Damien Duff Hangs Up His Boots

[BlueMonday]

I wrote this on the Rovers Greatest Team thread years ago. Seems appropriate now:

Damien Duff first signed professional forms for Rovers on March 5th 1996 at the age of 17. It was a momentous day for the club.

He was scouted by Pat Devlin, manager of Bray Wanderers and still Duff's agent to this day. Devlin was a friend of Kenny Dalglish and alerted Kenny to the talent he'd unearthed in Ireland. Rovers weren't the only club he told though. Rumour has it that Huddersfield came very close to poaching Damien - thankfully though he chose the Rovers.

Duff made his Rovers senior debut in the last home game of 1996-97 season. However, it wasn't until the season after that he established himself in the side ahead of Jason Wilcox. A crowd favourite straight away, he won over the fans with his skill and touch, as well as a running style best described as "unusual", not to mention the appearence of someone who was permanently knackered. He just looked funny, not remotely like a footballer was supposed to look, but give him the ball and he could be superb.

He always reminded me of Chris Waddle the way he got around the pitch.

[Jock]

Loved how he always looked shattered then he'd jinx past a full back. Really came good when he started cutting in and scoring.

Got to be a Rovers legend for the Cav incident. Fancy a super hard dingle being done by a midget. Well in Duffers.

[1arC]

Loved how he always looked shattered then he'd jinx past a full back. Really came good when he started cutting in and scoring.

Got to be a Rovers legend for the Cav incident. Fancy a super hard dingle being done by a midget. Well in Duffers.

Someone lese has mentioned that. Is it true and what happened exactly?

[No Nay Never]

One of those players that was quicker with the ball than without it. Pleasure to watch.

[allanncd]

We've been blessed with some quality left-wingers - Brotherston, Sellars, Wilcox, Witscghe and Duff.

Add Dave Wagstaffe to that list.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

A couple of disrespectful goal celebrations infront of Rovers fans, all a bit needless after he was supposed to love the club.

Remember it well and left a bad taste at the time,scored and started kissing his Chelsea shirt in front of the BBE?.

Looking back it was much ado about nothing and time is a healer...overall he was a great player for us.

Best of luck to him.

Edited December 22, 2015 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[blueboy3333]

Add Dave Wagstaffe to that list.

He retired just as i started watching Rovers. My dad used to love him. Brief mention here of his time with Rovers:-

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/david-wagstaffe-gifted-wolverhampton-flankman-with-a-distinctive-dribbling-style-8756396.html

[Exiled in Toronto]

He retired just as i started watching Rovers. My dad used to love him. Brief mention here of his time with Rovers:-

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/david-wagstaffe-gifted-wolverhampton-flankman-with-a-distinctive-dribbling-style-8756396.html

His crossfield passes to Kevin Hird were both unerringly accurate and stopped almost dead they had so much backspin. And who can ever forget his getting the opening goal on Boxing Day '77!

[tomphil]

Someone lese has mentioned that. Is it true and what happened exactly?

Got some mouth of a six fingered one in the toilets of a Blackburn nightclub so nutted him leaving squealing dingle calling the cops. All alleged of course but it made the local paper.

[1arC]

Got some mouth of a six fingered one in the toilets of a Blackburn nightclub so nutted him leaving squealing dingle calling the cops. All alleged of course but it made the local paper.

Excellent, sounds like a great story and I would have loeved to have seen it.

[Mattyblue]

Just flicking through the channels. Spotted ‘Duff’s 1-11’ was on. He picks the best players he played with.

Now I imagined a fair few Chelsea players would be in there, but the likes of Richard Dunne, Mark Schwarzer, that Dembele from Fulham and Bobby Zamora as sub?!

Not even a mention of a single Rovers player, he rattled through the names of about 4 keepers without mentioning Brad. 

Remember he played in teams that had a promotion, a cup win and two top 6 PL finishes in his time.

I often feel we are the forgotten club of many of our ex players.

Edited April 12, 2019 by Mattyblue

[BlackburnEnd75]

Just now, Mattyblue said:

Just flicking through the channels. Spotted ‘Duff’s 1-11’ was on. He picks the best players he played with.

Now I imagined a fair few Chelsea players would be in there, but the likes of Richard Dunne, Mark Schwarzer, that Dembele from Fulham and Bobby Zamora as sub?!

Not even a mention of a single Rovers player, he rattled through the names of about 4 keepers without mentioning Brad. 

Remember he played in teams that had a promotion, a cup win and two top 6 PL finishes in his time.

I often feel we are the forgotten club of many of our ex players.

Maybe he's got a short memory. He's picked picked Richard Dunne but he played with Terry and Carvalho at Chelsea for two seasons.

He's played with Cech, Given and Friedel so Schwarzer seems a bit of an odd choice.

Surprised no Tugay

[Oldgregg86]

Usually they just pick there mates and who they enjoyed rooming with. I wouldn't take it to seriously. 

I agree about the forgotten club thing though it's like we are and always have been a stepping stone, a brief chapter in people's careers not worth bookmarking. It's sad really when you think of a premier league win, a league cup win, European football and promotions. It sticks in the throat abit especially when so few every go on to do anything better 

Edited April 12, 2019 by Oldgregg86

[Bigdoggsteel]

It's disappointing he didn't pick any rovers players, but who would he realistically pick? Outside Friedel and Tugay I can't think of any. The Friedel one is realistic, but I'd say he played with some savage centre midfielders. Off the top of my head Roy Keane, Lampard and Makelele. Who did he pick? 

