Blackburn Rovers legend admits joke he made to friends when he first joined club after bad first impression

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Sometimes, footballers join a new club and instantly realise they’ve done the right thing, falling in love with their surroundings. And sometimes, the opposite is true.

Anything, big or small, can make a difference when it comes to the attachment a player feels for a club; it could be the location, their new colleagues, or the connection to the fans.

They may be in the Championship now, fighting for a play-off spot, but Blackburn Rovers were once a top flight staple, and they’ll forever be in the Premier League history books for their 1994/95 title win.

Tim Sherwood didn’t know the success that would follow when he signed for Blackburn in 1992. In fact, he really wasn’t keen on his new surroundings when he first arrived.

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Tim Sherwood expected a short stay at Blackburn Rovers – he ended up staying for seven years

Sherwood joined Blackburn from Norwich City in the summer of 1992 for a rough fee of £400,000. He would eventually go on to become club captain, lift the Premier League title, and make 285 appearances for the Lancashire club.

But, reflecting on his move to Rovers in an interview with the Premier League’s YouTube channel, Sherwood revealed the jokes he made when he turned up at Ewood Park, and how he never imagined sticking around for long.

He said: “I remember driving up there, the first day I arrived, it was raining typically.

“I made a joke to my friends I said, ‘they don’t change tyres up there, the change windscreen wipers.’

“I thought this is going to be tough and I remember thinking to myself, ‘I’m not going to be here long’, seven years later I was still there.”

Clearly, that rain wasn’t enough to put him off once the team started winning, and who could blame him.

Blackburn finished fourth in Sherwood’s first year there, and then, with a lot of grit and determination, and a bit of money, too, they went on to lift the ultimate prize in English football.

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Blackburn’s Premier League triumph explained

The current Blackburn owners have financial issues to contend with, but back in the mid-90s, the club were prepared to splash the cash to secure success.

Along with the acquisition of Sherwood, Blackburn also signed Colin Hendry for £700,000, and Graeme Le Saux for roughly the same fee.

Throw in the signings of Tim Flowers, Henning Berg, Ian Pearce, Stuart Ripley, Mark Atkins, Jason Wilcox, Alan Shearer, and Chris Sutton, and the Rovers transfer outlay came to around £14.7m at the time.

Under the stewardship of the legendary Kenny Dalglish, Blackburn were able to pip Manchester United to the title by just one point.

Rovers won the title on the final day, actually, despite losing to Liverpool 2-1 in dramatic circumstances at Anfield, thanks to the fact the Red Devils could only muster a 1-1 draw against West Ham.

Shearer bagged 34 goals that season, and became the face of the incredible triumph, but it was very much a team effort, built on togetherness and a fierce spirit.

It’s also worth mentioning, the money spent by Blackburn at the time may have been fairly lavish, but the club did end up selling many of those players for a profit down the line. It’s not that they bought the title, the club just made very smart business decisions from a footballing perspective.