First striker

[Tango]

Blackburn have had their fair share of Scottish legends: Colin Hendry, Kenny Dalglish... even Graeme Souness!

Then there was Kevin Gallacher. A neat and tidy, nippy winger-come-striker, Gallacher was a truely enjoyable player to watch; gave defences the run around on many occasion that I watched him. A hat-trick back in the 96/97 season against Wimbledon was a highlight, particularly when he nicked the ball away from Neil Sullivan, who'd spilled his shot, and poked it into the net.

His partnership with Sutton was perhaps not the most prolific, but at least when the two of them were up front you knew there'd be chances and some level of excitement. In fact Gallacher's talent was perhaps more in laying on chances for others than it was taking them. He remains affectionately remembered wherever he played in football, from Dundee to Coventry, Blackburn to Newcastle. Gallacher was a great little player and, for me, rated above Sutton (although I may well be alone in that!)

Gallacher was also a very mild-mannered man, from what I remember of his time at Rovers, never got involved in the sort of dodgy escapades that now litter the world of football and are smeared across tabloid front-pages nationwide.

I've given my first vote to Shearer, but Gallacher is definitely worthy of the second striker's berth. Then we'd be cooking with GAS.

[Roaming Rover]

Gone for Shearer in this one, it's looking close though

[samtheozzy]

Could someone please post some info on McEvoy?

[den]

Could someone please post some info on McEvoy?

This has already been posted by IanRally.

Must say, Andy McEvoy was one of the best finishers I've ever seen. He scored four times on his first game as a converted midfielder, against a superb Tottenham side, rovers winning 7-2.

He SHOULD get into the top three best ever strikers, but he wont.

[tonytony]

what about those other greats:-

Martin Dahlin

Kabba Diawara

Kevin Davies

Egil Oestanstad

how many goals have they scored between them?

[Tony Diamond Inc]

My frontrunners are Tony Diamond and Andy Kennedy - just for the haircuts!

What about Starbuck and Diamond, currently touring northern club circuit.

[Duff's Minder]

I don't want to criticise other people's decisions. we're all entitled to an opinion etc. blah blah

but - who the feck voted for Sutton? and why?

[millionpints]

Blackburn have had their fair share of Scottish legends: Colin Hendry, Kenny Dalglish... even Graeme Souness!

Then there was Kevin Gallacher. A neat and tidy, nippy winger-come-striker, Gallacher was a truely enjoyable player to watch; gave defences the run around on many occasion that I watched him. A hat-trick back in the 96/97 season against Wimbledon was a highlight, particularly when he nicked the ball away from Neil Sullivan, who'd spilled his shot, and poked it into the net.

His partnership with Sutton was perhaps not the most prolific, but at least when the two of them were up front you knew there'd be chances and some level of excitement. In fact Gallacher's talent was perhaps more in laying on chances for others than it was taking them. He remains affectionately remembered wherever he played in football, from Dundee to Coventry, Blackburn to Newcastle. Gallacher was a great little player and, for me, rated above Sutton (although I may well be alone in that!)

Gallacher was also a very mild-mannered man, from what I remember of his time at Rovers, never got involved in the sort of dodgy escapades that now litter the world of football and are smeared across tabloid front-pages nationwide.

I've given my first vote to Shearer, but Gallacher is definitely worthy of the second striker's berth. Then we'd be cooking with GAS.

(the original) Gally's got my vote

[tonytony]

id vote for sutton cos no matter how many goals shearer scored none of them seemed to match up to that free kick that sutton whacked in infront of the blackburn end against the geordies when we got in europe! superb striker still scoring now and a class defender too!

Edited January 25, 2005 by tonytony

[Kiwiwannabe]

Simon Garner - I would have loved to have seen him and Shearer together in attack. Thatwoul've been something!

Garner and Shearer would be my choice for the front two, but I wouldn't want to have seen them playing together! I don't think Shearer would have got half as many goals as he did for us playing with Garner. Shearer needs a Sutton or Newell type strike-partner to play off. Good job this 'greatest' team is just on paper!

