THE FINAL DAY of the 1994/1995 season was one of the most dramatic in league history, possibly only surpassed in suspense by AGUEROOOOOOOO!
It was Blackburn and Manchester United competing for the title and Kenny Dalglish finally got revenge on Alex Ferguson for poaching Roy Keane, as United’s failure to beat West Ham meant the men from Ewood Park won the league despite losing 2-1 at Anfield to Liverpool.
The Blackburn side was assembled by local businessman Jack Walker, who funded the big money signing of Alan Shearer, among others. Walker was like Mourad Boudjellal, if the Toulon owner was a genial Grandfatherly figure instead of a comic book mogul Darth Vader.
It is 20 years to the day since they triumphed and we thought we’d take a look at the winning team (we used the XI that started on the final day, in case people were wondering).
GK – Tim Flowers: If you google Tim Flowers, chances are this will pop up in the first four or five results:
It was a hilarious howler but shouldn’t take away from the fact that Flowers was one of the league’s most underrated goalkeepers. He was excellent during the 94/95 season, being named on the PFA Team of the Year to add to his selection from the year before. He was 28 when he won the league, but played another four years with Blackburn, four with Leicester as well as enjoying loan spells with Stockport County, Coventry City and Manchester City. He was also a goalkeeping coach with Nottingham Forrest during Stuart Pearce’s tenure this season.
DF – Jeff Kenna: Dubliner Kenna only arrived at the club in March of 1995, but ended up playing an important role in the Blackburn defence during the title run-in. He earned 28 Ireland caps and played with Blackburn ’til 2002, when he joined Birmingham on a free transfer. He went on to play for Derby County and Kidderminster Harriers before having shorts spells in charge of Galway United and St Pat’s.
DF – Colin Hendry: Hendry was the galvanising John Terry-esque figure of the Blackburn defence, inspiring his team-mates by putting his body on the line. He was also named to the PFA Team of the Year that season and stayed with Blackburn until he joined Rangers in 1998 as one of Dick Advocaat’s first big signings (the first of SO many that it basically ruined the club).
Hendry went on to play for Coventry, Bolton, Preston and Blackpool. He won 51 caps for Scotland and football historians will remember his role in one of the greatest European Championship goals of all-time.
He also had short spells in charge of Blackpool and Clyde before being declared bankrupt in 2010.
DF – Graeme Le Saux: Le Saux was one of the stars of the Blackburn team at left back and played for two more years at the club. He’s probably best remembered for this incident with team-mate David Batty during Blackburn’s Champions League campaign the year after winning the league…
After Blackburn, he played for Chelsea and Southampton and is now a fairly bland football pundit.
DF – Ian Pearce: Pearce was a solid defender whose best attribute was his longevity – his professional career started in the early 90s and lasted until 2012. His two best stints were with Blackburn from 1993-1997 and with West Ham from ’97-2004.
DF – Henning Berg: Berg’s time as a player at Blackburn was great… but his 57 days as manager were considerably worse. He famously only won a single game and hilariously stormed out of the Blackburn Christmas party in 2012 after being asked to wear a Michael Jackson wig on his head… which broke English football’s key rule about Christmas parties: it’s just a bit of banter, innit?
Went on to play for Manchester United after Blackburn and was part of their treble-winning team in 1999. He now manages Legia Warsaw.
MF – David Batty: The defensive midfielder had a very distinguished career in the Premier League, playing for Leeds, Newcastle and Blackburn for a combined 18 years. He also won 42 England caps but like Hendry, some fans will remember him for an international misstep – Batty’s penalty miss knocked England out of the 1998 World Cup.
MF – Stuart Ripley: Ripley joined Blackburn in 1992 just after they got promoted to the Premier League from Middlesbrough, who had also just gone up. The midfielder scored the club’s first ever Premier League goal and moved to Southampton in 1998, where he finished his career. He was capped for England twice and now works as a solicitor. Hopefully he doesn’t meet clients with his mid-90s hairstyle…
MF – Tim Sherwood: Sherwood won the league (and made the PFA Team of the Year that season), played for Spurs and England (three caps) but nobody cares about that anymore, right?
It is all about the cult of Tim Sherwood the manager, one of the most entertaining things in football since Jose first swaggered into the Premier League. What makes the former Spurs boss and current Villa manager’s confidence even funnier is that Mourinho had won MULTIPLE European trophies.
Sherwood’s managerial resume features more vines than medals.
https://vine.co/v/Oxm9nreYBua
ST – Chris Sutton: The former Norwich striker formed one half of the SAS strike partnership that netted 49 goals between them in the league and he also made the PFA Team of the Year. The Englishman played with Blackburn until 1999 before joining Chelsea briefly. He then enjoyed five successful seasons with Celtic before finishing his career with brief spells at Birmingham and Aston Villa. He also managed Lincoln City during the 2009/10 season.
ST – Alan Shearer: The other half of SAS was the Suarez to Sutton’s Sturridge, scoring 34 league goals, which is the joint-highest total ever recorded in a Premier League campaign. 94/95 was the middle year of an astonishing three-year run where Shearer scored 31, 34 and 31 league goals. Shearer’s league-winning form was rewarded with the PFA Player of the Year award and a place on the team of the year. He joined Newcastle in 1996 and played ten good seasons there before getting them relegated as a manager in 2009.
He has now morphed into a pundit who LOVES to state the obvious.
