Pick Your Poison - Blackburn Rovers

 

The Challenge

Pick 3 players who you believe have left your club and gone on to bigger/better things and you want back at the club. Then make a choice between the 3 players as to which you'd take back in the current squad. Judge all players on the time of their sale, not currently.

The Challenger
James Fallon, 25, Bolton.

 

Player 1
Alan Shearer - Striker
July 1992 - July 1996

"Despite Alan Shearer winning the title (the only honour in his career) with Blackburn Rovers, some would argue he never hit the same heights as he did with Newcastle with Rovers. Even though he was adored by the Blackburn faithful, he was absolutely idolised by the Newcastle fans and with that he became the most feared striker in English football and a wonderful asset to Newcastle. Even though we are scoring goals at the moment, he would offer us plenty of hard work and plenty of goals if he was still around at this moment in time."

Alan Shearer is without a shadow of a doubt the most prolific goalscorer in Premier League history. During his 4 years at Blackburn he scored an amazing 112 league goals in 138 league games, an average of a goal every 1.23 games. He was an amazing finisher, capable of scoring with any part of his body and was truly an asset to English football. However, he became even better at Newcastle than at Blackburn and became the first (and only to this day) player to reach 200 Premier League goals. Blackburn right now lack that striker who can score 20+ goals a season and Alan Shearer entering his prime would be more than capable of providing that.

Player 2
Henning Berg - Defender
July 1992 - August 1997

"The versatile defender who left Rovers for Manchester United and went onto win considerably more honours with them. He would offer us a solid grounding at the right back position as that's been something of a concern for Rovers this season, even though we have the young Jason Lowe filling in the gap left by Michel Salgado. He would also bring a winning mentality that we desperately need. Winning the honours he won at United helps any team that may acquire a players services."

Henning Berg signed for Manchester United in 1997 for £5M - which was the joint highest fee for a defender at the time in Britain.  While at Blackburn however he showed his versatility - making the right-back position his own, while also showing he could play competently at centre back. He won the Premier League with Blackburn in 1995 and won plenty of trophies while at Manchester United. He re-joined Blackburn in 2000 and lifted the League Cup as captain in 2002. Berg was a solid defender and one of the most reliable full-backs in the league, while also very good at centre back. He'd be a welcome addition to the leaky defence Rovers have had this season so far.

Player 3
Damien Duff - Winger
March 1996 - July 2003

"Where do we start with Damien Duff, he was one of the three players that made Rovers exciting to watch in the early 2000s and was one of the main reasons we were promoted from division 1 after two years out of the Premier League. Duff, David Dunn and Matt Jansen were the spine of our team. Damien was sold to Chelsea the season they got their money. We got good money for him at the time and he went onto become a relative success at Chelsea. He would bring with him some valuable Premier League experience if he was in our squad now. Something we seem to be lacking at the moment."

Damien Duff when he signed was an unknown Irish winger, with potential to move onto big things. He made Rovers exciting and was one of their best players when Blackburn went from promotion to the Premier League to a League Cup victory. Blackburn got a massive £24M from Chelsea for Duff and in turn they turned him into one of the most dangerous wingers in the league. His pace, direct running and excellent final ball (whether it was a shot or a cross) made him a constant threat to every team, which he showed vs Barcelona in the Champions League. If he returned to Ewood today, he'd probably struggle to get into the team in his favoured left wing position, now occupied by hotshot Junior Hoilett.

CONCLUSION

JIMMY GOODE

"Out of the three, I would bring back Henning Berg. Simply reason being he would bring the defence some much needed experience and versatility. We have made very costly mistakes in our defensive side of the game this season and I feel his experience would see us shipping less goals and his experience could be passed onto the younger players in our squad. And of course his winning mentality would emanate to the rest of the squad."

 DMF

Looking at the squad now, although they are scoring goals it's hard to see past taking Alan Shearer in his prime back to Ewood Park. The man was capable of scoring 30+ goals per season every year and that kind of goalscorer is something that Blackburn will need to keep them up this season in my opinion. The leaky defence I believe is down to a lack of confidence - when Michel Salgado returns and the side pick up some points I believe they will become stronger defensively. Duff would be a good option too, but Hoilett, Formica, N'Zonzi and Pedersen are all capable options in midfield and I don't think he is an necessity in today's squad.

Do you agree with the choices @St_Jimmy_77 made? Let us know in the comments section or on Twitter.

DMF. (@dmf180593)