premier League a year after being taken over by local steel baron Jack Walker, who installed Kenny Dalglish as manager. In 1995, Blackburn became league champions, having spent millions of pounds on players like Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton. However, the title-winning team was quickly split up and, in 1999, the club were relegated. They were promoted back to the Premiership two years later, just after Walker's death, and have been in the top flight ever since. During this time they have qualified for the UEFA Cup four times: once as League Cup winners, twice as the Premiership's sixth-placed team and once via the Intertoto Cup.

The club's Latin motto "Arte et labore", which was used by the town council before the club were formed, literally translated means "by art and by labour".

The club Blackburn Rovers was the idea of John Lewis and Arthur Constantine during a seventeen-man meeting at the Leger Hotel, Blackburn on the 5 November 1875. The club's first secretary was Walter Duckworth, and Lewis was its first treasurer. Many of the initial members were wealthy and well-connected, and this helped the club survive and rise beyond the large number of other local teams around at the time. Blackburn has had a particular strong history of football, Rovers weren't the town's only side in the 19th century; other rivals included Blackburn Olympic F.C. (1883 winners of the FA Cup) and Blackburn Park Road F.C., among others.

The first match played by Blackburn Rovers took place in Church, Lancashire on 18 December 1875 -- and was a 1-1 draw. Although the make-up of the team was not recorded it is generally thought to be: Thomas Greenwood (goal), Jack Baldwin, Fred Birtwistle, (full-backs), Arthur Thomas, J. T. Sycelmore (half-backs), Walter Duckworth, John Lewis, Thomas Dean, Arthur Constantine, Harry Greenwood, Ed Youngson (forwards), in a 2-2-6 formation.

At the time, the club had no ground of its own and no gate receipts. The only income came from members' subscriptions, which totalled £2 8s 0d during the first season.

During the 1876–77 season, Rovers finally gained a ground of its own by renting a piece of farmland at Oozehead, on the west side of town facing Preston New Road. The ground was little more than a meadow with a pool in the middle that had to be covered with planks and turf for matches. But it did allow the club to collect gate receipts totalling 6s 6d for the season. Occasional games were also played at Pleasington Cricket Ground.

Subsequently Blackburn Rovers rented Alexandra Meadows, the home of the East Lancashire Cricket Club, for their matches. The inaugural game at Alexandra Meadows was played against Partick Thistle, the most prestigious club Rovers had played until then. The result was a 2–1 win for Blackburn, with two goals from Richard Birtwistle.

On 28 September 1878, Blackburn Rovers became one of 23 clubs to form the Lancashire Football Association. On 1 November, 1879 the club played in the F.A. Cup for the first time, beating the Tyne Association Football Club 5–1. Rovers were eventually put out of the competition in the third round after suffering a heavy 6–0 defeat by Nottingham Forest.

Controversy erupted during 1880 when the club used players not from Blackburn to fill in for unavailable team members — this violated what, at the time, was considered an important principle of the LFA. The situation became worse at the start of the 1881 season when a Darwen player transferred to Blackburn Rovers. The move caused a great deal of bitterness between the clubs and local populations. Accusations of professionalism began to fly, with Darwen accusing Blackburn Rovers of offering the player in question, Fergie Suter, improved terms. However, Suter had initially moved to Darwen from Scotland and given up his trade as stonemason to play for the club. So the professional/amateur divide was already blurred. Nevertheless, subsequent matches between Blackburn Rovers and Darwen were fractious affairs both on and off the pitch. The teams were drawn against each other in the fourth round of the Lancashire Cup, and the clubs refused to agree on a date for the match. As a result the LFA ejected both teams from the competition. This type of controversy would only be resolved five years later in 1885 with the legalisation of professionalism.

During the 1881–82 season, the club continued to rent the facilities at Alexandra Meadows, but began to look towards a move elsewhere. As the leading club in the area, it was felt that Rovers needed its own ground. A ground was leased at Leamington Street and £500 was spent on a new grandstand capable of seating 600-700 spectators. Boards were placed around the pitch to help prevent a repeat of the crowd troubles with Darwen, and a large ornate entrance arch was erected bearing the name of the club and ground.

