| LEAGUE:
10th |
| FA
CUP: fifth round |
| WORTHINGTON
CUP: winners |
| PREDICTION:
big prizes stay out of reach |
| TITLE
ODDS: 150-1 |
| OFFICIAL
WEBSITE: www.rovers.co.uk |
Key man: Matt Jansen
Recovering well from head injuries sustained in a motorbike
accident while on holiday in Rome, he can anticipate an
overdue England call-up. A player in the image of his hero
Peter Beardsley, Jansen is the former Carlisle forward
ideally suited to filling the hole behind a central striker.
Jansen, 24, can also operate wide left and wide right in
addition to centre-forward. He offers a brand of vision and
flair which is all too rarely seen in the modern game
Coach: Graeme
Souness
Has certainly mellowed and matured since the turbulent days
when he was the man in charge at Liverpool, but referees and
linesmen are still likely to cause the red mist to descend
and a normally perceptive, rational man to morph into Mad
Max. Paradoxically, Souness’s pretty-passing Rovers
sometimes lack a little aggression but he displays a
creditable commitment to purist principles and is bold
enough to field two orthodox wingers
| Full
squad |
|
Goalkeepers
1 Brad Friedel
23 Alan Kelly
27 Alan Miller |
Midfielders
4 Tugay
7 Garry Flitcroft
8 David Dunn
11 Damien Duff
16 Alan Mahon
18 Keith Gillespie
22 Hakan Unsal
24 Darren Dunning
29 Jonathan Douglas
31 Lucas Neill
34 Marc Richards |
Defenders
2 John Curtis
3 Henning Berg
5 Stig Bjornebye
6 Craig Short
14 Nils-Eric Johansson
28 Martin Taylor
30 Gordon Greer, Marc Sebastian Pelzer, Andy Todd |
Forwards
9 Andrew Cole
10 Matt Jansen
15 Craig Hignett
20 Egil Ostenstad
21 Corrado Grabbi, Dwight Yorke |
Strongest
XI
Nationalities
England (12), Ireland (4), Norway (3), Turkey (2), US (1),
Sweden (1), Scotland (1), Germany (1), Northern Ireland (1),
Australia (1), Italy (1), Trinidad and Tobago (1) Total
29
Players in
Andy Todd, Marc Sebastian Pelzer, Dwight Yorke
Players out
Mark Hughes, Simon Grayson, James Thomas
Instant expert
Ground Ewood Park, Blackburn, Lancashire, BB2 4JF
Telephone 01254 698 888
Capacity 31,367
Shirt sponsor AMD processors
Ticket office 01254 671 666
Can I get a ticket? Restrictions on A
games; tickets on sale for other games
How to get there: The ground is a mile from
Blackburn railway station
Club call 09068 121179
Club shop 01254 665 606
New boy: Dwight
Yorke
A new life begins for Yorke at 30, alongside his
old pal Andrew Cole in the Ewood Park attack. Yorke arrives
for £2m and is a natural athlete with great balance and a
wonderful left foot. The downside? Arguably the Premiership’s
biggest playboy
Money talk
Top earners Cole £35,000, Yorke £34,000, Pelzer
£33,000
Total wage bill £24.13m
(estimated)
Balancing the books will not be easy for Graeme Souness.
Although the wage bill is only the 12th highest in the
Premiership, it is 138% of the club’s turnover, which
stands at £17.49m
Where are they now?
Bobby Svarc Left in1978 to become a Jehovah’s
Witness. Now a full-time man of God
