In 1995, Blackburn Rovers were on the crest of a wave, with owner Jack Walker’s dream realised.
The Ewood Park club beat Manchester United to the Premier League title and a bright future seemed to be ahead of them with Zinedine Zidane on Kenny Dalglish’s transfer wishlist.
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Sadly, no matter how bright it looks, if you’re too in awe of what lies ahead you can forget the work you need to do to ensure the path ahead is navigated correctly.
Rovers were champions but ahead of the next season they signed just two players, Adam Reed from Darlington for £200,000 and Matty Holmes from West Ham for £1.2million, as Dalglish became director of football and Ray Harford became manager.
They made nine league appearances between them – all by Holmes – while Lars Bohinen and Chris Coleman joined during the campaign.
It wasn’t enough. They sunk to a seventh-place finish and in the summer of 1996 the squad would begin to be broken up with Alan Shearer first out of the door, joining Newcastle for £15m.
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The thought of Zidane signing for Blackburn was no shock back in 1995. He was impressing in France with Bordeaux and emerging on the international scene and Rovers owner Walker wasn’t afraid to splash the cash.
Joining the English champions would have been fitting for the Frenchman’s talents, operating in midfield behind strike duo Shearer and Chris Sutton.
Christophe Dugarry it emerged was also part of a potential deal for the Ewood Park outfit, and he would have added to an already prolific frontline.
Blackburn owner Walker, though, had other ideas about the deal and despite the duo flying to the club to talk over the transfers, they were never signed.
Zidane and Dugarry spent another campaign with Bordeaux before joining Juventus and AC Milan, respectively.
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“Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?”
That’s reportedly what Walker said about the deal, fiercely loyal to the captain of his title-winners. But even Sherwood knew they needed additions if they were to compete in the Champions League and attempt to retain the title.
Zidane would have been welcomed with open arms by the English midfielder – not seen as his replacement – and the failure to add Zizou, or any other stars was the beginning of the end for Rovers.
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Sherwood told the Squeaky Bum Time Podcast: “So we were English champions and Zidane and Christophe Dugarry came to the training ground to have a look around. It was an impressive training ground, by the way, but they decided or Jack Walker decided that they weren’t going to join us.
“There were a lot of players linked. I believe we failed to capitalise. We had a foundation there and we should have built again. Jack’s feelings were ‘if it’s not broke, then why fix it?’ I think he was wrong.
“It was probably more coming from the heart than his head. He was a very astute businessman but when it came to football and when it came to his club which was Blackburn Rovers he just played with his heart all the time and on this occasion I think he was wrong. I think we should have strengthened at the time and maybe we would have gone on and won it again.”
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Teammates Shearer and Sutton could only agree with their former captain, insisting they failed to learn lessons of the past.
“If you listen to the top managers over the years, certainly Fergie, what they’ve always done is strengthen while at the top,” Shearer told the Daily Mail last year.
“Bring two or three fresh faces into the team, not just the squad.
“Freshen it up, and get the excitement going. Ray [Harford] was one of the best coaches I ever had but, looking back, he wanted to give the players a chance to go again, to repeat what they’d done. We were linked with Zinedine Zidane and Christophe Dugarry and we didn’t get them.
“We didn’t strengthen while we were at the top.”
Former striker partner Sutton agreed: “It was an impossible job for Ray, really. But just imagine Zidane at Blackburn!”
“It never happened and that’s one of the reasons why we finished seventh unfortunately,” Shearer added,
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Rovers would continue their decline in 1996/97, without Shearer, finishing 13th, having initially looked like relegation candidates.
A season further on and the club rebounded with a sixth-place finish as most of the title winners were sold on and replaced but that would be anomaly and despite splashing out around £35millon on transfers during the 1998/99 season they would be relegated to the Championship – just four years after winning the Premier League.
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What happened to Zidane? He was a stellar success in Serie A as he made Turin his home.
Two titles and World Cup glory were all the Frenchman’s by mid-1998, followed by a Ballon d’Or win for his individual contributions.
Meanwhile, a move to Real Madrid for around £48million would see him grab a LaLiga title and the Champions League – thanks to a wondrous volley against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 final.
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He would, in addition to his Ballon d’Or be named FIFA’s World Player of the Year on three occasions (1998, 2000, and 2003).
Real Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stefano is one of many who lavished him with praise:
“He dominates the ball, he is a walking spectacle and he plays as if he had silk gloves on each foot. He makes it worthwhile going to the stadium – he’s one of the best I have ever seen.”
Sadly, the inhabitants of Blackburn never got to see him at Ewood Park but they will never forget how close they came.
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