On 25 March 1882 the club won through to the final of the F.A. Cup against the Old Etonians. Blackburn Rovers was the first provincial team to reach the final, but the result was a 1–0 defeat by the Old Etonians. There was no repeat of the previous season's success during the 1882–83 season, when Rovers suffered a bitter defeat 1–0 at the hands of Darwen in the second-round. Local rivals Blackburn Olympic went on to be the first provincial team to actually win the F.A. Cup. Rovers finally won the F.A. Cup on 29 March 1884 at the Kennington Oval, with a 2–1 victory over the Scottish team Queen's Park F.C. Had it not been for this cup success the club would have folded leaving Blackburn Olympic the primary team in Blackburn. The same teams played the F.A. Cup final again the next season, with Blackburn Rovers again emerging victorious, with a 2–0 score. Rovers repeated this success yet again the next season, winning the final against West Bromwich Albion. For this three-in-a-row of F.A. Cup victories, the club was awarded a specially commissioned silver shield and given the unique privilege of displaying the club crest on its corner flags.

The 1885–86 season was the birth of the legal professional footballer, and Blackburn Rovers spent £615 on player wages for the season. Despite the new professionalism, it was a disappointing season for the club — an unusually high number of defeats would culminate in Rovers losing its three-year grip on the F.A. Cup when it lost 2–0 in the second round to the Scottish club Renton on 4 December 1886 at the Leamington Street ground. Further defeats followed in the other major cups that season.

On 2 March 1888, William McGregor, a Birmingham shopkeeper and a committee member of Aston Villa Football Club, sent a letter to five clubs — Blackburn Rovers among them — suggesting that twelve of the leading clubs should organise a series of home and away matches between themselves. With the introduction of professional players, it seemed natural that better organisation should be brought to the complex and chaotic system of friendly and competitive matches prevalent at the time. On 22 March 1888 John Birtwistle represented Blackburn Rovers at a meeting of a number of clubs at the Anderton Hotel in London. This meeting, and subsequent ones, led to the creation of the Football League, with Blackburn Rovers as part of it. Rovers finished the inaugural season of the league in fourth place, and unbeaten at home.

Blackburn Rovers again reached the F.A. Cup final on 29 March 1890 at the Kennington Oval. The club claimed the trophy, for the fourth time, by beating Sheffield Wednesday a hefty 6-1 — with left forward William Townley scoring three goals and becoming the first player to achieve a hat-trick in the F.A. Cup final. The summer of 1890 brought yet another significant event in the history of Blackburn Rovers with the decision to move again. The choice of new home was Ewood Park, and it remained the club's home for the next century or more.

Ewood Park was built in 1882, the idea of four local businessmen, and it had hosted a number of sporting events. In 1890 Blackburn Rovers purchased the ground and spent a further £1000 on refurbishments to bring it up to standard. The first match was played on 13 September 1890 against Accrington, with a 0-0 draw result.

The 1890-1891 season saw Blackburn Rovers win the F.A. Cup for fifth time against Notts County F.C. with a 3-1 victory — but this success marked beginning of a downturn in the fortunes of the club, and a long lean period would follow. During the 1896-1897 season the club stayed in the first division only as the result of a decision to increase the number of teams. The season did, however, mark the beginning of Bob Crompton's 50-year association with the club, both as a player and eventually as an F.A. Cup winning manager.

The final years of the 19th century brought little success for Blackburn Rovers and several narrow escapes from relegation.

Blackburn Rovers continued to struggle during the early years of the 20th century, but the results began a gradual improvement. Major renovations were made to Ewood Park: in 1905 the Darwen End was covered at a cost of £1680 and the new Nuttall Stand was opened on New Year's Day 1907. During the first three decades of the 20th century, Blackburn Rovers were still considered a top side in the English league. They were league champions in 1912 and 1914, and F.A Cup winners in 1928, but the F.A Cup win was their last major trophy for nearly 70 years.

Blackburn Rovers maintained a respectable mid-table position in the First Division until they were finally relegated (along with Aston Villa) from the top flight (for the first time since the foundation of the league) in the 1935–36 season. Their final match prior to relegation was a triumph. By the last game of the season, they were already certain to be relegated, but at Villa Park, they beat the home side, thus dragging the only other team of the original Football League who had never been relegated, Aston Villa, with them. They struggled in the second division for the next two seasons, until winning the Second Division title in the final season before the war.

