I DON'T know about you, but I'm terrible when it comes to remembering birthdays and anniversaries.

Every year without fail, one of my relatives has to settle for a 'sorry it's late' card after an important date in the calendar escapes my attention.

But Blackburn Rovers fans everywhere can be forgiven for a collective dose of amnesia following the joyous scenes at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

In the afterglow of finishing sixth and qualifying for Europe, an important anniversary in the history of Rovers slipped by without so much as a passing reference -- and quite rightly so.

Monday marked the fourth anniversary of Rovers' relegation from the Premiership but such has been the incredible strides made under Graeme Souness that most fans were no doubt oblivious to the date's significance.

For some, that painful night in May 1999 can now be erased from the memory banks forever after Sunday's achievements signified Rovers' return to the Premiership's high table.

The last four years have been a truly unforgettable journey.

When Graeme Souness took charge, he inherited a club which was down on its heels following the trauma of relegation.

At that point Rovers' fiercest critics were questioning whether they'd ever come back following a dramatic fall from grace.

But Souness has dragged the club up by its bootlaces and Sunday's joyous scenes were a culmination of all the hard work that's been put in during his short but impressive tenure at Ewood.

To put the achievement into context, how about this for a stat.

In 10 years of competing in the Premiership, Tottenham Hotspur have never finished higher than seventh in the table.

Think about that for a second. Spurs are a bigger club than Rovers with a larger fan base and greater financial clout so it's no surprise that their supporters were positively green with envy as they saw their team put to the sword on Sunday.

What would Glenn Hoddle give to swap places with Graeme Souness right now?

It's not just the fact that Rovers finished above them in the league but they're also in better shape from a squad point of view.

It's measure of how far the club has come that players like Brad Friedel and Damien Duff are now amongst the most coveted in the top-flight.

So the fans can now consign those memories of '99 firmly to the dustbin because Rovers are back where they belong.

But for those actually charged with the task of running the club, it won't be quite so easy.

West Ham are a classic example of what can happen if you take your eye off the ball for the slightest second.

This time last year, they were celebrating finishing seventh in the Premiership and look at them now.

That's why it's so important that Souness, John Williams and the board must all fight tooth and nail to keep both Duff and Friedel this summer.

In this game, you simply can't afford to standstill -- history tells us that.

So the wounds might be healed but the scars are there to remind us never to let it happen again.