WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
We catch up with Blackburn Rovers’ 1979-80 promotion side
SIMON GARNER admits Blackburn Rovers couldn’t wait to get out of the Third Division and put some pride back into the club following their relegation 12 months earlier.
Garner, who is the club’s record scorer, says the board gambled by bringing in bigname players along with player-boss Howard Kendall.
But they spent the first three months of the season near the foot of the table, and a defeat against Millwall in early November left them in 20th place.
A win over Chester City the following week saw them start to climb and they never looked back in the second half of the campaign as they embarked on a club-record run.
“We had a bad start to the season and were down near the bottom of the table,” he recalled. “I think it was a hangover from the season before.
“We were also getting used to the way the new manager wanted us to play. Plus we were a big-name side to be in the division and everybody wanted to beat us and raised their game.
“We signed Duncan McKenzie, who back then was a very big name. It just clicked into place when we beat Chester City 2-0 and I scored, which is why I remember it. We went on a run which I think was a club record of 20-odd games unbeaten.We won a lot of games by one goal.
“We tightened up at the back. Howard knew if we scored a goal we would win the game. It was like the ‘1-0 to the Arsenal’!
“We did really well towards the end of the season and it just got us up. I think we got promoted away at Bury and we won 2-1. My memory is hazy because I didn’t score!
Credit
“We wanted to put the pride back into the club and we thought we had a point to prove. We’d had a terrible season the year before.
“We wanted to give it a real good shot and, luckily, the board backed us. You have to give them a lot of credit because we didn’t have a lot of money.
“They backed the manager to bring in the players. It was a big gamble for the board that we were going to come straight back up.
“We had some big-name players and needed to get out of that division as quickly as we could.” 1. Mike Rathbone: Defender who played more than 300 games for Rovers. Became a physio working with Halifax Town, Preston and Everton. Now runs a sports injury consultancy. 2. John Waddington: Central defender who set up a retail empire and has a chain of 70 cash-and-carry warehouses, as well as a greetings card firm. He now lives in Portugal. 3. Derek Fazackerley: Defender who is Rovers’ record appearance holder and went into coaching and scouting. Currently working for Oxford United. 4. Glenn Keeley: A defender and FA Youth Cup winner with Ipswich who became a sports lecturer at Trafford Collage, then a football development officer. Now runs a kitchen doors showroom. 5. Tim Parkin: Centre-half who won a promotion with Swindon and was Middlesbrough’s community officer before joining Cumbria Police. Now retired, he is a Reading scout. 6. Stuart Parker: A striker who lives in Blackpool, where he is chairman of AFC Blackpool and is a director of a business that supplies copying machines. 7. Paul Round: Central defender who lives in Pleckgate, Blackburn. He now buys and sells antiques after working his way up to become head of leisure services at Bolton Council. 8. Kevin Stonehouse: Forward who won promotions with Huddersfield and Blackpool. Worked at the Quaker Sports Centre in Darlington and is now a Newcastle United scout. 9. Martin Fowler: Midfielder who ended his career with a promo- tion with Scunthorpe, where he settled and became a teacher at the John Leggott College. 10. John Aston: Winger who was a European Cup winner with Manchester United. He set up his own pet shop in Stalybridge and was then a stallholder at Glossop Market. 11. Duncan McKenzie: Forward who became Everton’s community officer. Then owned a delicatessen and is now an afterdinner speaker and media pundit. 12. Tony Parkes: Midfielder who stayed on the coaching staff under Bobby Saxton and has been caretaker-manager six times. After a spell at Blackpool, he is scouting for Rovers. 13. Jim Arnold: Goalkeeper and squad player when Everton won the Cup Winners’ Cup. Settled in Stafford and joined Staffordshire Police. Later worked for the local council. 14. John Butcher: Goalkeeper who won a promotion with Chester, where he settled and worked as a warehouse manager for a local company. 15. Joe Craig: Striker who won a Scotland cap. He has managed Cowdenbeath, coached Armadale Thistle and Airdrieonians and works in a Glasgow Royal Mail sorting office. 16. Simon Garner: Striker who later won promotions with WBA and Wycombe. Worked in mortgage sales and as a postman before becoming an after-dinner speaker and painter-decorator. 17. Brian Morley: A full-back who returned to his native Fylde coast and ran his own sports shop in Lytham St Annes for many years. 18. Andy Morley: Full-back who made one sub appearance for Rovers. He went into teaching and became head teacher of a Heslington school and then a schools inspector. 19. Peter Morris: Winger who settled in his native Farnworth and has spent more than 20 years working in the licensed trade. 20. Russell Coughlin: Midfielder who won a promotion with Plymouth before settling in the Carlisle area, working a postman. He died in August 2016, aged 56. 21. Howard Kendall: He went on to manage Everton three times, Athletic Bilbao, Manchester City, Notts County, Xanthi and Edhnikos Piraeus. He died in October 2015, aged 69. 22. Stuart Metcalfe: Midfielder who won two promotions with Blackburn. He worked as a nurse in Calderstones for more than 20 years until retiring 23. Noel Brotherston: Northern Ireland international midfielder who became a painter and decorator in Blackburn until his death in May 1995 after suffering a heart attack. 24. Dave Wagstaffe: Winger who ran the Wolves sports and social club and a bar. He has also run pubs, worked as a driver for Kodak and then for Ladbrokes. He died in August 2013. 25. Andy Lodge: Midfielder who dropped into Non-League football and is now believed to be living and working in the Bolton area.