When the league resumed after the war, Blackburn Rovers were relegated in their second season (1947–48) and remained in the second division for the following ten years. After promotion in 1958, they again returned to the mid-table position they had occupied in the earlier part of the century. During this time, they seldom made a serious challenge for a major trophy - although they did reach the 1960 FA Cup final when managed by Scot Dally Duncan. Rovers lost this game 3-0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers after playing most of the game with only 10 men on the field. Full back Dave Whelan was lost during the game to a broken leg, the game being played in the days before substitutes were allowed. Despite losing, cup final man of the match was future Scotland manager Ally MacLeod (left winger MacLeod scored 47 goals in 193 appearances for Rovers). During the 1960s Blackburn Rovers had several players who made it into national teams. They were again relegated from the First Division in 1966 and began a 26-year exile from the top division.

During the 1970s, Blackburn Rovers bounced between the Second and Third Divisions, winning the Third Division title in 1975, but never mounted a challenge for promotion to the First Division despite the efforts of successive managers to put the club back on track. They went up as runners up in the Third Division in 1980 and have remained in the upper two tiers of the English league ever since. In 1988-89 they mounted their first serious promotion challenge for many years, and reached the Second Division playoff final in its last-ever season of the home-away two-legged format - but lost to Crystal Palace. A defeat in the 1989-90 Second Division playoff semi-finals brought more frustration to Ewood Park, but the following season saw the club taken over by local steelworks owner and lifelong supporter Jack Walker (1929-2000).

Jack Walker's takeover was too late to save Rovers from finishing a dismal 19th in the Second Division at the end of the 1990–91 season, but the new owner had made millions of pounds available to spend on new players. Blackburn Rovers began the 1991–92 season with Don Mackay still manager, but he was soon sacked to make way for Kenny Dalglish - who had resigned as Liverpool manager some months earlier, after a six-year spell in charge had yielded five major trophies. Dalglish made several substantial signings during the season. After his appointment Rovers climbed the league, eventually opening up a significant gap at the top of the table. It seemed a foregone conclusion that Rovers would win the Second Division title, but an unexpected twist followed. Rovers lost six games in a row, causing them to fall out of the play-off places, but Rovers fought back and a 3-1 victory at Plymouth got Rovers to the final play off place. The club had got to the play-offs three times previously without success. The semi-final was against Derby County but Blackburn Rovers got off to a bad start as Derby went into a two nil lead. Rovers recovered strongly in the second half to win 4-2. A 2-1 Derby win in the second leg couldn't stop Blackburn Rovers reaching the play-off final at Wembley where they beat Leicester City 1-0 thanks to a Mike Newell penalty. Newell, a former Leicester striker, had missed most of the 1991-92 season due to a broken leg, but his stylish comeback was enough to book Blackburn Rovers place in the new Premier League for 1992-93 - ending 26 years outside the top flight.

Rovers made headlines in the summer of 1992 by paying an English record fee of £3.5million for the 22-year-old Southampton and England centre forward Alan Shearer. Other expensive signings during the 1992-93 season included Chelsea defender Graeme Le Saux, Middlesbrough winger Stuart Ripley and Coventry striker Kevin Gallacher. An impressive Blackburn side remained in the title challenge for most of the season before finishing fourth in the final table, that season not quite enough for UEFA Cup place. Leeds midfielder David Batty and Southampton goalkeeper Tim Flowers were two key signings who helped Blackburn progress in 1993-94 and finish Premiership runners-up to arch rivals Manchester United. Rovers broke the English transfer fee record again a few weeks later when paying Norwich City £5million for 21-year-old striker Chris Sutton. Sutton's prolific striking partnership with Alan Shearer would be dubbed the "SAS", an acronym for "Sutton and Shearer" and the elite British special forces unit the SAS. Blackburn Rovers scored the 1000th goal in Premier League history. Mike Newell was on target in April 1993 in a 3-1 win at Nottingham Forest.

