A look-back at Blackburn Rovers' 1994/95 season

It would only be half-accurate to describe Jack Walker as a man with a dollar and a dream.

Not short of ambition, Walker was a British steel magnate; the industry making him a multi-millionaire. His dream, however, lay outside of steel.

Living by the motto ‘think big’, Walker’s dream was to take boyhood club Blackburn Rovers to the summit of English football. In lieu of a dollar was a blank chequebook.

The 1990/91 season was Blackburn’s 25th outside of the top flight. For the six-time FA Cup winners and two-time English champions, it was too long an absence, and it was one Walker was determined to end no matter the cost.

Despite his shrewd business acumen, this wasn’t a money-making endeavour; this was strictly pleasure. Unlike in the modern game where it feels like only oil money can make a splash in football, Walker could outspend the sport, untethered by notions of profitability or sustainability.

Walker, who’d invested money into Blackburn prior to taking over, bought the club in January 1991, with his first task being to secure their place as a second-tier side.

After three consecutive play-off defeats, Blackburn were facing a relegation battle in the 1990/91 campaign before eventually finishing 19th.

In February 1991, just one month into Walker’s tenure at Ewood Park, Kenny Dalglish shocked the nation by resigning as manager of Liverpool. The intense pressure of top-level management, combined with the anguish of the Hillsborough disaster two years prior, saw the Scot to take a break from the game.

Eight months later, Walker pulled off perhaps his biggest coup in convincing Dalglish to join Blackburn, all while still a Second Division club. For all of Blackburn’s new money, the arrival of Dalglish was a marker to everyone that they were to be taken seriously, and would become a force to be reckoned with.

Prior to their promotion, Walker had forked out a seven-figure sum on Duncan Shearer and Mike Newell, with new boss Dalglish guiding Rovers up the table into the top two. A rotten run both in terms of timing and results saw Blackburn lose six straight games between March and April to slide out of the promotion places and indeed out of the play-offs.

Eight points from their final four games were enough to claim the final play-off spot, with Blackburn going on to beat Leicester 1-0 at Wembley, ending their 26-year top-flight drought.

For a Division Two club, Blackburn’s spending had been extravagant, but it was a drop in the ocean compared to what was about to follow.

Blackburn Rovers 1994/95 team

Not content with simply consolidating, Walker made good on his promise to take Blackburn to the top; with a push for Europe not beyond reach. To help achieve his goals, Walker needed a high-quality centre-forward, and they didn’t come of much higher quality than Alan Shearer.

Fresh off the back of a 13-goal season with Southampton, going on to make his England debut and be named in the PFA Team of the Year, Shearer would sign for Blackburn in a record move for a British player.

There were no signs of the fee getting to Shearer, scoring 12 goals in his first 11 games as Blackburn indeed found themselves in a title race. A relative drought saw Shearer score four in his next 10, when disaster struck, as Shearer would damage his ACL, ruling him out for the season.

Naturally, there was a drop-off in form, but Blackburn finished a credible fourth before adding Chris Sutton to their side for the following season.

Rovers pushed Manchester United close this time, finishing second behind English football’s new powerhouses, but the pieces would all fall into place for the 1994/95 campaign.

The narrative was that Blackburn bought their success, but the likes of Graeme Le Saux, Henning Berg, Tim Sherwood, Colin Hendry and Ian Pearce were all signed for six-figure fees and played significant roles in their title push. Blackburn did of course spend big on certain players, and the likes of Shearer weren’t going to Blackburn without Walker’s money, but their squad was shrewdly compiled.

There were no sweeping changes ahead of the 1994/95 season, but the addition of Chris Sutton, for another record fee, would make an instant impact. At least one of Shearer and Sutton, also referred to as ‘SAS’, would find the scoresheet in 17 of Blackburn’s first 19 games of the season, combining for 29 goals.

After decades in the wilderness, Alex Ferguson was turning United into a behemoth, winning the first two Premier League titles, but their quest for a third stuttered out of the blocks while Blackburn started tremendously.

After seven games, Blackburn led United by four points, scoring 16 goals and conceding three. But by the time the two sides met at Ewood Park in October, the gap was down to two.

Blackburn would strike first when Peter Schmeichel’s punched clearance fell to Paul Warhurst, whose speculative effort curled over the stranded Dane and into the top corner, with Eric Cantona hitting back from the spot shortly before half-time, but to call the penalty contentious would be an understatement.

