“Going down the Bolton Road….” Such was the demand for football over the years that in 1908 a left junction for trams was finally set up on Bolton Road which led to Kidder Street, behind the Blackburn End. It was towards this that ‘football specials’ headed for decades to come. Kidder Street was demolished during the 1990s Ewood redevelopment and trams ceased to be the preferred transport for fans in the 1940s, the last working tram in the borough finished its route in September 1949. © Cottontown

The cup run would provide some comfort in the form of a win over Burton Wanderers (2-1) but that was to be all as Everton beat them 3-2 in a second round replay, both the games having attracted over 20,000. The season was quite successful without being in any way spectacular. Of the new players brought in, only the left back Tommy Cleghorn impressed. Instantly a huge favourite of the crowd due to his tireless enthusiasm, the Scot stayed two years at Ewood before leaving for Liverpool.

The season also saw a legend leave the club. Jimmy Forrest had been at the club for twelve years after joining from Witton and had played almost two hundred league and FA Cup games. Along the way he collected eleven England caps and five FA Cup winners’ medals; still a record to this day that has been equalled but not beaten. Unfortunately it was not an amicable parting, Forrest claiming Rovers had wanted him to become amateur so they didn’t have to pay him and he let for Darwen. They kissed and made up later when Forrest cam back to be made a director of the board and stayed in that position until his death in 1925.

There were new members of the playing squad however as centre forward Peter Turnbull arrived from Burnley and the left midfielder Johnny Wilkie travelled further, from Partick Thistle. Turnbull ended the season as top scorer, although this was thanks to a paltry seven league goals and a further one in the cup. Rovers scored a paltry forty league goals in the 1895/96 season, less than any team outside the bottom two. As always, their end of season form was abysmal, with just one point from their last five games. This included a humiliating 6-0 defeat to Burnley at Turf Moor. About the only ray of light had been a 1-0 win over the same side at Ewood. The biggest crowd of the season was the 20,000 for the visit of Everton, which was lost 3-2. Aston Villa won the title and Rovers went out of the cup almost as soon as they started. They lost 2-1 at home to West Bromwich Albion in the first round. It was a poor season all round and Rovers looked to the future in an attempt to try and cheer themselves up. Little did they know that it would get far worse shortly...