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With manager Sam Allardyce relying heavily on his defense, goalkeeper Paul Robinson and defenders Christopher Samba and Ryan Nelsen are key to Blackburn's revival this season. Robinson has had a disappointing couple of seasons and the keeper will be keen to get back to his best form and force his way into the England squad once again.

Samba on the other hand had a pretty good last season under Allardyce and was in fact employed as a striker in a few matches scoring two goals in the process.

Allardyce will be expecting Benni McCarthy to reignite his Blackburn career and provide the goals up front. The South African striker had scored 38 goals in his first two seasons at Ewood Park but managed just 10 in an injury hit last season. However with Roque Santa Cruz sold to Manchester City, McCarthy will be the first choice striker for Allardyce along with El Hadji Diouf and the 31-year old will be hoping for a better season this time around.

The long running saga of Roque Santa Cruz was finally settled in the summer when the Paraguayan international completed his transfer to Manchester City in a deal reported to be around 18 million.

Blackburn have so far bought Gael Givet from Marseille and midfielder Steven N'Zonzi from Amiens SC. Denmark international Lars Jacobsen was signed on a free transfer from Everton though the defender will be used mainly as a back up in the center of the defense.

Allardyce has admitted that he is still in the market for a striker with Blackburn coming close to signing Christian Vieri though backing out of the deal after the player failed to prove his fitness. Blackburn have revealed that they are interested in signing Valencia striker Nikola Zigic but Rovers have a fight at hand after Valencia revealed that the Serbian international is attracting interest from a number of European clubs.

History of Blackburn Rovers

Former in 1875, Blackburn Rovers are one of the founder members of the Football League back in 1888. The Rovers were one of the most successful teams to have played in the FA Cup soon after its formation, winning five trophies in its first 15 years before winning a sixth later on in 1928.

 

Blackburn were crowned the league champions twice in 1911/12 and two years later in 1913/14. The Rovers were a force to be reckoned with in its early years but following their FA Cup triumph in 1928, the club's fortunes began to decline.

Blackburn were frequently seen outside the top division and made very few inroads into clinching a major success, until 1960 when they reached the F.A. Cup final, only to be soundly beaten by Wolverhampton 3-0. Luck was not shining on the Lancashire side that day, when they lost full-back Dave Whelan to a broken leg. Substitutes were not around at this stage, and Blackburn had to see the whole second half out with 10 men.

During the 1970's, Blackburn had slipped down into the Third division for the first time. They spent five seasons down there, in two separate spells, before they bounced back once and for all in 1979/80. They have not been outside of the top two divisions since.

Towards the end of the 80's, Blackburn were back pushing for a place in the top division, and sadly lost out in the play-offs in both the 1988/89 and 1989/90 seasons.

The next season proved a blip, but then a man named Jack Walker, a local steel baron, took over the club, and in the years that followed, he invested millions of pounds in the club to get them back to the upper echelons of English football.

He brought in former Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, and promotion seemed a formality, until a six game losing streak dropped Rovers into the play-off positions once again. This time, however, it was a different story, and they clinched promotion to the newly named 'Premiership' with a 1-0 Wembley victory over Leicester City, thanks to a Mike Newell penalty.

In the summer of 1992, Blackburn broke the English transfer record when they brought in a Geordie by the name of Alan Shearer from Southampton for £3.5m. A couple of years later, they were to break the record again, paying £5m to link Norwich City's Chris Sutton with Shearer, in a strikeforce that was to cause insurmountable problems to Premiership defences.

In 1993/94, Jack Walker's spending along with Dalglish's knowhow was beginning to reap dividends. They finished second only to Man Utd, and the following season went one better, to win the title.

It came down to the last day of the season, and Blackburn so nearly threw it all away. They lost 2-1 to Liverpool, but received a reprieve when Man.Utd failed to win at West Ham, and Rovers were champions of England. Walker's revolution was complete.

Kenny Dalglish moved upstairs at the end of the victorious campaign, and Blackburn have since not finished in the top 5.

Alan Shearer was sold to his boyhood team Newcastle Utd for £15m and in 1998/99 Blackburn were relegated. They came back up as runners-up in 2000/01, and have remained in the Premiership since, also qualifying for the UEFA Cup for three campaigns in the 2000's. Sadly, Jack Walker was not around to witness the success, he had passed away in 2000 due to cancer.

One of the European campaigns came courtesy of a League Cup final victory in 2002, led by manager Graeme Souness, they beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1, with goals from Andy Cole and Matt Jansen.

Souness left not long after to take over at Newcastle, and Blackburn appointed Wales manager and former player Mark Hughes as their new man in charge in 2004. Hughes led Blackburn to a 15th placed finish in his first season with the club boasting one of the best defensive record that season. This was largely helped following the arrivals of Ryan Nelsen and Aaron Mokoena in the January transfer window.

Hughes further strengthened the team next season, including the arrival of Craig Bellamy, and Blackburn had one of their most successful seasons in recent years, finishing sixth in the league table and booking a place in the UEFA Cup. 

After a successful season with Blackburn, Bellamy was sold to Liverpool and Hughes bought Benni McCarthy from Porto. Blackburn finished 10th in the Premier League during the 2006-07 season but qualified to the UEFA Cup next season through the Intertoto Cup.

Viewing last season's performance as a step backwards, Hughes made some changes to the squad by signing Roque Santa Cruz from Bayern Munich while Maceo Rigters was bought from NAC Breda. While Santa Cruz proved to be one of the best signings of the season, Rigters failed to hold on to a place in the starting line-up though Blackburn finished seventh that season.

Hughes left the club next season to take over at Manchester City with the Blackburn board taking a bold decision of replacing him with Paul Ince. Though the former England international had a good start to his managerial career at Ewood Park, a poor run of form saw Blackburn staring down at relegation.

With time ticking away, Ince was sacked from his position and former Newcastle United manager Sam Allardyce was appointed with the immediate task of lifting Blackburn out of the relegation zone. Following a shaky start, Blackburn's form slowly improved and the club pulled themselves out of the drop zone and finally finished the season in 15th place.

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