Since its inception in 1992, only five teams have won the Premier League. Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City spring readily to mind. Sitting incongruously with this exclusive elite are Blackburn Rovers.
The famous Lancashire club were the champions of England as recently as 1995, a position they ascended to a mere three years after promotion to the top-flight. Boosted by the funds of multi-millionaire local businessman and fervent supporter, Jack Walker, Rovers were transformed from a side which finished 19th in the second-tier only 12 months prior to their promotion. Their impact at the highest level was instantaneous, with 4th and 2nd place finishes preceding the historic title triumph.
To put the achievement of this modest, provincial club into perspective it would be similar to a cash injection taking place now at Barnsley – whose 9,866 average home attendances to date this season exceed those at Ewood Park in the 1990/1991 term when Walker became owner by 1,766 – which resulted in the Yorkshire club being promoted to the top-tier in 2014 and being crowned champions four-and-a-half years from now.
Indeed, Blackburn were still attracting little over 13,000 spectators per game during their promotion season, and it was only in the championship winning campaign that the wider town were captivated by the cause as figures jumped from 17,319 a year earlier to 25,653.
Blackburn’s astounding success in 1995 was not without precedent. In recent memory Nottingham Forest (1978) and Derby County (1975) had both won English titles, with Forest, led by the incomparable Brian Clough, twice winning the European Cup.
It is to the detriment of the game in this country that supporters of less fashionable outfits can no longer realistically dream of a similar fairytale bestowing itself upon their club. The cash differential is simply far too great to bridge. Wealthy benefactors at Chelsea and Manchester City have raised the bar considerably in terms of the investment required for success, while the familiar perennial qualifiers for the Champions League benefit from a monetary injection far in excess of that of any of their rivals.
The financial boost provided by merely competing in Europe’s premier competition, is causing a spread across the continent of the long lamented situation in which few clubs can sustain a domestic title challenge. In England we have long cast aspersions on the two-horse race in Scotland and more recently levelled the same accusation at the Real Madrid and Barcelona axis of domination in Spain.
We are still privileged to enjoy a division in which any result is possible on a given day, but over a draining nine month season we know that one of two or – if Chelsea can return from the club World Cup in Japan and repeat their devastating early season from as Rafa Benitez claims is possible – three clubs will be champions in May.
The current plight of Blackburn was exposed in front of the Sky cameras on Friday night as the fortunes of the club appear to be turning full circle. The side sit 13th in the Championship and have won only a third of their 21 league matches this season. Only 12,460 turned up on a freezing Friday night to see their team comprehensively beaten by a much superior Cardiff City.