And ya, obviously Richard Dunne is better than Carvalho ?

Edited April 12, 2019 by Bigdoggsteel

[tomphil]

Richard Dunne.... ?

Great player Duffer but did come across as a bit of a plonker in regards to Rovers after he left, as if it was a bit beneath him or something which is odd seeing as he didn't want to leave he was sold.

He certainly came on leaps and bounds at Rovers playing with Andy Cole.

[Mattyblue]

Off the top of my head -

Brad, Tugay, Berg, Hendry, Cole, Yorke, Sherwood, Sutton, Hughes.

Edited April 12, 2019 by Mattyblue

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

2 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Usually they just pick there mates and who they enjoyed rooming with. I wouldn't take it to seriously. 

I agree about the forgotten club thing though it's like we are and always have been a stepping stone, a brief chapter in people's careers not worth bookmarking. It's sad really when you think of a premier league win, a league cup win, European football and promotions. It sticks in the throat abit especially when so few every go on to do anything better 

True but Shearer and Sutton have always had good things to say about the club and their time at Ewood imo.Both players spoke up about how Venkys were running the club and showed genuine concern...they have my up most respect for that alone.

You get the impression they really enjoyed their spells in the old Blue n White as much as we did as fans.

Edited April 12, 2019 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[bluebruce]

22 hours ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

True but Shearer and Sutton have always had good things to say about the club and their time at Ewood imo.Both players spoke up about how Venkys were running the club and showed genuine concern...they have my up most respect for that alone.

You get the impression they really enjoyed their spells in the old Blue n White as much as we did as fans.

Shearer being positive about us is a (relatively) recent thing. For many years he seemed, to me, to act like we hadn't happened. That hurt me, as he was pretty much my hero. It seemed like he changed his attitude to us around about the time he had the street named after him.

I think the reasoning is that he was hurt by the way some fans turned on him after he left. Which I can understand, though I also know why fans were hurt in the first place given his misleading comments prior to leaving. The street thing probably showed him that he was still very highly thought of here.

[Bigdoggsteel]

On 12/04/2019 at 18:04, Mattyblue said:

Off the top of my head -

Brad, Tugay, Berg, Hendry, Cole, Yorke, Sherwood, Sutton, Hughes.

At least 7 of them were well past their best when Duff played with them. 

I don't think he has anything against rovers. He's just kind of a subdued guy. He doesn't really get excited about anything. He never mentions Chelsea either and he won the league there. 

[blueboy3333]

8 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

Shearer being positive about us is a (relatively) recent thing. For many years he seemed, to me, to act like we hadn't happened. That hurt me, as he was pretty much my hero. It seemed like he changed his attitude to us around about the time he had the street named after him.

I think the boos he got when he returned to Ewood for the 1st time upset him. He said 'That's me done with Blackburn' after that. I suppose time's a great healer. 

[bluebruce]

Just now, blueboy3333 said:

I think the boos he got when he returned to Ewood for the 1st time upset him. He said 'That's me done with Blackburn' after that. I suppose time's a great healer. 

Exactly. I never booed the great man, too much to be grateful to him for. Even with Kenny and Jack, with no Shearer we weren't winning that title in 95. Maybe we could have done it the slower way that Jack initially envisioned (and maybe that would even have given us a more stable base in the long run) but I certainly wouldn't want to re-roll the dice on that without Big Al.

That's ignoring the fact that if we hadn't signed him he'd have been spearheading that excellent Manure team for his whole career. If they'd had him they'd have been unstoppable.

[blueboy3333]

Just now, bluebruce said:

Exactly. I never booed the great man, too much to be grateful to him for. Even with Kenny and Jack, with no Shearer we weren't winning that title in 95. Maybe we could have done it the slower way that Jack initially envisioned (and maybe that would even have given us a more stable base in the long run) but I certainly wouldn't want to re-roll the dice on that without Big Al.

That's ignoring the fact that if we hadn't signed him he'd have been spearheading that excellent Manure team for his whole career. If they'd had him they'd have been unstoppable.

Looking back that was pretty shameful, booing the man who played a huge part in us being crowned champions of England. It's not like he went to Manure either. 

Naming the road after him was a nice touch and fully deserved. 

 

Edited April 13, 2019 by blueboy3333

[bazza]

Just now, blueboy3333 said:

Looking back that was pretty shameful, booing the man who played a huge part in us being crowned champions of England. It's not like he went to Manure either. 

 

And he's been voted on this message board the greatest striker we've ever,ever had in the history of the club.

[Stuart]

Just now, blueboy3333 said:

Looking back that was pretty shameful, booing the man who played a huge part in us being crowned champions of England. It's not like he went to Manure either. 

 

He hurt a lot of people when he said categorically he wasn’t leaving. Then a week later he left. He’s long got over it and is still regarded as a Rovers legend.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

31 minutes ago, bazza said:

And he's been voted on this message board the greatest striker we've ever,ever had in the history of the club.

Dougie thought Fred Pickering was better.