[Archived] Tenth Consecutive Year In The Premier League

[braddock]

I do apologise if this thread has been made before. I tried a search and it didn't show.

Given the fact this board portrays us to be constantly on the brink of apocalypse I thought it would be interesting to see peoples (especially the more reactionary posters on the board) views on how it has been in retrospect.

Personally for me it's been great, the only times I've feared for us has been towards the end of Ince's tenure and the possibility of being stuck with Allardyce's football. Other than that, from the outside looking in at least but also simply by looking at things with a level head it has been comfortable in the main part with good league positions, cup runs both domestically and in Europe, exciting players and derby wins galore.

Can we all calm down a little and enjoy things?

[LeChuck]

The thing is, it only takes one bad season for an established club to slip away from the top flight completely. I bet the likes of Southampton, Norwich, Sheffield Wednesday, Coventry etc could have said the same as you did until very recently.

Out of interest (and hopefully on a more positive note), does anyone have a list of clubs who have also been in the Premier League the last 10 years?

[mark1875]

Out of interest (and hopefully on a more positive note), does anyone have a list of clubs who have also been in the Premier League the last 10 years?

Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Bolton, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Man United, Tottenham,

thats all i believe, off the top of my head mind you.

[Mattyblue]

I would agree with LeChuck, for a club that has had our budget, survival or relegation hinged on very small margins. I thought our time in the Sun was gradually ending under the Trust therefore I was cautiously optimistic after the takeover.

However, Venky's naivety has scared the living daylights out of me and have needessly risked it all with some hasty decision making. Though, they will hopefully learn.

Also, it is 18 out of 20 years!

Bluumin' Kidd!

[SAS]

Funny that Bolton and Fulham both came up with us.

Both had cup finals

Both been on european tours.

Got to be one of the strongest ever promotion groups.

[RibbleValleyRover]

It’s a great achievement to have been in this league for 10 years consecutively when you consider the money we have spent over those years and the battles to keep hold of our best players. During those 10 years we have had some high moments and some low ones.

We have flirted with relegation a few times, Hughes making us hard to beat and keeping us up after Souness's departure and Sam coming in to keep us up after it looked like we were down and out after Ince's tenure.

The main high points from a league perspective have to be three top 7 finishes (6th in 02-03, 6th in 05-6 and 7th in 07-08) and three tenth place finishes.

I find it amazing also that all three of the 2000-01 sides, Fulham, Rovers & Bolton are still in the division. When you consider at least one side promoted tends to go straight back down every season it's some achievement that all three are still in this division.

[TAFKAP]

It is a good show from a club such as Blackburn, despite the football being negative. And as has already been pointed out, there's many bigger clubs that have dropped out of the Prem and got cut adrift.

The 2nd tier of English football is full of mighty clubs and it's one hell of a division to upwardly get out of. If Rovers were to drop again, I would suspect they'd struggle to climb back out like they did over ten years ago.

[Ricky]

Agree TAFKAP any club that goes down isn't guaranteed to come straight back up. Just look at the teams who went down last season for evidence of that.

The Championship is a complete lottery!!

At the start of the season you could easily pick 10 teams and still not pick the winner!!

[Uxbridge rover]

Funny that Bolton and Fulham both came up with us.

Both had cup finals

Both been on european tours.

Got to be one of the strongest ever promotion groups.

Only time 3 clubs have been promoted and never been relegated !

[vyeo]

I think when we should be very proud that almost all the best players in the league has played for us at some point or another over the last twenty years. Shearer, Sutton, Cole, Yorke even sparky and Fowler. Jansen would have been in there if not for Eriksson. Overall, there's been highs and lows but its been a great journey. The walker days have sadly been over for a few years now, probably around the end of Souness' time. It is uncertain how we will progress under Venky's, but my gut feel is they are more clueless than evil (ie: trying to make a quick buck out of us). Depending on how fast they learn, the future could be bright, and for us the future will still be blue and white.

[Seggie]

Agree TAFKAP any club that goes down isn't guaranteed to come straight back up. Just look at the teams who went down last season for evidence of that.

The Championship is a complete lottery!!

At the start of the season you could easily pick 10 teams and still not pick the winner!!

The team that were favourites to go down from the Championship last year are sitting 9th in the Premier League this year.

Also if anybody wants to look at ultimate scare tactics of how falling out of the Premier League, look at Bradford who were promoted to the Prem when we were relegated and completed 2 seasons there, now stuck in 12th place in League 2 a place above Accy Stanley. Granted not a great team but many relegated Prem teams including Leeds, City, Forest, Southampton to name a few have dropped to the depths of League 1 so this highlights the need for stability within the club not just investment.

[TAFKAP]

It's frightening isn't it Seggie? Wimbledon. Millwall & Swindon, though Millwall may have been the old 1st division, but still fairly recent. However, I do believe this to be a good thing that there appears to be some parity between big and small clubs. Burnley and then Blackpool, what next? Doncaster for the play-offs? It's great, and the fact the 'big 4' have been blown apart is just great too.

[Seggie]

Jansen would have been in there if not for Eriksson. Overall, there's been highs and lows but its been a

I would say Jansen is there.

Also theres a lot of things that can be thrown at Sven but blaming him for Jansen is not one, when he called him into the England squad he withdrew due to illness and this ended any slim chance of him going to the World Cup. Jansen that year was something special though.

