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Accy cyclist

Legendary Member
30 years ago on May 8th we were at Rovers for what was billed as VE Day....Victory at Ewood.

Alan Shearer scored the goal that was later to prove to be the one which sealed the Premiership. Perhaps more importantly Tim Flowers had the game of his life, stopping everything Newcastle threw at him.


View: https://youtu.be/9XosyjsHGdk?si=tuiZMtNzKSq9_y3q


I watched the title winning game 30 years ago today, thanks to West Ham's goalkeeper, in the Farthings pub in Blackburn, which sadly burnt down the other year. We then went into Blackburn town centre which was packed out with revelers. Happy days indeed!!

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Accy cyclist

Legendary Member
30 years ago on May 8th we were at Rovers for what was billed as VE Day....Victory at Ewood.

Alan Shearer scored the goal that was later to prove to be the one which sealed the Premiership. Perhaps more importantly Tim Flowers had the game of his life, stopping everything Newcastle threw at him.


View: https://youtu.be/9XosyjsHGdk?si=tuiZMtNzKSq9_y3q


I'll always remember leaving the Riverside after the game, with the Newcastle fans in the Darwen End chanting 'Champions' at us, as we walked out.
 

Accy cyclist

Legendary Member
Rovers then owner Jack Walker was reportedly worth 300 million after selling his share in his and his brother's steel business, at the time he took over the club in I think it was 1990. Imagine building a team capable of winning the Premier League and redeveloping a stadium with 300 million in the bank these days. I'd say you'd struggle to redevelop a club like Blackpool's ground and get them into the Championship with 300 million these days!
 

AndyRM

XOXO
Location
North Shields
Rovers then owner Jack Walker was reportedly worth 300 million after selling his share in his and his brother's steel business, at the time he took over the club in I think it was 1990. Imagine building a team capable of winning the Premier League and redeveloping a stadium with 300 million in the bank these days. I'd say you'd struggle to redevelop a club like Blackpool's ground and get them into the Championship with 300 million these days!

It's an impossible comparison given the way football has changed since then, but this is a pretty good attempt at it:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/31...r-leagues-biggest-transfers-would-cost-today/
 

Chislenko

Veteran
Rovers then owner Jack Walker was reportedly worth 300 million after selling his share in his and his brother's steel business, at the time he took over the club in I think it was 1990. Imagine building a team capable of winning the Premier League and redeveloping a stadium with 300 million in the bank these days. I'd say you'd struggle to redevelop a club like Blackpool's ground and get them into the Championship with 300 million these days!

I recall one person who wasn't happy. If I remember correctly they knocked down some houses to build a new stand, found a dead body and somebody got arrested for a murder he thought was literally "buried under the carpet"

Can't remember the exact details but I am sure it will come up on Google
 

Accy cyclist

Legendary Member
I recall one person who wasn't happy. If I remember correctly they knocked down some houses to build a new stand, found a dead body and somebody got arrested for a murder he thought was literally "buried under the carpet"

Can't remember the exact details but I am sure it will come up on Google
Heck, I'd forgotten about the body being found!:ohmy: The killer must've been worrying when Rovers decided to almost rebuild the old ground, extending into space where the body was found, leaving the Riverside Stand as it was, as it'd only been rebuilt 2 years before Jack Walker's takeover. He was 51 at the time of his trial, according to the below reports. So he'll be abut 80 now, if he's still alive. He got 12 years inside, so it must've been a manslaughter, not a murder trial, with him probably getting out in 2004. Some TV channel could've made a decent drama programme out of that story!

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12739610.body-found-at-football-ground/

https://www.daysofhorror.com/episode/the-shocking-discovery-of-julian-brookfield/

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/6207484.ewood-body-trial/

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/6195854.the-net-revealed-my-ex-was-a-killer/
 
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Accy cyclist

Legendary Member
He was a world record signing back then, so probably would be now: that's Neymar or Mbappé money these days and I reckon most people (English in the main) would rate a peak Shearer more highly than them.

Obviously, he was the best centre forward we ever saw at Ewood Park in 'modern times', as they say. He wanted to go to Man Utd instead of Newcastle but Jack Walker wouldn't allow then serious rivals Man Utd to approach him for talks about moving there. If he'd moved there he'd have ended up with countless Premier League, FA Cup, European trophies to his name. He was too good for mediocre at the time Newcastle and deep down he knows it and must think if only Jack had let me talk to those Mancs! :okay:
 
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YMFB

Well-Known Member
I wonder where Rashford will end up, clearly not at Old Trafford, as a Villa supporter I’d like him to stay at Villa Park, but I fear his wages will take him elsewhere.

Last night I found myself rooting for Southend because my daughter lives nearby at Leigh on Sea, which is a nice place.
 

PaulSB

Squire
He was a world record signing back then, so probably would be now: that's Neymar or Mbappé money these days and I reckon most people (English in the main) would rate a peak Shearer more highly than them.

No, at £3.5m Shearer to Rovers was a Britsh transfer record but at the time Gianluca Vialli's move from Sampdoria to Juventus at €16.5 was the world record. Shearer to Newcastle for £15m was a world record.

There's no doubt, in my mind, Ewood saw the best years of his career. Going to Newcastle meant he didn't reach the heights his talent deserved.
 
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