Blackburn Rovers fans will be dreaming this upcoming season can finally be the campaign that sees the club return to the top flight of English football, and what a season to do it – the year they will be celebrating their 150th anniversary.
Rovers are without a doubt a massive club and have a proud history, being one of the seven Premier League champions, lifting the top flight on three occasions and claiming the FA Cup on six.
After a terrible start as manager, Valérien Ismaël seemed to turn a corner at the end of the season, almost securing a Championship play-off spot. He will be hopeful of achieving this feat this season.
Valerien Ismael, Manager of Blackburn Rovers, gives instructions to Ryan Hedges during the Sky Bet Championship match between Blackburn Rovers FC and Norwich City FC at Ewood Park
Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images
A club of this magnitude and history deserves to be in the Premier League. Sadly, it’s been an age since Blackburn Rovers were last in the top flight.
We’ve had a look at the journey since then to see how far the club has fallen and why the future could and should be bright for the blue and white of Rovers.
Blackburn Rovers lost their top-flight status in 2012
It is now 13 years since Blackburn Rovers were last in the top flight. The club were relegated in the 2011/12 campaign.
Rovers finished in 19th place in the Premier League that season, with 31 points from 38 games. Frustratingly, they were just six points away from safety.
It continued the downward spiral following the Venky’s takeover, after their decision to sack Sam Allardyce a month after acquiring the club in November 2010.
Pos Team Pld W D L GD Pts
17th Queens Park Rangers 38 10 7 21 -23 38
18th Bolton Wanderers 38 10 6 22 -31 37
19th Blackburn Rovers 38 8 7 23 -30 31
20th Wolverhampton Wanderers 38 5 10 23 -42 25
Final Table for Premier League 2011/12
Steve Kean was the man in charge of the club, a coach who had proved to be a competent coach under Allardyce but nowhere near good enough to be the manager of a Premier League side.
Blackburn’s squad was a far cry from the side that finished midtable in 2010, but on their day could pose problems for most Premier League sides, with Yakubu doing his best to keep the club in the division as he scored 17 goals across the campaign.
It was a dismal campaign, in truth. Blackburn had only won three of their matches before New Year’s, despite two of those victories being huge as they beat Arsenal and Manchester United.
Rovers were already in trouble before they had their worst spell of the season, as they lost eight of their last nine Premier League fixtures.
Steve Kean the manager of Blackburn Rovers reacts during the Barclays Premier League match between Blackburn Rovers and Norwich City
Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images
Fans were surprised Kean was never in danger of losing his job despite his inept ability as manager and the fact Blackburn suffered regularly from conceding late goals, proving to be detrimental to their campaign.
A year prior Blackburn managed to survive on the final day of the season, but they would not have the chance of attempting this as they had been relegated on Gameweek 37 after they lost 1-0 to Wigan Athletic at home.
Blackburn Rovers are true sleeping giants in the Championship
It was a sad day for Blackburn Rovers fans, but a bitter one for general football aficionados, too. The Lancashire club were a staple of the Premier League, having been one of the founding members in 1992 and winning the title in the competition’s third season.
Premier League logo
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The club’s past success and the legacy of being one of the founding members of the Football League counted for nothing as English football saw a giant fall into the second tier.
Since then, we’ve even seen Rovers plummet to the third tier, but they have spent the majority of their 13 years away from the Premier League in the Championship.
Fans may be hopeful there is a return to the top flight under Valérien Ismaël, as he managed to turn around his terrible start as head coach, failing to win in his first seven games but going unbeaten in his final six matches in the Championship.
While the Frenchman is not the most popular or successful Blackburn Rovers manager, the fans will be patient enough at the start of the next campaign following their final run to see how he can shape the side over preseason.
Hopefully he can get them playing how he wants them, bring in the players to help him do that and fire Rovers back to the Premier League, bringing to an end their exile from the division and awakening a sleeping giant of the Football League.