[billy]

To start with I've been fortunate enough to have watched every centre forward, from Dennis Westcott to the present day. I dont have to say who was the best, we all know that, our Alan, commentators drooled over him, papers filled their back pages with he's photo's, reporters never had it so good, but all of them had one theme, they said "he plays like an old fashioned centre forward", how true that is, but which old fashioned centre forward? only one that played for us, thats Tommy Briggs without a shadow of a doubt , all you supporters who were sat on the rug, in front of the fire, tapping the dog on its head with a spoon, have no idea what 'old fashioned centre forward means' but us old giffers do, it means running through mud on rough pitches, jumping for the corners trying to knock the goalie (with he's knees up) and ball in the net, while the defenders tried to 'drop' you, as you was charged from one side to the other and back again, Tommy was the best, for us he scored over 30 goals a season four seasons on the run, in that time he missed only three games, before he was a Rover he was also the leagues top scorer, beating second placed Tommy Lawton by seven goals. I think everone will know about he's seven goals in one game, he scored one in the first half at the Blackburn end, then six in the Darwen end, also hitting the post, and had quite a few saved, for he's third goal he jumped a bit early, but he just waited in the air then nodded it home in the top left corner , I think David Blaine must have heard of that , he makes a living out of it and calls it levitation. No other team could boast a combination of two strikers with consistant goal scoring form, which is what the position is all about, than Shearer and Briggs, remember its goals that count, Shearer over thirty three seasons running, Briggs over thirty four seasons running, no excuses, we want consistant goal scorers, vote them both, the two top goal scorers from different eras, they were one and the same believe me.

[den]

Fantastic post Billy.

It's great to hear about players from all era's. I've heard of Tommy Briggs- certainly, but to hear from one of the few on this site who has actually seen him play, is tremendous.

I'm not sure you can persuade folks on here to vote Tommy Briggs in, but I certainly know that fans who actually witnessed him performing down at Ewood, regarded him as the very best of the old fashioned centre forwards.

[Cheshireblue]

It's a no brainer that Shearer was always going to walk away with this. For my money the best player we ever had, and probably still the best striker I have ever seen.

It should also be a certainty that Simon Garner gets the second spot. But just to make sure, I'll quote David Randall of the Independant on Sunday and add a few words of my own. Den - Get the red pen out.

Every League club has a folk hero; a player who becomes at first a favourite with the fans and then something more: a legend, a totem, a symbol of everything supporters believe their club stands for. There is Tosh Chamberlain at Fulham, Rodney Marsh at Queen's Park Rangers, Peter Osgood at Chelsea, and at Blackburn Rovers, there is Simon Garner.

Even today, 10 years after he last played for the club, the chant: "There's Only One Simon Garner" still regularly echoes round Ewood Park. Quite how a man who never even got a kick in the Premiership could have become the club's spiritual mascot might seem a bit of a mystery, but all is explained if you pick up his autobiography. For in telling his story - Blackburn's all-time top scorer, a succession of ever-lesser clubs, and a divorce so messy he was sent to prison (where the man-of-the-match award was an ounce of tobacco), right down to his present contentment in Berkshire -- he inadvertently reveals why he had such rapport with the crowd.

To the fans, Garner was always one of our own. Even after he'd knocked in a Saturday goal or two and had pride of place on the back of the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, he always had time for a laugh, a fag and a drink with them. Or with anyone, for that matter. Newly signed team-mates were liable to be judged on their ability to smoke or drink,a nd Simon was the man to judge them.

He earned good money (£600 a week at its peak), but not silly money. He lived in the town, not on Nob Hill. He drove a decent car, not something out of a Bond film. He never pretended. No airs and graces off the pitch, and no dives in the box on it. And if Rovers were a goal or two to the bad, and time was ticking on and you had no more fingernails to bite, there was always a chance that Gamer would turn it around by popping a couple in.

But, above all, in the pre-Jack Walker days, the club's fans knew that if there was a Blackburn occasion, good or ill, then there would be Garner, chest puffed out, doing his level best. He was there with Jim Smith (who concluded a rollocking on smoking by offering him a cigar), there when Jim Iley arrived ("very dour… he made Howard Wilkinson look like Ken Dodd"), he played and drank with Howard Kendall, and was with Bobby Saxton's side when, in a vital game against Wolves, their manager, Tommy Docherty, sat in on the Blackburn team-talk and then calmly stood up saying "Don't worry about our lot; they're crap".

He was there for the descent into the Third Division, the climb out of it, and those agonising seasons when, three years in a row, Blackburn reached the play-offs, only to lose.

Even Garners high times had a Blackburnish quality: a win at Wembley in 1987, but it was only the Full-Members' Cup final; and as Garner broke the club's scoring record in 1989 the celebrations had hardly started before news came through of an unfolding disaster across the Pennines at Hillsborough.