Early exits from the UEFA Cup, F.A Cup and League Cup were frustrating for Rovers in 1994–95, but turned out for the best as they could concentrate on the league and the challenge with arch rivals Manchester United for the Premiership title. During the season Blackburn Rovers suffered two highly controversial defeats by Manchester United. Firstly Henning Berg was wrongly sent off at Ewood Park with Rovers leading 1–0 as TV replays clearly showed he had won the ball from Lee Sharpe, with Eric Cantona equalising with the resulting penalty and Manchester United going on to win 4–2, and secondly an equaliser from captain Tim Sherwood was disallowed controversially at Old Trafford when Alan Shearer was ruled to have fouled Roy Keane in the build up, with United taking the game 1–0. Rovers led for most of the season but a 2–1 defeat at Dalglish's old club Liverpool on the final day of the season looked to have blown the club's dreams to pieces. But the news came through that their arch rivals Manchester United could only manage a 1–1 draw at West Ham United and the league title was back at Blackburn Rovers for the first time since 1914. Jack Walker's dream had come true: within five years of buying the club, he had taken them from strugglers in the old Second Division to champions of the Premier League.

Kenny Dalglish moved upstairs to the position of Director of Football at the end of the championship season, and handed over the reins to his assistant Ray Harford.

Blackburn Rovers made a poor start to the 1995-96 season, and found themselves in the bottom half for most of the first half of the season. Rovers also struggled in the Champions League and finished bottom of their group with just four points. A 7-0 victory over Nottingham Forest on the day of the official opening of the redeveloped Ewood Park and a 4-1 win over Rosenborg (including a nine minute Mike Newell hat-trick, which is still the fastest hat-trick in Champions League history) were two highlights of an otherwise disappointing seasons. Alan Shearer was instrumental again, becoming the first striker to score more than 30 Premiership goals in three successive seasons. Blackburn Rovers improved as the season went on, finishing seventh in the Premiership and narrowly missing out on a UEFA Cup place.

Alan Shearer was top goalscorer at Euro 96 and was linked to domestic and international clubs. The main talk in the national media was of Shearer joining hated rivals Manchester United. However Shearer was sold to hometown club Newcastle United for a then world record fee of £15million in the summer of 1996, and Rovers were unable to find a suitable replacement.

A terrible start to the 1996-97 Premiership campaign saw Harford resign in late October with the club bottom of the division, having failed to win any of their first ten games. Relegation looked a real possibility, just two seasons after winning the league. The club immediately began the process of recruiting his replacement.

On 16 December 1996 with Rovers hovering above the relegation zone, it was announced at an Ewood Park press conference that Sven-Göran Eriksson had signed an "unconditional contract" with Rovers to take over as manager at the end of the season on 1 July 1997 when his contract with Italian Serie A club U.C. Sampdoria expired. The Swede had already visited Ewood Park and the club training facilities at Brockhall as well as sending representatives to watch Rovers' Premiership clashes on his behalf.

It was hoped that the signing of Eriksson would usher in a new era of success after the continuing difficulties following Ray Harford's disappointing tenure as manager. "Not only do I want us to be a top club in this country, I want European football to be the norm for us", said club owner Jack Walker. "If we get support as high as we want it and the public back us in every way they can then we could even consider the Walkersteel Stand". Eriksson's move to Lancashire would not come to fruition, however.

Roy Hodgson joined the club from Inter Milan in the summer of 1997, and appeared to have had a positive effect on the club. He marked his arrival with the signings of highly rated Swedish striker Martin Dahlin and promising defender Stephane Henchoz. Chris Sutton and Kevin Gallacher led a prolific attack, and were able to help the team overcome the disappointing form of Dahlin, who struggled with a back injury. UEFA cup football was secured with a 6th place finish, and there were plenty of entertaining games, such as a 4-3 defeat to Leeds which saw all 7 goals coming within the first 32 minutes, and a 5-3 success over Leicester at Ewood Park. Although some of these results went against them, it summed up Hodgson's newly installed attacking ideology. With European football coming up, and the prospect of a title challenge on the horizon, things looked promising at the start of the 1998/99 season.

However, Rovers made a poor start to the campaign and Hodgson was sacked in December less than an hour after a 2-0 home defeat to bottom side Southampton, a result that locked Rovers in the relegation zone. The £7.5m signing of young Southampton striker Kevin Davies was a disaster, with Davies only netting once, against Charlton in a rare win, in 24 games. To make matters worse, team captain and midfield enforcer Tim Sherwood was sold to Tottenham Hotspur, leaving the side without a leader. Brian Kidd, the hugely successful Manchester United assistant manager, was named as Hodgson's successor. However, he could not save them as the club slipped away, relegation was confirmed with a scoreless draw at home to Manchester United in the penultimate game of the season. So, just 4 years after lifting the Premiership title, Blackburn Rovers were now back in the second tier of English Football.

