Blackburn Rovers - Live

Blackburn Rovers Live

Blackburn Rovers are an English Premier League Football Club, located in Blackburn, Lancashire. Conceived in 1875 by John Lewis and Arthur Constantine during a 17-man meeting, Blackburn Rovers gained ground over the next several years, surpassing the other Blackburn teams. The wealth and connections of the founders assisted in the rise of the Rovers against such rivals as Blackburn Olympic Football Club and Blackburn Park Road Football Club.

The Rovers first had a ground of their own during the 1876-77 season, when they rented a piece of farmland on the west side of town, at Oozehead. The setting wasn't exactly perfect, as a pool in the middle of the lot required them to lay down planks and turf for every match. During that time, they also played occasional matches at the Pleasington Cricket Ground. Blackburn subsequently rented Alexandra Meadows, which was the then home of the East Lancashire Cricket Club.

The early 1880's saw some controversy for the Rovers, but they found their first F.A. cup victory in 1884 against the Scottish team of Queen's Park F.C. Without this win, the team would likely have folded and gone to dust, but they repeated the victory against Queen's Park the next year, and followed it the next with a win against West Bromwich Albion. Blackburn Rovers went on to win the F.A. cup in 1890, 1891, and 1928. In addition, they won the Lancashire Senior Cup in 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1896, 1901, 1902, 1904, 1907, 1909, 1911, 1945, 1983, 1985, 1987, and 1989. Although recent years have generally not treated Blackburn so kindly, they showed a renewed success with a Premier League title and League Cup victory.

These days, with many changes in ownership and management Blackburn Rovers have been seeing some hard times once again. In the 2008/09 season, after eleven straight losses, then manager Paul Ince was relieved of his duties and replaced by Sam Allardyce.

Now it seems that Blackburn are looking for new owners. Several offers have been made and withdrawn, but the one seeming to be on the table came from Chris Ronnie, owner of JJB Sports. He was reported to have had several meetings regarding purchase of the club, and "significant progress" was being made, but according to sources, the bid was withdrawn by Ronnie in early July.

So it seems the fate of Blackburn Rovers, one of only three teams to be founders of both the Football League and the Premier League, remains up in the air for the time being.

Blackburn have continued to be hugely popular over the year, they even have a soft spot amongst some rival fans for being the first team to break Manchester United's dominance of English football. Something that's not been forgetten by Manchester United's fans either and every time the 2 teams meet fireworks are guaranteed.