Former Premier League champions Blackburn Rovers were relegated in 1999, before regaining their place in the league two years later in 2001. This podcast examines what happened when 'Rovers Returned' in the subsequent 11 years until the club's second relegation in 2012, followed by what happened upon returning to life in the Championship.
What if Venky's had never bought Rovers? What if we'd landed Robert Lewandowski in a world where volcanic eruptions didn't disrupt summer transfer plans? What if we'd spent the parachute payments differently after relegation from the Premier League? In this episode we step away from the history books and into the realm of counterfactuals, running the numbers on three alternate timelines for Rovers. We debate Allardyce's reign without a Venky's takeover, imagine an 18-goal Lewandowski season under Steve Kean, and rebuild the 2012/13 transfer window from scratch with the same £15m kitty.
6 Jul 2026
Rovers at the World Cup
There isn't a single current Blackburn Rovers player at the 2026 World Cup. It wasn't always this way. In our latest episode we look back at Rovers' second spell in the Premier League (2001-12) and the players who took their Rovers form all the way to the 2002, 2006, and 2010 World Cups, notably Damien Duff, Brad Friedel, Tugay, Lucas Neill, Brett Emerton, Ryan Nelsen, and yes, Hakan Ünsal. We also look at players who played for Rovers before and after featuring in one of these World Cups.
We talk about what this run of World Cup talent actually says about the club at the time, the level Rovers were competing at, and the value-investing recruitment model that landed players like Friedel and Nelsen for next to nothing. Plus, we pick our all-time Rovers World Cup XI from this era, and argue about how far that team would actually go at the 2026 tournament.
26 Jun 2026
Season review watch along: 2009/10
The last “good” season at Blackburn Rovers? Maybe. Let’s see what the season review tells us. Notable shout outs to Nicola Kalinic looking like he’d been imprisoned in east Lancashire, Steve Kean lurking in the background waiting for his moment to seize the crown, and David Dunn oozing quality. This season review has a lot going on and we loved picking it apart.
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Spotify
5.0 / 5
8 ratings
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