The rest was a tragic accident.

[braddock]

Jansen isn't there.

He could have been there.

Van Nistelrooy, Ian Wright, Torres, Henry, Bergkamp, Drogba...

The list could go on a lot longer when it comes to players better than Jansen.

One of my favourites of all time though, just think people are looking at him through rovers tinted specs.

[Seggie]

It's frightening isn't it Seggie? Wimbledon. Millwall & Swindon, though Millwall may have been the old 1st division, but still fairly recent. However, I do believe this to be a good thing that there appears to be some parity between big and small clubs. Burnley and then Blackpool, what next? Doncaster for the play-offs? It's great, and the fact the 'big 4' have been blown apart is just great too.

Its certainly making things intersting. Can't believe I missed out Sheff Weds. The other example is look at the Championship when we were there and Im sure people will remember going to Grimsby (4-1 lol) and they play their football in the conference as do Luton Town who were in the Old First Division when I started watching football.

The achievement that we have been a Premier League club 18 out of 20 seasons as someone earlier put it is quite amazing considering who we are. Id suspect Fulham and Bolton supporters would be quite proud of their clubs achievements since coming up with us also but both clubs like ourselves have had the benefit of being reasonably backed in the early days and a stable behind the scenes structur. Its important that Venkys look at that history to realise why we stayed in the league for so long, yes I thank them for their ambition but their investment is useless to them in the Championship and beyond and thats why the must keep a degree of stability at the club.

Jansen isn't there.

He could have been there.

Van Nistelrooy, Ian Wright, Torres, Henry, Bergkamp, Drogba...

The list could go on a lot longer when it comes to players better than Jansen.

One of my favourites of all time though, just think people are looking at him through rovers tinted specs.

I take your point but the initial list was alongside purely other Rovers strikers we have had over the last 20 years so in that respect I would put him there.

In the bigger picture of other clubs strikers yes I agree 100%. How did you miss Shearer though?

[braddock]

No, he began saying Rovers have had almost all of the best players the Premier League has seen.

I was then listing players who hadn't played for Rovers who were better than Jansen. Shearer has played for Rovers so was not mentioned. I agree with you that he belongs in our list, but not the Prem list.

[Seggie]

No, he began saying Rovers have had almost all of the best players the Premier League has seen.

I was then listing players who hadn't played for Rovers who were better than Jansen. Shearer has played for Rovers so was not mentioned. I agree with you that he belongs in our list, but not the Prem list.

Ahh get you, my bad. Ive reread his post and get what he was saying with top players playing for BRFC my apologies. I was focussed more on making the point that it wasn't Eriksson's fault with what happened to Jansen.

[braddock]

Ahh get you, my bad. Ive reread his post and get what he was saying with top players playing for BRFC my apologies. I was focussed more on making the point that it wasn't Eriksson's fault with what happened to Jansen.

And I agree with you.

No worries

[cruz]

It is a good show from a club such as Blackburn, despite the football being negative.

Yeah it's been that way for the entire decade

[FourLaneBlue]

I think when we should be very proud that almost all the best players in the league has played for us at some point or another over the last twenty years.

If it was even slightly true then I would agree but it obviously isn't.

Cantona, Schemeical, Keane, Ronaldo, Scholes, Giggs etc etc and I have even finished with United yet, never mind gone on to Arsenal...

[vyeo]

If it was even slightly true then I would agree but it obviously isn't.

Cantona, Schemeical, Keane, Ronaldo, Scholes, Giggs etc etc and I have even finished with United yet, never mind gone on to Arsenal...

Fourlaneblue, you are right. What I was thinking of when typing was that we've seen more than of our fair share of top british strikers in the premiership, yorke being the exception. Looking back, it was not an accurate characterisation and perhaps a more balanced sentence would be what I've just written.

[philipl]

Rovers have had numbers 1 and 2 of the all time highest PL goal scorers on our books- Shearer and Cole.

Robbie Fowler and Dwight York are 4th and 10th.

[Ewood Mc Ewans]

Can we all calm down a little and enjoy things?

Agree.

We have won one trophy in the 90's and one in the 1st decade of the new Millenium: just the fact of being in Premier League is a success for a club like ours, to continue to win a trophy every decade would be great achievement..

[Seggie]

Agree.

We have won one trophy in the 90's and one in the 1st decade of the new Millenium: just the fact of being in Premier League is a success for a club like ours, to continue to win a trophy every decade would be great achievement..

Which is better than most (ahem Big) clubs in the last 20/30 years. Also we have had the prize only 3 other teams have ever had and the way things are going its unlikely more than one time will add to that in the near future.

[Commondore]

I do apologise if this thread has been made before. I tried a search and it didn't show.

Given the fact this board portrays us to be constantly on the brink of apocalypse I thought it would be interesting to see peoples (especially the more reactionary posters on the board) views on how it has been in retrospect.

Personally for me it's been great, the only times I've feared for us has been towards the end of Ince's tenure and the possibility of being stuck with Allardyce's football. Other than that, from the outside looking in at least but also simply by looking at things with a level head it has been comfortable in the main part with good league positions, cup runs both domestically and in Europe, exciting players and derby wins galore.

Can we all calm down a little and enjoy things?

I'd say Rovers looked close to the drop in 2003 as well, only a turn to complete defensive hoofball and Jon Stead saved us that time.