1999–00 was a massive disappointment for Rovers, who began the season as promotion favourites. Brian Kidd was sacked in October with the club hovering just above the Division One relegation zone, and first-team coach Tony Parkes was named caretaker manager once again. Parkes was eventually given the job on full-time time basis until the end of the season, but only remained in charge until March when the club appointed Graeme Souness as their new manager. The final humiliation of the season came in the form of a 1-4 home defeat to Manchester City, a result that secured them promotion, something Rovers should have but did not achieve.

Jack Walker died just after the start of the 2000–01, and the club dedicated its promotion challenge in memory of their benefactor. Fittingly, they returned to the Premiership after a much improved season, albeit that they finished second to Fulham. Blackburn Rovers relied on the form of their young stars Matt Jansen, Damien Duff and David Dunn and on the performances of goalkeeper Brad Friedel, whom Souness had previously coached at Galatasaray and whom he signed on a free transfer when he arrived at Rovers.

A statue now stands in the shadows of the Blackburn End, as a permanent tribute to Jack Walker.

The following season, Souness signed Dwight Yorke from Manchester United, as Matt Jansen was involved in a motor cycle accident during pre-season that left him with serious head injuries. Blackburn Rovers progress continued as they finished sixth on the last day, with an impressive 4–0 win away at Tottenham, to qualify for the UEFA Cup for the second season running. Again it was Duff and Dunn who shone brightest, while goalkeeper Brad Friedel was one of the league's best players, However, the club had to be content with a disappointing exit from the UEFA Cup to eventual finalists Celtic, despite this, the club went into the 2003-04 with great expectations.

At the start of 2003–04 the sale of fan favourites Damien Duff and David Dunn meant that Rovers were always going to struggle to emulate the previous season's form. With transfer funds would be available, Souness replaced Duff with the highly rated Australian winger Brett Emerton from Feyenoord and Stephen Reid, while Lorenzo Amoruso, the Rangers defender, was also signed. Henning Berg was among the other departures. The season started promisingly, as newly promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers were defeated 5-1 at Ewood. The signing of Rangers captain Barry Ferguson for £7.5 million prompted talk of a surprise title challenge. However, results dipped, and the club began a long sequence of home defeats that left them in towards relegation danger. Souness's job was put on the line, and the club eventually were left needing a late turnaround, inspired by little known striker Jon Stead, to avoid relegation back to the English first division. 15th place was secured by a run of 4 wins from the final 6 games, sparked by a 4-3 victory at Fulham.

Souness left just after the start of 2004-05 to take charge at Newcastle. Rovers appointed Welsh national coach Mark Hughes as his successor, a key player in the club's promotion and League Cup successes a few seasons earlier. Hughes secured Rovers Premiership survival for the 2004–05 season as well as an FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, with Rovers finishing 15th once again, with Hughes's arrival coinciding with the team becoming one of the most solid teams in the league, thanks to astute signings such as Ryan Nelsen and Aaron Mokoena, and good motivational skills. He was able to strengthen the setup for 2005–06 with the £3.2 million transfer of much sought-after Wales international striker Craig Bellamy from Newcastle United. Following a 1–0 victory over league champions Chelsea F.C., Blackburn Rovers secured the 6th place in the league and a spot in the UEFA Cup for the 2006–07 season - their third European qualification in five years, and their sixth foray into Europe since 1994.

After qualifying for Europe, Rovers signed South African striker Benni McCarthy from Porto as a replacement for the departing Craig Bellamy. Blackburn Rovers finished top of their group and were drawn against Bayer Leverkusen; they suffered a narrow 3–2 defeat in the first leg of their tie against Bayer Leverkusen, but a 0–0 draw in the second leg saw them bow out of the competition. The club was busy during the January transfer window, signing David Dunn, Stephen Warnock, Christopher Samba and Bruno Berner. Rovers reached the Semi Final of the FA Cup in 2007, they defeated Everton, Luton, Arsenal (after replay) and Manchester City. However they would go on to be defeated by Chelsea in the semi-final, with the game going into extra time. Rovers finished the season 10th in the league, with McCarthy netting 18 league goals. The club also qualified for the Intertoto Cup, which they successfully came through.

