James Thomas Ward, who joined Rovers from Olympic in 1886. Although he only stayed for one season at Rovers, this FA Cup winning full back with Olympic was the only player to ever represent England while on their books. Fittingly enough this native of Blackburn played against Wales in a game staged at the Leamington Street ground. © Cottontown

After the wondrous heights of the three-in-a-row, Rovers had to come back down to earth sometime. When they did so, it was with a bump. In truth it had to end somehow and the warning signs had been there in the 1885/86 season. Although they had won the FA Cup once again and reached the Lancashire Cup final, it hadn’t been a season of total success. The amateur side Corinthians had humiliated them in friendlies and they had also had many other defeats. They only actually reached the Lancashire Cup final as the team that beat them had been disqualified and then they lost again in the final. The 1885/86 season had been the first full season as a professional club and in that season they paid a total of £615 on wages.

It was the 1886/87 season that would teach Rovers some humility, not only on the national scene but locally as well. A major blow for Rovers was the retirement of their goalscoring hero Jimmy Brown, who decided to concentrate on his career. Brown would return to Rovers for the first league season but by then he wasn’t of the same high standard. It was to be a goodbye to Victorian Shearer. Fortunately Rovers could still plunder players from their ailing local rivals, especially Blackburn Olympic. Olympic were by now cash-strapped and no longer a serious threat to Rovers. Indeed their position as the number two club in Blackburn had been usurped by Blackburn Park Road and in particular Witton. From Olympic Rovers cherry-picked Joe Beverley (who had played for Rovers in the 1884 final before going back to Olympic) and left winger William Townley, who would in time perform wonders for Rovers. The third recruit from Blackburn Olympic was the full back Jimmy Ward, who held the distinction of being the only Blackburn Olympic to ever be capped by England while playing for the club.

Despite Rovers being one of the first sides to embrace professionalism, they did not seem to embrace quite so readily as some of their neighbours. Preston North End and Bolton Wanderers in particular were aggressively pursuing new players. Despite their new additions, 1886/87 season was poor all round. More so when compared to the previous seasons. Preston in particular seemed to enjoy rubbing it in. They thrashed Rovers in a friendly (6-1) and then humiliated them in the first round of the Lancashire Cup. They beat the reigning FA Cup holders 7-1, the second year in which they beat them in the Lancashire Cup and this time they were not to be thrown out on a technicality. In the minor East Lancs Charity Cup, Rovers lost the final 1-0 to Accrington. Just to make a bad year worse, their defence of the FA Cup was pitiful. They reached the second round but that was only because their expected opponents in the first round, Halliwell, left the competition. They then faced Scottish side Renton. The away match resulted in a 2-2 draw yet that was the best it was going to get as the Scots won 2-0 at Leamington Street, the first defeat for Rovers for four seasons. Including the replays, Rovers had been undefeated in 23 FA Cup games. The reign of dominance was over.

At the end of the season Ward and McIntyre, with four FA cup winners’ medals between them for the two Lancashire clubs, both retired. Another link with the cup sides left when Joe Lofthouse went to join Accrington. Lofthouse would be back in at Rovers in a couple of years though, as well being back in cup finals.