Player Archive - past and present Blackburn Rovers first team players. Authored by Harry Berry.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I remember Aarie Haan scoring a similar free kick for Holland against Italy in the World Cup Finals.. He was just inside the Italy half out on the wing  but he hit a lovely flat free kick right into the far top corner.

[AllRoverAsia]

5 hours ago, Alex Rover said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/48736727

Why and how?

Fluke but a 5' keeper who can't jump standing a yard or so of his line helps.

Edited June 23, 2019 by AllRoverAsia

[JPTSwindon]

Brilliant addition, looking forward to future additions ??

[Herbie6590]

I can confirm that we have received the next batch from Harry & once the weather takes a turn for the worst we’ll get some more entries on here... ?

@OnePhilT needs to train me as well mind, so structure your expectations accordingly...?

[philipl]

On 21/06/2019 at 12:08, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Fascinating reading. Jim Arnold's stats make interesting reading. We concede more goals by Xmas than he did in a whole season.

Arnold was a fantastic keeper.

[Herbie6590]

Thanks to some sterling work by Kamy...we now have a number of B records loaded....work continues in the background...??

[Exiled in Toronto]

John Barton - 5’10” and 13st 4lbs - our own version of William “Fatty” Foulke! Except not as good.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Just now, Exiled in Toronto said:

John Barton - 5’10” and 13st 4lbs - our own version of William “Fatty” Foulke! Except not as good.

Yeah, he was very average. Didn't he come after Adam Blacklaw ? Another one who looked like he lived out of the chip pan.

[Exiled in Toronto]

2 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Yeah, he was very average. Didn't he come after Adam Blacklaw ? Another one who looked like he lived out of the chip pan.

I remember Barton being in the reserves while Blacklaw was in the team, with Sir Roger then taking over and showing us what a proper keeper looked like (aside from his forays dribbling to the halfway line, which I have never seen since.)

[Herbie6590]

Barton & Blacklaw in this photo; fine figures of men...tremendous athletes...?

[arbitro]

Just now, Herbie6590 said:

Barton & Blacklaw in this photo; fine figures of men...tremendous athletes...?

What a fantastic kit by the way. Nice and simple and a real authenticity about it. No ridiculous sponsor or manufacturers logo emblazoned all over it neither.

[4000Holes]

12 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Yeah, he was very average. Didn't he come after Adam Blacklaw ? Another one who looked like he lived out of the chip pan.

From memory, Barton came after Fred Else (Think Preston had a monopoly by selling us goalkeepers) and just before Blacklaw.

Barton could be described as very average at best.

[Exiled in Toronto]

4 hours ago, arbitro said:

What a fantastic kit by the way. Nice and simple and a real authenticity about it. No ridiculous sponsor or manufacturers logo emblazoned all over it neither.

Or badge!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I agree, that's a great kit, proper blue as well.

Alan Hunter, just what we need today, a real centre half who could play a bit as well. Even Dick Mulvaney would be handy today. I'm not so sure about Coddington, especially if it came to a penalty shoot out. 

One or two of those are just what we are short of today. Billy Wilson, a better left back than Bell, Williams and Hart all rolled into one. Eamon Rogers, a Travis with better ball skills  and more of an eye for goal. Stuart Metcalfe, what a winger should be like. The incomparable Sir Keith, a Rolls Royce of a full back. How that squad didn't really look like getting promoted I'll never know.

Edited July 13, 2019 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[m1st]

36 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I agree, that's a great kit, proper blue as well.

Alan Hunter, just what we need today, a real centre half who could play a bit as well. Even Dick Mulvaney would be handy today. I'm not so sure about Coddington, especially if it came to a penalty shoot out. 

One or two of those are just what we are short of today. Billy Wilson, a better left back than Bell, Williams and Hart all rolled into one. Eamon Rogers, a Travis with better ball skills  and more of an eye for goal. Stuart Metcalfe, what a winger should be like. The incomparable Sir Keith, a Rolls Royce of a full back. How that squad didn't really look like getting promoted I'll never know.

What a good job we can't see into the future.

None of us watching that team could have predicted the rollercoaster ride that the next half-century would be for us, eh?

[Leonard Venkhater]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I agree, that's a great kit, proper blue as well.

Alan Hunter, just what we need today, a real centre half who could play a bit as well. Even Dick Mulvaney would be handy today. I'm not so sure about Coddington, especially if it came to a penalty shoot out. 

One or two of those are just what we are short of today. Billy Wilson, a better left back than Bell, Williams and Hart all rolled into one. Eamon Rogers, a Travis with better ball skills  and more of an eye for goal. Stuart Metcalfe, what a winger should be like. The incomparable Sir Keith, a Rolls Royce of a full back. How that squad didn't really look like getting promoted I'll never know.

But it did look like getting promoted-big time-until Boxing Day at Hull. Then the slide started that took us all the way down to Div 3..

[Exiled in Toronto]

9 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I agree, that's a great kit, proper blue as well.

Alan Hunter, just what we need today, a real centre half who could play a bit as well. Even Dick Mulvaney would be handy today. I'm not so sure about Coddington, especially if it came to a penalty shoot out. 

One or two of those are just what we are short of today. Billy Wilson, a better left back than Bell, Williams and Hart all rolled into one. Eamon Rogers, a Travis with better ball skills  and more of an eye for goal. Stuart Metcalfe, what a winger should be like. The incomparable Sir Keith, a Rolls Royce of a full back. How that squad didn't really look like getting promoted I'll never know.

Blacklaw/Barton, Fryatt, Coddington, Kopel, Darling, Hill. We had half a promotion team and half a relegation team, then we sold Sir Keith followed by Knighton (what a captain he was!)

[Kamy100]

Made some good progress with over the last week.  We now have 103 players uploaded.  While I am uploading each players I am also learning about some of the fantastic characters we have had at our club and a bit of their backstory.  

[Herbie6590]

Up to Noel Brotherston added now...

[USABlue]

On 13/07/2019 at 02:51, arbitro said:

What a fantastic kit by the way. Nice and simple and a real authenticity about it. No ridiculous sponsor or manufacturers logo emblazoned all over it neither

It's also a proper blue.

[Kamy100]

Player Archive has been updated with all the players whose surname started with C.  

Upload has taken a bit longer than expected but I am hoping to make some good progress over the next month.

[Exiled in Toronto]

Bob Crompton scoring more own goals than goals sounds a fairly unique achievement in such a long career. Maybe they were a lot more common back then. I’m also pretty sure my great-grandad ran the same pub on Audley Range as did Cromptons dad.

[The Axe]

16 hours ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

Bob Crompton scoring more own goals than goals sounds a fairly unique achievement in such a long career. Maybe they were a lot more common back then. I’m also pretty sure my great-grandad ran the same pub on Audley Range as did Cromptons dad.

Own goals were seldom assigned by reporters. Crompton's contributions are taken from newspaper reports which state that he had the final touch. As far as I can gather one of the reasons is that he often tried to protect the goalkeeper and tried to block a lot of shots. It was well known that before he trusted a new goalkeeper he would spend a lot of time covering him.

[Kamy100]

We have now completed all surnames starting with D.  Work on the next section will start over the next few days.

[Kamy100]

Good progress Surnames with E completed.  Will now move onto with the F's.

Have to say that when uploading these I have learned so much about the history of our club and the players that have represented us.  It has been an education.