Three years later, Garner was still here as King Kenny and Uncle Jack arrived to transform the club. And when Blackburn reached the play-off finals at Wembley, Dalglish made sure the old forward was given one of the three non-playing places on the bench. So there he was, smoking agitatedly through an entire pack as his club reached the Premiership, just like any fan. And when, at Blackburn Town Hall, the team were feted on their return, there, of course, was Gamer again, grinning and happy and slightly inebriated. And what did the crowd sing? "There's Only One Simon Garner..."

Garner may not have scored a hatful of premiership goals, won a plethora of international caps, but what he did do was serve our club faithfully for 14 years of his life. He went up and down three divisions with us, and scored a hut full of goals in each of those divisions. His goals got us into the play-offs three years running, and if we'd seized an earlier chance, who knows - he may have scored a hat full in the Premiership.

Probably not the most gifted player ever, or the hardest worker, but second only to Shearer in terms of his greatness in the history of Blackburn Rovers.

Vote Garner. Not that you weren't going to already, of course....

Edited January 25, 2005 by den

[colin]

Beautiful Chesh.

Sheer poetry

[Tris]

To start with I've been fortunate enough to have watched every centre forward, from Dennis Westcott to the present day. I dont have to say who was the best, we all know that, our Alan, commentators drooled over him, papers filled their back pages with he's photo's, reporters never had it so good, but all of them had one theme, they said "he plays like an old fashioned centre forward", how true that is, but which old fashioned centre forward? only one that played for us, thats Tommy Briggs without a shadow of a doubt , all you supporters who were sat on the rug, in front of the fire, tapping the dog on its head with a spoon, have no idea what 'old fashioned centre forward means' but us old giffers do, it means running through mud on rough pitches, jumping for the corners trying to knock the goalie (with he's knees up) and ball in the net, while the defenders tried to 'drop' you, as you was charged from one side to the other and back again, Tommy was the best, for us he scored over 30 goals a season four seasons on the run, in that time he missed only three games, before he was a Rover he was also the leagues top scorer, beating second placed Tommy Lawton by seven goals. I think everone will know about he's seven goals in one game, he scored one in the first half at the Blackburn end, then six in the Darwen end, also hitting the post, and had quite a few saved, for he's third goal he jumped a bit early, but he just waited in the air then nodded it home in the top left corner , I think David Blaine must have heard of that , he makes a living out of it and calls it levitation. No other team could boast a combination of two strikers with consistant goal scoring form, which is what the position is all about, than Shearer and Briggs, remember its goals that count, Shearer over thirty three seasons running, Briggs over thirty four seasons running, no excuses, we want consistant goal scorers, vote them both, the two top goal scorers from different eras, they were one and the same believe me.

fantastic post billy

my first choice was never going to change

i think my second choice has switched to briggs

den - keep this man's post!!

[Shaddy]

Some of the commendation posts in this series of threads have been outstanding. Well done billy and Chesh for the most recent ones.

[Duff's Minder]

I'm embarressed to admit that I had no idea who Briggs was. Thanks for that Billy - this choice has suddenly got interesting...

[MCMC1875]

Den

The beauty of this poll is not the nailed on choices which everyone expects (except Le Saux of course) but the way the thread has educated the world about our proud club and its famous players from James Forrest to Simon Garner.

Nice one Den

[mhead]

On this one if I had a 100 votes they would all go for Big Al.

Those 4 Seasons we had him were so exciting and the VE Night game with Shearer scoring from Le Saux's scooped cross my strongest memory from 1800 games since the late 50s.

BUT the player that kept us going during the early 70s when we were as bad as the Dingles was TONY FIELD.

Bought for £50k or something like that from Southport he was a poacher and a dribbler.Apart from Sir Roger Jones and Tony Parkes/Stuart Metcalfe/Derek Fazackerly we were so crap that you wouldn't go to the bottom of the road to watch them.Gates averaged 6,500 and Man U/Liverpool took all the glory hunters.

Tony Field meanwhile pre-Garner scored most of our goals including a goal at Rochdale that lives in the memory and loads of long runs into the penalty area at Ewood always outpacing the defenders.

Went with Ken Furphy to Sheff Utd and eventually played with Pele for the New York Cosmos!!

Anyone else remember him?

[Ianrally]

Who was the most prolific striker ever to play for Rovers?

Shearer?       Briggs?

