ONE of Blackburn Rovers oldest fans died just hours after Tony Mowbray's side secured promotion back to the Championship.

Tributes have been paid to Olive Brown, who was also known as Curwen, after her death on midnight on Wednesday after a short spell in hospital.

Paul Fuery of the North Lancashire Blackburn Rovers Supporters Club said the 90-year-old would be missed around Ewood Park.

Mr Fuery said: "Blackburn Rovers was in her blood.

"She grew up on Nuttall Street next to Ewood Park and remembers playing on the street there.

"She always had a lot of time for everyone and had a phenomenal memory talking about Rovers and remembers going to watch them in 1960 in the FA Cup final against Wolves.

"Everybody on the coach loved her and she was the life and soul of the party."

The lifelong Rovers fan, who lived in Morecambe, travelled around the country cheering the club on, and was at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff to see the club lift the League Cup in 2002.

Mr Fuery added: "She has been in hospital for the past few weeks but people have been asking about how she is.

"She has been struggling to get to matches for a couple of years because it has been colder and other things.

"She was everyone's favourite 'granny' on the coach.

"It was quite sad that another member of the North Lancashire Supporters Club with Down Syndrome, Paul Dyson, also from Morecambe, died recently.

"Those are the people we set the supporters club up for and it gave us a lot of joy taking them to games.

"We have been told that she would not have really known what was happening with Rovers getting promoted.

"But she would have been so proud to know that they were going into the Championship again."

A Blackburn Rovers Football Club spokesman said: “We are all deeply saddened to hear the news of Olive’s passing.

"She was an inspirational lady, a passionate Rovers supporter and the star of our 2015-16 Half Season Ticket campaign.

"She had been coming to games at Ewood Park for over 80 years and would make an 80-mile round trip to get here, regardless of the weather, because she loved everything about the matchday experience.

"She will be sorely missed and our deepest condolences are with her family and friends at this sad time.”