To prepare for the 2007–08 season Rovers invested in three new players, signing Paraguay international Roque Santa Cruz from Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, Dutch under-21 star Maceo Rigters and young goalkeeper Gunnar Nielsen. Blackburn would be knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Greek team Larissa, and also suffer a defeat to Coventry, in the FA Cup. Rovers confirmed an application to the following season's Intertoto competition. However, Blackburn lost 4-1 to Birmingham City on the final day of the season to deny them the Intertoto spot, which went to Aston Villa. Rovers ended in a respectable 7th. position in the Premiership, their third consecutive top half finish.

In May 2008, Mark Hughes left Blackburn Rovers Football Club the club for the vacancy at Manchester City . Several names were mooted to replace Hughes, including former players Mike Newell and Alan Shearer. Other managers linked included former England Manager Steve McClaren and former Rangers boss Dick Advocaat, former Newcastle United and Bolton Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce and Paul Ince, who took Milton Keynes Dons to the League Two title in 2007–08, was also linked with the manager's job. On 22 June 2008, it was officially confirmed by the Blackburn Rovers website that Ince had indeed been brought in to manage Rovers, signing a three-year deal with the club. Ince's first job was to persuade some of the wantaway players to stay.. On 4 July, Ince signed experienced coach Archie Knox.

Before the start of the 2008–09 season, regular goalkeeper Brad Friedel (Aston Villa) and England international winger David Bentley (Tottenham Hotspur) left the club for a combined fee of around £19.5 million. Goalkeeper Paul Robinson then became Ince's first signing on the 25 July for a fee of £3.5 million.

Although the 2008/2009 Barclays Premier League Season began well for Ince and Blackburn, with a win over Everton, other results weren't as good and on December 16, following a run of eleven games without a win, Ince was relieved of his duties at Blackburn. The next day, it was announced that Sam Allardyce had been appointed as Ince's replacement at Blackburn Rovers on a three-year contract.

In January 2008, the Dan Williams-led consortium interested in taking the club over withdrew interest. The club are prepared to sell and other groups are still interested.

On Sunday 20 April 2008, Blackburn Rovers were yet again linked with another consortium led bid. This time from new JJB Sports owner Chris Ronnie, and a Icelandic based consortium. Whether this will lead to a formal bid being presented to the Walker Trustees, is still yet to be seen.

However, on 6 July, it was revealed that Ronnie had pulled out of a bid to buy the club, and that Chowdery had a bid of £30 million pounds rejected.

The Rovers kit have always been fundamentally the same; two team colours split across the shirt. One sleeve and one side of the shirt would be each colour. The shorts started white and the socks dark blue. Although the sock pattern and colours would change, everything else, for the most part, hasn't been touched since 1905. Since changing to white shorts in recent years, the home kits have had dark blue shorts since 1904, when they were changed for a year, then rejected and changed back. Blackburn Rovers colours for 2007-08 as voted for by fans. For 2007-08 the traditional blue and white remains, however the away kit is a brand new idea using the existing away colours (black & red) for the first time in a halved formation.

During the 07-08 season the club were sponsored by Bet24 and their technical sponsors were Umbro. 12 March 2008 The club announced that Crown Paints would be their new club sponsor as of 2008–09, the Lancashire based company signed a three year deal with the club. For the 08/09 season, the club decided to relegate the Black and Red halved kit to being their 3rd kit, and decided to go with an all Black (shirt and shorts) kit as their away kit, with a small blue and white halved patch directly underneath the chin at the top of the shirt.

Blackburn played at Leamington Road from 1881 until 1890, when they moved to their current home, Ewood Park. Ewood is the oldest consecutive home of a Premier League team, Blackburn having been there longer than Chelsea and Liverpool have been at their present homes, even though their stadia were constructed first. This stadium sits on the bank of the River Darwen in Blackburn, Lancashire. Blackburn is one of only two football clubs (the other being the Wanderers) to win the FA Cup for three seasons in a row, retaining the exclusive right to place their club logo on the corner flags, despite these victories being achieved at their previous stadium. Ewood Park is also the only football ground in the Premier League to have a multi-faith prayer room.

Blackburn Rovers supporters have formed several support clubs related to the team, and almost all of them are partially focused on making trips to Ewood Park easier. In addition, although Rovers home games are the least attended in the Premiership for the size of the stadium, on average nearly an amount equal to a fifth of Blackburn (pop. approximately 100,000). Blackburn also have a very vocal support group when it comes to big decisions being made for the club, a support group created on a media site, objecting to the appointment of Sam Allardyce as replacement for outgoing boss Mark Hughes for instance.

