Ewood in the year 1900. Ewood Park would have been behind the houses to the right as this picture looks along Bolton Road towards the town centre. © Cottontown

Regarding the title, Aston Villa won it once again although there were some new victors in the cup in the form of Bury. As for our erstwhile heroes, they finished the season in fourteenth, a mere three points clear of safety after losing three of their last four games. It is amazing that in almost every single year in the first twenty or so league campaigns they finished poorly. The top scorer in the league was Arnold Whittaker, with eleven in his first full season for the club. However Fred Blackburn netted nine times in the league and added three more in the cup. For once they didn’t bow out in the first round. Although as they left this time in the second round it wasn’t exactly a huge improvement.

The first round saw an immense struggle against Southern League side Portsmouth. After two draws Rovers finally won the second replay which was held at Villa Park. The 5-0 conquest no doubt led many to wonder what all the huffing and puffing had been in aid for as Fred Blackburn bagged a hat trick and Hulse got the other two. Their next opponents were Preston North End, who used their home advantage to win 1-0 and end yet another ultimately disappointing cup crusade. It wasn’t such a bad year for Rovers overall though. Certainly it didn’t finish well but they were never threatened with relegation which was progression in itself after the worries of the 1897/98 close shave and they had been said to play some attractive football. Not only that but it was a new century for the town of Blackburn with its mills and cotton trade being essential components for Britain and its global empire. Analysts predicted that within fifty years the town of Blackburn would have over 220,000 inhabitants such had been its recent rapid rate of growth. They got that bit wrong (official figures out the town today at about 105,000 which is bumped up to approximately 140,000 when Darwen is added) but even without those numbers, Rovers would soon start the long hard slog to punching above their weight once again and becoming the greatest side in land.

Happy New Century....give it a while and it might just be a very happy time indeed for the Rovers...