DEREK Fazackerley’s 18 years as a player at Blackburn Rovers included two relegations and two promotions. But the chance to play in the top flight eluded him.

Fazackerley’s time at Rovers came to an end just as Jack Walker’s investment was starting to begin.

It would lead to the Premier League title in 1995, and the club spending only two years outside the top division in a period of two decades.

But Fazackerley’s era was a tougher, more austere one.

At the age of 19, his very first season in the first team ended with the club dropping into the Third Division for the first time in their history.

“I was in tears, it was a terrible experience,” he remembers.

“Even though I’d only played 12 games that season, you felt the burden of responsibility.”

Under Gordon Lee they would win the Third Division in 1974/75, though, to return to the second tier.

A dramatic victory over promotion rivals Plymouth, when Rovers came from 2-0 down to win 5-2 at Ewood Park, was recently voted by readers as the game of the 1970s.

“I can remember myself and my centre back partner Graham Hawkins being distraught at half time because we both thought we’d played like a pair of absolute wallies,” Fazackerley says.

“We managed to turn it around and win 5-2, but I can still remember me and Graham thinking after the game, ‘We’d better improve this or we’re not going to get promoted!’ “But we were a good side. We played some decent football.

“As downbeat as you are when you get relegated, to get promoted after three or four years of trying was tremendous.

“We weren’t the biggest team in the league, not by any means, but Blackburn were one of the founder members and to get them back into the Second Division was a big achievement.

“I think there was a general feeling that we shouldn’t have been in the Third Division.”

Rovers finished fifth in Division Two in 1978, but manager Jim Smith left for Birmingham near the end of that season.

Jim Iley proved an unpopular replacement with supporters, lasting only 12 games before departing early in the 1978/79 campaign.

From there, John Pickering could not prevent the club dropping back into Division Three.

“We never really had a huge amount of money to spend,” Fazackerley said.

“The training facilities were very poor, we used to train on Pleasington playing fields and there were times when the groundsman chased us off because there was a Saturday league game on the pitch.

“A little bit later when Bobby Saxton came, we couldn’t find a training ground to train on before we played Manchester United.

“Even the year we went up under Gordon Lee it seemed to rain and rain and I can hardly remember training on a grass pitch. We used to train at Altham on an old shail tennis court.

“The people in charge then, Bill Bancroft the old chairman, David Brown, Derek Keighley, Bill Fox, they were all local businessman who had the club at heart – as Jack was when he came in.

“They were all supporters and did everything they could to move Blackburn forward but without having the sort of finance needed, which Jack put in later.

“After Jim Smith left, Jim Iley came and went after a very short period. It was sad to be associated with something like that because, whatever your thoughts of him as a manager, he was a decent man.

“John Pickering took over but we ended up getting relegated.”

This time Rovers would bounce back immediately, however, under Howard Kendall – confirming promotion back to the second tier with a win at Bury late in the season.

Twelve months later came Fazackerley’s closest brush with promotion to the First Division, a moment he still reflects on.

“We almost got promoted again,” he said. “We missed out on goal difference to Swansea. That would have been a fantastic achievement.

“We both had away games on the last day of the season.

“We did what we could, we won 1-0 at Bristol Rovers, but Swansea won 3-2 at the team I used to support, Preston.

“That didn’t go down particularly well with me. I felt they’d let me down a little bit.

“We had the journey back up the M5 and M6 and all you could see coming back the other way were Swansea supporters on their coaches. It made it a long and miserable journey.

“It was a massive opportunity missed to reach the First Division.

“It was for me because I never managed to achieve it.”

Rovers continued to challenge in the upper reaches of the Second Division, something Fazackerley believes was an achievement in itself given the finances and attendances at the time.

But Fazackerley’s time at Rovers came to a sudden end in 1987, at the age of 35.

“It was a bit sad the way I left,” he said.

“The club were struggling for cash, we hadn’t had a great start to the season and Bobby Saxton had been sacked.

“I was called into the boardroom by Bill Fox and he said, ‘Right, you can leave now’.

“There was interest from a couple of clubs and I thought, ‘After all those years, that’s it?’ “I was in tears.

“I knew I was coming to the end. I was no longer a regular in the side.

“But had I been given the opportunity to stay, I would have done.”

As one chapter closed, though, another one opened.

Fazackerley would move to Chester, combining playing with the role of assistant manager.

It was the start of a long and successful career in coaching.