Blackburn Technical College in Blackburn town centre which opened in 1894 and was visited by the future Edward VII. © Cottontown

After two uninspiring league campaigns, Rovers improved for the 1893-94 season. The Scottish right-back Tommy Brandon returned to the fold after two years with Sheffield Wednesday on his way to over two hundred league appearances for the club. Brandon would remain until 1900, meaning that in total he spent over nine years in the town. Another player to return was Josh Hargreaves, a forward who despite scoring his fair share of goals was always regarded as too small and was constantly being shuffled around the team. The main new additions were the goalkeeper Adam Ogilvy who would make over a hundred league appearances in the next four years, the centre forwards John Sorely (brought from Middlesbrough) and the inside tight James Whitehead, who was rescued from the wreckage that was Accrington FC, soon to be a club no more.

Overall, it became one the most successful seasons for Rovers. Despite not winning anything they put on solid performances in both league and cup. Aston Villa ran away with the league and finished the season six points clear (if it had been three points for a win that would be an eight point gap). The rest of the league was bunched up, except for the bottom two teams, who were a little bit rubbish. Bottom of the league once again was Newton Heath (later Man U), who this time would not survive via the test matches. The other side to go down were much closer to home. In their only season in the top flight Darwen finished second bottom and also went out after losing the test matches, meaning Liverpool and Small Heath (later to be renamed Birmingham City) would both be in the top flight the next season for the first time. Darwen conceded the most goals in the league; 83 from 30 games and lost both their games against Rovers.

The other local sides proved to be a mixture. They won both games against Preston, won one and lost one against Burnley and lost both against Bolton. Despite looking like contenders for the runners up spot for most of the season they had an awful March, winning one game and losing five out of the six they played that month. They finished the season in fourth place and some of their attendances were impressive for the time, both the Ewood game against Preston and that against Sunderland attracted five figure crowds.