[Archived] If You Could Change One Result In Rovers History

[USABlue]

I worked with a fella in the 70's was a huge Rovers fan, loved 'em but that was it for him he never set foot in Ewood again. You could see the sparkle in his eyes when he talked about Douglas and co, almost like a dreamy far away look. Evetually he would snap back mutter some unkind words and continue on with his work. I was too young at the time but the scars left by that ticket shambles clearly ran deep.

[thenodrog]

I worked with a fella in the 70's was a huge Rovers fan, loved 'em but that was it for him he never set foot in Ewood again. You could see the sparkle in his eyes when he talked about Douglas and co, almost like a dreamy far away look. Evetually he would snap back mutter some unkind words and continue on with his work. I was too young at the time but the scars left by that ticket shambles clearly ran deep.

It's crap that in actuallity though isn't it? By the 70's the players directors and management would all have been long gone. Like this crap about ticket prices now it was just another lame excuse by somebody who could no longer be arsed to go. On the flip side being 3rd Div material obviously didn't help much.

[Y.B.]

That was my first ever away game!

Dont remember much about it apart from getting beat.

I was at every game in that 7 match winless run apart from the Watford game. Talk about wheels coming off...

Here is the sorry rundown in full...

Blackburn 0-2 Charlton

Barnsley 2-1 Blackburn

Port Vale 2-0 Blackburn

Watford 2-1 Blackburn

Blackburn 1-2 Wolves

Blackburn 0-1 Leicester (damn that Rooster)

Tranmere 2-2 Blackburn (and we were grateful of a point there)

Then going two down at home to Derby after about ten minutes in the play-off semi... Boy, did we do it the hard way. It's kind of hard to believe how the following three years panned out.

[FourLaneBlue]

I'd always say the 3-0 nightmare against Palace as we might have survived if we had gone up. Other teams without many resources such as Luton, Oldham, Wimbledon and Charlton (they didn't even have their own ground then) were promoted around that time yet managed to stay up.

However another huge disappointment was the League Cup semi final in our first season back up - 1993, was it the Littlewoods Cup then? After looking like challenging for all three domestic trophies at one stage (although to be truthful Shearer's injury had put paid to any hope in the league) we ended up going out of two cups in a week! The damage had been done in the first leg for the League Cup however as our defence went AWOL and Paul Warhurst demolished us

We did get our revenge on Wednesday at the same stage almost a decade later though so good things really do come to those who wait.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

The major complaint that seemed to uset most was the allegation that the players and others connected with the club had between them swallowed up at least 1/2 of all the tickets allocated and that the players were making a fortune out of selling tickets to the touts in London.

Well before my time Fife but the above figures seem like pure speculation to me.I've no doubt that maybe some opportunist players did do away with a few tickets but 15,000.....Give over!!!!

I have no doubt the rumour mongers in and around the pubs of Blackburn at the time did more than their fare share of damage to club relations.

The one result? It has to be 2004/05 cup semi-final with Arsenal....the press reaction to Rovers defeat was nothing more than a disgraceful attack on the club and its players.

Edited December 2, 2006 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[Alan75]

Well before my time Fife but the above figures seem like pure speculation to me.I've no doubt that maybe some players did do away with some tickets but 15,000.....Give over!!!!

I have no doubt the rumour mongers in and around the pubs of Blackburn at the time did more than their fare share of damage to club relations.

I dont know how many tickets that were involved, but I know of a number of the old timers who vowed never to put a foot inside Ewood Park, after a number of players sold off bundles of tickets, denying fans the oportunity of going.

It wasnt helped either that one of the players put in a transfer request on the eve of the cup final.

[bazza]

As soon as I read the question I knew my answer; the 1960 cup final.

But having read Al, Fife Rover and others, the result I would most like to change is the SEMI-FINAL 1960 to a 2-1 win for Sheff Wed.

Then Rovers would have avoided all the problems that that final brought and the old timers and their offspring would still be filling Ewood to the rafters. :-)

[Fife Rover]

As soon as I read the question I knew my answer; the 1960 cup final.

But having read Al, Fife Rover and others, the result I would most like to change is the SEMI-FINAL 1960 to a 2-1 win for Sheff Wed.

Then Rovers would have avoided all the problems that that final brought and the old timers and their offspring would still be filling Ewood to the rafters. :-)

Damned good thinking that bazza! It would have seemed painful to us at the time, but would have avoided a whole lot of trouble afterwards.

[broadsword]

I was at every game in that 7 match winless run apart from the Watford game. Talk about wheels coming off...

Here is the sorry rundown in full...

Blackburn 0-2 Charlton

Barnsley 2-1 Blackburn

Port Vale 2-0 Blackburn

Watford 2-1 Blackburn

Blackburn 1-2 Wolves

Blackburn 0-1 Leicester (damn that Rooster)

Tranmere 2-2 Blackburn (and we were grateful of a point there)

Then going two down at home to Derby after about ten minutes in the play-off semi... Boy, did we do it the hard way. It's kind of hard to believe how the following three years panned out.

If anyone from here was behind me when I chucked my programme (which I'd torn into small squares) over my head then I fully apologise.

[Fife Rover]

Well before my time Fife but the above figures seem like pure speculation to me.I've no doubt that maybe some opportunist players did do away with a few tickets but 15,000.....Give over!!!!

I have no doubt the rumour mongers in and around the pubs of Blackburn at the time did more than their fare share of damage to club relations.

The one result? It has to be 2004/05 cup semi-final with Arsenal....the press reaction to Rovers defeat was nothing more than a disgraceful attack on the club and its players.

SG194: If you care to look back at my first paragraph you will see that I started out by saying that nobody outside of the football club really KNEW what happened, or even HOW MANY tickets Rovers were allocated. Yes my figures were speculation and I said as much in my post. However, as any other old timer who was around at the time will surely bear me out, the gist of my post IS in essence what happened at the time. There WAS a huge furore in Blackburn and in the local press that went on for weeks prior to and after the cup final. The whole situation was quite literally the talk of the town, you could not get away from it.

And further, the situation and the way the club handled it WAS the one and ONLY cause of so many people who until then had been die-hard supporters turning their backs on the club for, as they saw it, betraying them. The biggest single bone of contention seemed to be the allegation that players and officials at the club had given themselves an extraordinarilly large share of the tickets, and profited by this, with a consequential loss of opportunity to the ordinary fan. THAT is in essence what the row was about, and as I said I was not personally effected by it but several of my family and friends were. I would add that there were quite literally very few families in and around Blackburn that were NOT effected.

So you see, that was the cause of it all, and the reaction was very, very bitter and long lasting; life-long in many, many cases. Can you honestly say that if the same scenario were to be repeated these days, you or any of the people on here would not react in a similar manner? Thankfully. I know that is just a hypothetical question as the club is now in far better hands than then (in spite of what Vinjay may think).

P.S. Any other doubters among you that care to make the effort should be able to find ample evidence of what I say by trawling the archives of the Blackburn Times and the Lancashire Evening Telegraph for April/May 1960.

Edited December 3, 2006 by Fife Rover