[Lord Snooty]

Blackburn Rovers v Huddersfield Town
The Sky Bet Championship
Saturday October 4th - 3:00 ko
at Ewood Park

Huddersfield Town travel to Lancashire to play Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Saturday on the back of a two match winning streak, following wins at home to Millwall and away at Wolverhampton.

Team news: Town's injury list is diminishing with only Oscar Gobern and James Vaughan still on long term absence, though the disappearance of Adam Hammill and Radoslaw Majewski is still a mystery. Lee Peltier missed the trip to Molineux with an injury. No news on his fitness yet. Anthony Gerrard and Martin Paterson should be in contention for Saturday, but having won down at Wolverhampton on Wednesday, will manager Chris Powell want to make any changes? If there are changes to be made though, he won't be afraid to make them. It was a brave, but correct decision to drop Nahki Wells to the bench after his two goals against Millwall in the previous match and bring Grant Holt in.

Rovers will be without Corry Evans, who is suspended. They could also be without this season's top scorer, no not Jordan Rhodes, but Rudy Gestede who limped off on Tuesday night at Rotherham and may not be risked. That could mean a start for Leeds reject, Luke Varney. Also doubtful for Saturday are Tom Cairney and Alex Baptiste, while Chris Brown, David Dunn, Jason Lowe and well old goalkeeper Paul Robinson are all on long term sick notes.


How much?  
£26 adults
£16 seniors (65+) and students with a valid NUS/UCAS card
£8 juniors (16 and under)
Ambulant disabled and wheelchair-bound supporters should pay their relevant price class and can take a carer free of charge.
Coach travel: priced at £12 per person; coaches will depart PPG Canalside at 12.15pm

How to get there:
By car; the post code for sat nav is BB2 4JF. For those without such modern miracles, use the M62 then onto M66/A56, then onto the M65, head towards Blackburn - leave the M65 at Junction 4 (A666) and follow signs towards Blackburn. Turn right at the first set of traffic lights and Ewood Park is about 1 mile down the road on the right hand side. There are various places that use their facilities to rip people off with extortionate parking prices around the area. Last time we parked in some school playing fields off Jack Walker Way. There is talk of road works in the area, so extra delays may be possible.
By train:
The closest station is Mill Hill which is a around a 15 minute walk away from Ewood Park. It is served by trains from Blackburn and the journey only takes a few minutes. Blackburn station itself is at least a couple of miles from the ground and hence a good 25-30 minute walk away. Blackburn station is served by trains from Manchester & Leeds.

Where to drink:
All the pubs around the ground are home fans only pubs, so as you come off the M65, follow signs to Blackburn and as you go back under the motorway bridge there is the Golden Cup on your left, which is an away fans pub.
If going by train, there is a Weatherspoons near Blackburn Station called the Postal Order.

A brief history of Blackburn Rovers: They were founded in 1875 and in 1882 they were the first of the now recognised football clubs to reach the FA Cup Final. The year after, their neighbours Blackburn Olympic won the Cup. But then for the next four years, Rovers won it, beating Scottish club Queen's Park twice and West Bromwich Albion twice.
In 1888 they were founder members of the Football League (Olympic weren't invited to join and went under a year later) and by 1891 they had notched up another two FA Cup wins, beating Sheffield Wednesday and Notts County in the finals.
They were First Division champions in 1911–12 and 1913–14 and then they won their last FA Cup to date in 1928 being the underdogs who beat the invincible Huddersfield Town.



Nothing spectacular in the next few decades until they reached the 1960 FA Cup Final when the lost 3-0 to Wolves. But then in 1990, the club taken over by local steelworks owner and lifelong supporter Jack Walker. He appointed Kenny Dalglish as manager, poured a pot load of cash into the club and they won the Play Offs, ending a 26 year wait to get back into the top flight of English football.
He used Walker's dosh to fork out a British record transfer fee for Alan Shearer and by 1995 they were Premier League champions. This success didn't last though and four years later they were relegated. Jack Walker dies soon after and the club came back up again on an emotional roller coaster, finishing second behind Fulham. Uncle Jack had left them a fortune in his will and again they broke the record fee to buy Andy Cole and went on to win the League Cup for the first and only time to date, beating Spurs in the final.
In 2010 they were bought out by chicken pluckers, Venky's. They saw the club get relegated again to the Championship where they languish now.

Head to Head

Blackburn lead the overall head to head by 32 wins to 22, with 28 draws. That's in all competitions. In league matches it's 20 Town wins to Blackburn's 29, with 23 draws. Last season we managed to come away from Ewood Park with a point from a goalless draw. But at the John Smith's Stadium it was business as usual for a certain Jordan Rhodes. The former Town striker returned to haunt us by scoring a well taken hat trick, pouncing on our defensive frailties as the Rovers won 4-2. Town's goals coming from Adam Hammill and Nahki Wells. The season before, he got one goal in each of the league games, so that's five goals in four games against us since his high priced transfer.

