Jimmy Forrest

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Big A - At the moment I think Forrest must take my vote. Rovers were the best team in the country in the 1880s. I believe he was one of the first professionals, at a time when everyone was amateur. He had a "day job" working somewhere else but Rovers were paying him money to play for him. He seems to be the most well known player from that time and that can't be for nothing. Many are talking about how greats from the 60s are being excluded by ignorant youngsters like me. What about the greats from the 19th Century? If someone's willing to have a look in the history section (I will tomorrow but it's late now and I need sleep) there's probably loads of info in there. .

Blackburn Ender - I voted for Forrest first time round, so I'll have him again. Five winners medals in the FA Cup, old black 'n' white photos of "the Northern horde" going to London....up for t'cup... He starred in two great teams playing a major part in establishing Rovers as one of the famous clubs, with a glorious past that, like the 1995 feat, can never be taken away from us, no matter what they call their daft competitions these days.

philipl - Plumped for Forrest because of his unique achievement of FIVE FA Cup Medals and the fact he was an automtic England choice for five seasons- only Douglas and Clayton can better that length of representation for England. I believe it is important that we recognise the first period of Rovers' domination. The time when not only the Rovers but Blackburn was a major force in the World. When Forrest was playing, over 50% of all the manufactured cotton goods in the world were originating in the mills of Blackburn- a staggering thoug

mazarini - My vote goes to Jimmy Forrest. He was very famous in his day. As a student I spent some time researching the history of sport in Blackburn. Reading through match reports from nineteenth century editions of the Blackburn Times it is very difficult to put forward a case for why he was such a great player. Journalists tended to write brief reports on the courage, tenacity, skill, cleverness of players but that doesn't really give us the detail we are looking for on Forrest when trying to put forward a case for his inclusion in the Greatest XI. Plus the game, team formations, tactics were different back then. He was famous enough to have a popular football biography written about him entitled something like, Jimmy Forrest's Football Career with his Recollections and Opinions. (I read it and it wasn't any more literary than today's offerings). He was a working-class 'tape-sizer' in a cotton mill when he was discovered by Rovers and I believe he was the first professional to play for England. He was forced to wear a different style kit to distinguish him from his amateur team-mates. Apart from his outstanding FA Cup achievements and the fact that he scored in some of those finals he went on to serve Blackburn Rovers as a director once his playing career finished. Is there a case to be made for Forrest influencing the club all the way up to the championship winning team of 1912?

FourLaneBlue - If we are looking at players who won the most for our club we are ignoring the one player who more with Rovers than any other...Jimmy Forrest. An England international, capped eleven times (games were so few in the 1880/90s that it made him a regular in the national side for six years!) he also went on to win not one, not two but five (count 'em!) FA Cup medals for Rovers. No other player has ever won more FA Cup medals than Forrest. Not only that, he captained us in the last two triumphant cup runs. There is absolutely no doubt that in those days that the FA Cup was far, far more important than the league. A cup win was everything and even until after the second world war that remained the case. The national champions were the FA Cup winners. Forrest was a driving force in a side that were the champions of England, scoting in two of the finals (and indeed Britain for the first three wins when Scottish, Irish and Welsh teams took part) and a great leader. Maybe most won't vote for him but we should spare a thought for a true Rovers legend, the most decorated player of the greatest team in the world. Alright it was bloody ages ago (and fans of other clubs wet themselves if we go on about the nineteenth century) but it's still something to be proud of.

Cheshire Blue - Personally, I think that Forrest is head and shoulders above Sherwood. You can only measure people aginst their per groups and I don't see Sherwood having a raft of medals or international caps to his name