There are also several official/non-official Rovers messageboards which are frequented by supporters from allover the world!

In January 2006 Blackburn Rovers Supporters Football Club (BRSFC) was formed by a group of Blackburn Rovers supporters through the clubs official message board. This team is not one of a group of breakaway teams such as FC United of Manchester (Manchester United) which was created by disgruntled fans in the wake of Malcolm Glazer's takeover at Old Trafford. BRSFC enjoys an affiliation with Blackburn Rovers Football Club and are registered with the Lancashire Football Association .

BRSFC are currently in an Internet based supporters league called The Northern Football Supporters League (NFSL) which features similar supporter run teams. Blackburn Rovers season ticket holders Warren Wolstencroft, Andrew Berry and Michael Nuttall currently run the team.

The table below shows Blackburn Rovers's final standings in past seasons.

62,255 v Bolton Wanderers, FA Cup 6th round, 2 March 1929.

£17m from Chelsea for Damien Duff in July 2003.

To the top

Blackpool F.C. season 1994–95

The 1994-95 season was Blackpool F.C.'s 88th season (85th consecutive) in the Football League. They competed in the 24-team Division Two, then the third tier of English league football, finishing twelfth.

Sam Allardyce replaced Billy Ayre as manager prior to the start of the season.

Blackpool exited both domestic cup competitions at the first-round stage.

Tony Ellis was the club's top league scorer, with seventeen goals.

Mike Davies retired at the end of the season after eleven years of service for Blackpool, his only professional club. He subsequently moved into a coaching role at the club.

Blackpool signed veteran goalkeeper Les Sealey from Manchester United before the season began, but he transferred back to the Premier League with a move to West Ham on 28 November.

To the top

Ryan Baldacchino

Ryan Baldacchino (born 13 January 1981 in Leicester) is an English/Maltese/Italian midfielder currently playing for Victorian Premier League side Altona Magic, pending an international clearance from Scotland.

Ryan started his footballing career at Blackburn Rovers in 1996 as a promising right and left winger. He went on to win the U17 Premier League and reach the FA youth cup final against Everton playing against a strong team in front of 25,000 that consisted of Leon Osman, Francis Jeffers, Richard Dunne and Michael Ball. Ryan went on to become a reserve team regular in forthcoming seasons and was rewarded with a four year professional contract. He soon transferred to follow Premier League rival Bolton Wanderers. Sam Allardyce made Ryan a late signing in March 2000 as comparisons to fellow ex teammates Damian Duff and David Dunn were made by his new boss Sam Allardyce and assistant Phil Brown. He was awarded squad number 33 and high hopes were expected of the much talked about Baldacchino. With pace to burn and accurate crossing ability Ryan soon showed his potential in Bolton's reserve side and pre season games for the first team. He left Bolton Wanderers after only 18 months after just penning a new deal to join Carlisle United. Arrivals of Jay-Jay Okocha, Youri Djorkaeff and many more big signings that summer made it difficult to break through for the youngster. In 2001 Carlisle signed Baldacchino on a 3 year deal. Ryan was an instant hit with the club with an outstanding display of pace and trickery to help defeat Southend United away. Ryan was a regular for Carlisle before being prized away by Brooks Mileson and the mega spending power of Scottish new boys Gretna. Gretna won everything in sight and dominated where ever they played. Scottish third,second and first division titles where won by Baldacchino in consecutive seasons, with Ryan being on of the star players along with Kenny Deuchar, Gavin Skelton and Chris Innes. Those four players gained the prestigious accolade of being the only four players in 100 years of Scottish history to play in all Scottish divisions with the same team. Baldacchino won most Man of the Matches, Goal of the Season and had a UEFA Cup goal on his way up the divisions. An impressive display against Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup in front of Celtic manager Gordon Strachan earned Baldacchino rave reviews. Hibs, Motherwell and Celtic all had regular checks on Baldacchino. Brooks Mileson once again showed his spending power and ambition by keeping hold of Baldacchino and he signed a new improved four year deal in December 2005 making him one of the clubs top earners.