Back in the 90s when Blackburn were the top bollocks in the Premier League, we almost beat them in a League Cup tie. It was a two legged tie and after drawing 1-1 at Leeds Road with goals from Iffy Onuora and Alan Shearer, Town headed over to Lancashire without much hope, but full of confidence. Goals from Simon Ireland, Gary Barnett and a remarkable charge down from the keeper's kick from Iwan Roberts took Town into an unlikely lead before Shearer won it for the home team in extra time.




So what have modern day Blackburn got?

They come here on the back of a 2-0 defeat away at Rotherham. Managed these days by Gary Bowyer, the former Hereford and Rotherham player, who is the son of Nottingham Forest European Cup winner, Ian Bowyer.

Who has Bowyer been playing in his first XI?

His selected first XI in the last match was.....

30 Jason Steele: keeper on loan from Middlesbrough.
14 Marcus Olsson: is one half of the famous Olsson twins who were child star actors on American tv in the 1990s.
22 Shane Duffy: centre back recently signed after being released from Everton, having spent last season on loan at Yeovil.
05 Grant Hanley: centre back and captain.
19 Chris Taylor: was a constant thorn in our side when he played for Oldham.
29 Corry Evans: midfielder, brother of Man Utd's Jonny.
12 Ben Marshall: winger, signed from Leicester last season.
25 Ryan Tunnicliffe: on loan from Fulham, spent last season on loan at Ipswich.
32 Craig Conway: scored the winner for Cardiff in the League Cup against us in 2011.
11 Jordan Rhodes: is a very naughty boy.
39 Rudy Gestede: is a French striker who signed for Rovers last season.

Also in the squad:
15 Alex Baptiste: ex Mansfield and Blackpool centre back on loan from Bolton.
10 Tom Cairney: midfielder signed from Hull last season.
17 Lee Williamson: experienced midfielder, ex Mansfield, Rotherham, Northampton, Watford, Sheff Utd and Portsmouth.
02 Adam Henley: defender who graduated through the academy.
04 Matthew Kilgallon: started his career in the Premier League with Leeds Utd (fooking hell, he must be well old   )
07 Joshua King: is a Norwegian international who came through the Man Utd youth system.
13 Simon Eastwood: is a goalkeeper who came through the Huddersfield Town acadeny but couldn't get ahead of England's no 1, Alex Smithies.
16 Luke Varney: is a Leeds reject.
20 Yann Songo'o: defender from Cameroon, still to make his Rovers debut after spending last season on loan at Ross County.

Leading scorer - Rudy Gesteded  with 5.

Recent form - Last six games:

Rotherham 2-0 Rovers
Rovers 2-2 Watford
Fulham 0-1 Rovers
Rovers 3-1 Wigan
Wolves 3-1 Rovers
Rovers 3-2 Bournemouth

Wolves 1-3 Town
Town 2-1 Millwall
Dirty L***s 3-0 Town
Town 0-0 Wigan
Town 1-2 Middlesbrough
Watford 4-2 Town


Rovers are 11th in the league with 14 points, that's 3 more than we have. Town are 18th with 11 points.



Club connections:

Simon Eastwood and Jordan Rhodes of the current Blackburn squad played for Town.

Jim Branagan: played for Town in the 70s before moving to Blackburn where he made around 300 appearances.
Wayne Burnett: played for Rovers in the Premier League and came to Town in 1996, making over 100 appearances. Now manages Dagenham & Redbridge.
Neil Danns: started his career at Blackburn, came to Town on loan from Leicester in 2013.
Giorgos Donis: was a right waste of money!
Barry Endean: played for both clubs in the 70s, scored just the one goal for us in 12 appearances.
Kevin Gallacher: now works as a radio and tv co-commentator, was a Premier League player for Rovers, replacing Alan Shearer in the team, and after 7 games at Huddersfield, hung up his boots.
Simon Ireland: had one good game for Town, in the aforementioned League Cup tie, which prompted Rovers to sign him and stick him in their reserves.
Damien Johnson: missed one of the penalties in the Wembley shoot out. Town offered him a contract extension but were outbid by the mighty Fleetwood Town. He started his career at Blackburn in 1997.
Lee Makel: tackled like a damp dishcloth.
David May: started his career at Blackburn before moving to Manchester Utd, where he earned loads of medals. Came on loan to us and got stretchered off in the first half of his only game.
Scott Sellars: was utter shite!
Duncan Shearer: is a Town legend, being signed by Mick Buxton from Chelsea in 1986. Scored a hat trick on his debut and was leading scorer and player of the year for two seasons. Later had a short spell at Blackburn.
Frank Stapleton: famous for his goal scoring at Arsenal and Manchester Utd. Played two seasons for Blackburn before coming to Town in 1991.
Jon Stead: Town legend!
Kevin Stonehouse: played as a striker for both clubs in the early 80s.

And ex Town player Sam Allardyce has managed Rovers.