Today we pay tribute to Glenn Entwistle, on what would have been his 38th birthday. Glenn had a tremendous personality and was a regular contributor to the fanzine, as well as getting involved with BRFCS and Rovers Chat too. The article below – written by his Dad, Colin – was published in Issue 112 of 4,000 Holes in April. 

Glenn was cruelly and unbelievably suddenly taken by Meningitis on 7th January 2024. That’s the sad bit over – in his too short life (and actually shortly before he was born) he crammed a huge amount of experiences supporting the Rovers. 

As his parents, Helen and I were (and are) avid followers, and went to as many home and away games as possible. His mum was not far from full term when she insisted on accompanying me to the League Cup away tie at Wigan, at the old Springfield Park. As a concession, I reluctantly agreed to pay the extra for seats. 

Having safely come through the match, winning 3-1, she visited the Ladies on the way out, blaming the pregnancy for her weak bladder. I stood outside (at a respectful distance of course!), and was becoming a little concerned at how long it was taking her for her ablutions, when she appeared and explained that the door was sticking, and she had to shout for help in opening it as she couldn’t pull hard on the handle. 

The exertion must have woken the baby as he made his debut three days later, two weeks early. I’m sure that was where Glenn got his addiction to pies!

The following year, we reached the final of the Full Members Cup, and a loan deal was agreed – Helen’s sister looked after Glenn, and we took her son Andrew to Wembley for a victorious trip. It was the last time we celebrated a trophy without Glenn.

Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when he was 6, we were determined that this would not prevent us from following Rovers, particularly given this coincided with the Uncle Jack revolution, and he has done his insulin injections in many different stadiums since then.

In the 1991/92 season, we had a trip in the car to Sunderland, but after the game we encountered some problems returning to the vehicle with some “over friendly” locals, so we decided that in future we would travel with the Rovers Away Travel Family Club. It was to prove a pivotal decision in our Rovers journey.

The next trip we made was to Leicester, and although we suffered a disappointing 3-0 loss, on the way back the Family Club Raffle first prize each trip was to be the mascot at the next away day, which Glenn duly won and was to be mascot away at Swindon, which turned out to be the first game of the new era under Kenny Dalglish. 

I’m not sure who was more nervous before the game, me or Glenn, but Kenny has a knack of putting people at ease, along with Uncle Jack who quipped: “I didn’t realise we bought Alan Wright’s twin too”.

A last-minute Swindon winner spoiled the day, but the result was to prove a common theme whenever Glenn was mascot, which eventually led to groans on the coach when he won the raffle – see the list below which reads like a normal December/January results summary of the past few years!

As examples, how on earth could the Premier League Champions possibly lose at Bolton early the following season, except by having Glenn as mascot? He was also convinced that with any other mascot the stonewall penalty against Ashley Ward at Charlton in the relegation season would have been given.

It was therefore a major shock when, with Glenn as mascot, we triumphed at Hillsborough in the League Cup semi-final in his farewell mascot appearance, when he towered above Tugay in the pre-match photo.

In his time supporting Rovers, Glenn saw success that I had only dreamed of when I was his age – I had seen the 1974/75 Third Division Winners, the promotion season from the Third Division in 1980, and the Full Members Cup triumph, but the rest was a constant season after season of almost but not quite promotion to the old Division One, interspersed with the odd relegation battle.

In Glenn’s supporting era, he has seen promotion to the inaugural Premier League, European football becoming a regular thing, Premier League Champions, promotion back to the Premier League in 2001, League Cup Winners, and FA Cup and League Cup semi-final appearances. Even more importantly, he didn’t see a defeat to who he called “The Great Unwashed” until he was 27!

To his credit though, he stood by the club as things went rapidly downhill over the past 13 years or so, and never lost his passion, although this once resulted in him visiting Blackburn A&E, as he reacted to yet another inept refereeing display by hitting his hand on the wall at the back of the Blackburn End and spraining it. I would have loved to have been there when he explained the circumstances to his missus! I need to add here that Glenn seemed to have a particular addiction to hospitals for minor complaints – his mum used to quip that he trip-advised A&E departments!

When Covid struck in 2020, and lockdown was introduced, Glenn made use of his (expensive) degree in journalism to help with the Rovers Chat podcasts at and between matches, and for a while this was the only way Helen and I could see him, but we were proud of the way he threw himself into this, and all the other fan forum events since.

Our next chapter is to try and make sure his son, Arlo, has inherited our blue and white passion, of which we are fairly confident that he will be suffering with the rest of us once old enough! 

*Glenn's legendary article ‘Confessions of a Teenage Mascot’ was published in Issue 100 of 4,000 Holes. IT’S AVAILABLE TO READ ONLINE HERE.