Berg beat Lee Sharpe to the ball and when the players went down following a collision, Gerald Ashby pointed to the spot with Berg given his marching orders. Sharpe spared himself the indignity of appealing for the penalty so clean was the tackle, but the penalty was awarded nonetheless.

Another error by Schmeichel after the break saw Colin Hendry’s header squirm underneath him and Blackburn retook the lead, but the advantage of having the extra man eventually took its toll, with United running out 4-2 winners. Ferguson’s men had won the battle.

Sometimes results are taken away from your hands, but you'd much rather results were taken out of your hands by the quality of the opposition rather than my opinion of the ability of the referee to make a proper decision.

- Kenny Dalglish to Sky Sports after Blackburn's 4-2 defeat to Manchester United

It would be easy for heads to drop following such a blow, but Blackburn showed terrific resilience, taking 34 points from a possible 36 to get their noses back in front, scoring 29 goals in the process, but despite being five points clear with a game in hand, Rovers were heading to Old Trafford next.

A late far-post header from Cantona would prove decisive, but there was yet more controversy, as Blackburn had a Sherwood equaliser ruled out at the death. Shearer was adjudged to have pushed Roy Keane in the back, but the call looked every bit as soft as the key decision in the reverse fixture.

I can't see an explanation whatsoever for the goal being chalked off. The difference between us getting a result at Ewood Park and getting a result today has been refereeing decisions.

- Kenny Dalglish speaking to Sky Sports after the 1-0 defeat to Manchester United

But just as United closed the gap at the top of the table, the title race was about to take a huge swing in Blackburn’s favour without the table-toppers kicking a ball.

Struggling to build on their win three days earlier, United toiled against Crystal Palace when Cantona was sent off. Making matters much worse, Cantona leapt into the stands, attacking a fan, prompting a ban that would keep him out for the rest of the season. United were now chasing Blackburn and doing so without their talisman.

Blackburn would drop points in back-to-back games to start February, drawing at home to Leeds and losing at Tottenham, but would go unbeaten in their next 10, taking 24 points from a possible 30 to move six points clear of United with five games to play.

Blackburn would twice throw a lead away against Manchester City, losing at home for only the second time that season.

Any notion of nerves was quelled with a win against Crystal Palace three days later, but Dalglish’s men squandered the chance to go nine clear at the top when losing at West Ham. United would beat Coventry to move within three, but they still needed Blackburn to drop points once more in their final two games to have a chance of winning the title.

Blackburn beat Newcastle 1-0 with Shearer scoring against his boyhood club to get within touching distance, but United kept the pressure on with a 2-1 win against Southampton.

It meant the title race would go to the final day. United were two points behind Blackburn but with a superior goal difference. They’d need to beat West Ham at Upton Park and hope Blackburn failed to win.

Blackburn’s opponents? United’s arch-rivals Liverpool.

It presented Liverpool fans with the stomach-churning situation of your team winning potentially handing your biggest rivals a trophy, but not just any trophy, a third straight Premier League trophy. It made for a bizarre atmosphere at Anfield to say the least.

For any torn loyalties in the stands, there were none on the pitch with Liverpool going all-out to win. Nevertheless, Blackburn led through Shearer, and the news would filter through that West Ham had also taken the lead at Upton Park. The Premier League trophy was on its way to Anfield.

At half-time, Blackburn led and United trailed. Ferguson’s men needed a win and needed a huge favour from Liverpool.

Early in the second half, United equalised through Brian McClair, but the outcome remained in Blackburn’s hands until John Barnes equalised for Liverpool shortly after the hour mark. Goals at testimonials are celebrated more feverishly.

Suddenly, a goal for United would be enough to take the title, and they were banging down the door, all the while Blackburn were struggling to find a second.

To add to the drama, Jamie Redknapp would score a free-kick deep into stoppage time with the Anfield faithful unsure whether to laugh or cry. What cheers there were from the Liverpool fans were almost ironic, with supporters quickly coming to their senses as to what had just happened.

Redknapp himself didn’t celebrate the goal, bowing his head solemnly, as if he’d just condemned a former employer to relegation and later called it ‘one of the strangest moments of my life on a football field’.

The full-time whistle went; Blackburn had lost, but United had drawn. England’s greatest team had been conquered, dethroned.

After just three years in the top flight, 81 years after their last title, Blackburn Rovers were champions of England once again.

Less than five years after buying Blackburn Rovers, Jack Walker’s dream had come true.

Blackburn Rovers 1994/95 season

Manager: Kenny Dalglish
Top goalscorer: Alan Shearer (34 league; 37 all competitions)
Player of the Year: Alan Shearer
Achievements: Premier League winners