Gretna arrived in style to the SPL breaking all records on their way and many players staying loyal to Gretna turning away potential big money moves on the way. The season 2007-2008 was to be Gretna's last year as a club as they bowed out at the top when owner Brooks Mileson took ill in late February. Ryan was given squad number 7 and played against Rangers and Celtic that season as plucky Gretna struggled to cope with life in the top flight. They were relegated come May. Ryan transferred to VPL club Altona Magic in May 2008.

To the top

Titus Bramble

Titus Malachi Bramble (born July 21, 1981 in Ipswich, Suffolk) is an English football player, currently playing as a centre back for Wigan Athletic in the Premier League. He has an older brother, Tesfaye, who plays for Leiston.

He joined Ipswich Town at a young age and progressed through the ranks, originally playing as a striker, scoring two goals for the reserves before he made his football league debut in 1998–99 in a 2–1 away victory at Sheffield United. He went on to make 61 appearances for the club scoring four goals.

As a 19 year old he made a strong start to his Premier League career as a central defender, after scoring in a 1–0 win over Sunderland, his then manager George Burley called him a colossus. Even as a 19 year old he was seen as a physically strong player, and one of his teammates Matt Holland tipped him to make the England Squad.

In December 2001 Bramble was rejected a three year extension to his contract which was due to expire in summer 2004.

He was dropped from the first team prior to a 1–0 home defeat to future employers Newcastle United after making several errors in previous matches.

Bramble joined Newcastle in July 2002 for £5 million, vowing at the time to make himself indispensable to then manager Bobby Robson.

Bramble, along with Carlton Cole and first cousin, John Higgins, were arrested on October 10, 2003, on suspicion of 'gang rape'. They have both since been cleared.

Bramble's infamous pairing with Jean-Alain Boumsong at the heart of Newcastle's defence was particularly calamitous and the partnership was jokingly referred to as the "Chuckle Brothers live show". Titus scored a spectacular volleyed goal against Chelsea on May 8, 2006 in a 1–0 victory that secured qualification for the Intertoto Cup .

On 10 August 2006, Titus scored another vital goal for Newcastle in the UEFA Cup second qualifying round with a header against Latvian side FK Ventspils. In the return leg as St James's Park, Bramble gave a solid performance in a 0–0 draw, allowing the Geordies to progress to the UEFA Cup.

On 13 August, it was reported that Bramble was involved in another car crash in the village of Newton Flotman in Norfolk, while heading for a nightclub in Norwich. His BMW M3 convertible car, carrying five or six people, crashed into a garden wall. No one was hurt in the incident, and Bramble cleared a standard breath test.

In December, Bramble was admitted into hospital after his injured calf swelled to double its normal size.

On 31 January 2007, Bramble returned to action against Aston Villa in the centre of defence alongside Steven Taylor. Bramble put in some solid performances against Fulham, Liverpool, Middlesbrough and a Man of The Match Performance against Zulte-Waregem.

After another poor performance in Newcastle's 2–0 defeat to AZ Alkmaar he was dropped by Glenn Roeder. He looked to be frozen out of Newcastle, due to the return of Craig Moore and consistency of Taylor and Oguchi Onyewu, and no longer part of Roeder's plans.

On 16 May, following the appointment of Sam Allardyce as manager of Newcastle, Bramble was told his contract would not be renewed and was immediately released.

Titus Bramble signed for Wigan Athletic on a free transfer, agreeing to a three-year-deal on 4 June.

On 1 December Bramble made his first major error of the season whilst facing Manchester City, in Steve Bruce's first game in charge as new manager of Wigan following the departure of Chris Hutchings, "Bramble gifted City midfielder Geovanni the fastest goal in the Premier League this season when his miserable attempt at a pass to Kevin Kilbane ended up falling right at the Brazilian's feet". On 21 January Bramble made another high-profile error, in a home match against Everton. What looked like an easy backpass to Chris Kirkland was fouled up by Bramble, who seemed to lose his footing. The backpass was caught onto by Andrew Johnson who scored to set up a 2-1 away win for Everton. Bramble had to wait until May 3 for his next appearance. Bramble added to his tally of own goals in the home match against Sunderland on 13 September 2008. However, despite his reputation for errors, many people rate Bramble highly and he has achieved 'cult hero' status at the JJB Stadium. These views are echoed by Steve Bruce who gave Bramble the captains armband for the first time against former employers Ipswich Town. Bramble scored a dramatic equaliser against Newcastle United at St. James' Park, the match finishing in a 2-2 draw on 15 November 2008.

To the top