Premier League On This Day: Blackburn Rovers win it all

Blackburn lost 2-1 to Liverpool on this day 25 years ago, but that didn’t stop the celebrations as the Rovers won the Premier League.

There would’ve been nerves everywhere as Blackburn entered the day with only one point, but Manchester United choked away their chance with a draw at West Ham United.

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The team was loaded, and there was a bit of controversy thanks to owner Jack Walker pouring money into transfers for Alan Shearer, Chris Sutton, David Batty, Stuart Ripley, Tim Sherwood, and Graeme Le Saux over the previous few windows.

Yes, that’s NBC Sports broadcaster Graeme Le Saux, who made the PFA Team of the Year for the first of two times in his career. He scored three goals and collected a robust eight yellow cards on the season.

“We’re always really defensive about the comparison of other clubs when it comes to big pockets, spending loads of money and buying success because it was far more sophisticated than that,” Le Saux told The Mirror. “The group, the culture that Kenny (Dalglish) and his No.2 Ray Harford set was so important. There was no hierarchy, nothing flash and when I got there in 1993, they paid £600,000 for me and Chelsea paid £5.5million to buy me back and they made a £40m profit on that team.”

The Rovers only won two of their final six matches, drawing once and losing twice, which put them in the final day predicament. Manchester United were the two-time reigning champions, but choked away their chance despite losing just twice from the festive fixtures through the 42nd match day.

Sales were made and the Rovers were relegated four seasons later. They’d return to the Premier League from 2001-12, but sunk as far as League One before promotion to the Championship in 2018-19. They were three points back of the promotion playoffs spot when the coronavirus pause hit the Championship in March.