No, you may find it's one JACK SOUTHWORTH.

If you check goals scored per games played, I think Jack even beats the two mentioned.(I haven't looked up the stats)

Well there have been some very meritous posts on some of our well known strikers and as bazza says, no mention of Jack Southworth who I am afraid non of us have seen play. Nevertheless the stats deem that he does indeed deserve recocnition among our hero's.

I take the following from Mike Jackman's 'Blackburn Rovers. A Complete Record'

Jack Southworth was born in Blackburn in 1876 and was Rovers first truly prolific goalscorer. he began his football career at the age of 12 when he formed a junior club named Inkerman Rangers. He later played for Brookhouse Perseverance, which were both nurseries for Blackburn Olympic. Southworth was promoted to the Olympic second team in 1883-84. His ability was quickley recognized by the committee at Olympic and he was made captain of the second team and first reserve when there was a vacancy in the first team. It was at this time that he rejected the first approach by Rovers to join them. Whilst guesting in a match for accrington he received a serious knee injury which threatened his career. Having lost some of his mobility he turned his hand to goalkeeping and became the first team goalkeeper with Olympic. having helped Olympic to win the Lancashire Cup against Rovers in 1885, he now received a serious injury to his other knee whilst guesting for Vale of Lune. The following year he signed professional terms with Blackburn Olympic despite his knee problems. A keen musician, he took a job with a theatre in Chester and returned to Olympic, resuming his old position of centre forward. having overcome his injuries, he became a great success as a centre forward and in the 1887-88 season saw him finally join the Rovers.

A contemporary wrote that: 'His dodging, his neat passing, his speed and general accuracy in shooting won the hearts of the spectators at the Leamington ground. He is built for speed, he plays an unselfish game, he's good at tackling and has excellent jugement.'

He captained the side as it made it's first excursion into league football and became a prolific goalscorer. Capped three times for England, he won FA Cup winners medals in 1890 and 1891. In August 1893 Everton paid £400 for his services and in his first season he scored 27 goals in 22 games. The following season saw him score 9 goals in 9 games, before injury and illness finally forced him into retirement. Turning to his other love, he became a professional violinist and played with the Halle Orchestra.

Rovers career statistics:

League Played 108 Goals 97

Cup Played 25 Goals 25

Total Played 133 Goals 122

During this time the scorers of 11 league goals and 3 Cup goals remain unidentified so Jacks total goals could be more than shown..

I thank bazza for bringing this great goalscorer to our attention and I hope that the above is of interest to you all as it has been to me. A truly remarkable player I think you will agree

[knobblybottom]

I'm going to vote for Dougan and Dobing becau ... oh not I'm not

[92er]

I remember " Tony Field, super star,

how many goals have you scored so far?".

He played in the same team as John MacNamee who was mentioned amongst the centre halves.

[Drummer Boy]

Since my last post, the subsequent posts are persuading me that the second striker spot should go to "there's only one" Simon Garner, despite the strongest of challenges from Mr. Speedie.

As for some of the other nominees, notably Briggs and McEvoy, I think Shearer has the old-fashioned centre forward spot wrapped up and have come to the view that comparing scoring records between players in very, very different eras is not the sole criterion. A certain style of play also comes into the reckoning - hence my appreciation of, say, Briggs but preference for Shearer - he was different class.

Garner is a different matter altogether - the extract from the Independent sums it up nicely and I've flicked through his autobiography again - and for reasons not entirely connected with his qualities as a player (good as they were) but as much with his qualities as a man and an employee of BRFC, he gets my vote when we finish this charade of a vote for the first spot upfront.

[Yorkshire Blue]

what about those other greats:-

Martin Dahlin

Kabba Diawara

Kevin Davies

Egil Oestanstad

how many goals have they scored between them?

Dahlin: 6 from 15 (+14 sub appearances) at 0.21 goals per game

Diawara: 1 from 2 (4) at 0.14 gpg

Lardass: 2 from 18 (12) at 0.07 gpg

Egil: 13 from 48 (33) at 0.16 gpg

Not pretty, is it?

Might I add...

Corrado "Floppy haired Italian no-mark" Grabbi: 5 from 16 (15) at 0.16 gpg

[MCMC1875]

Den

Get Southworth on the list for 2nd forward. Can't see another Rovers player playing violin for the Halle in the near future (new meaning to greatest player?). Not sure he signed for Rovers aged 11 though?

Edited January 27, 2005 by MCMC1875