ONE of the rarest and most valuable Blackburn Rovers football programmes, which cost only tuppence new, the equivalent of around 1p today, is set to fetch more than £20,000 at auction.

The match card was produced for the Rovers versus West Bromwich Albion FA Cup final at the Kennington Oval, in London, now better known as Surrey cricket club’s ground, on April 3, 1886.

The programme is thought to be a sought-after item as it is a memento from one of the greatest periods in Rovers’ history when the club won three consecutive FA Cup finals between 1884 and 1886.

London auctioneer Graham Budd has described the 1886 FA Cup final programme as ‘extremely scarce’.

It is expected to fetch between £20,000 and £25,000 at Graham Budd Auctions in London on October 27.

Only 15,000 people attended the 1886 FA Cup final, so comparatively few programmes were produced for the match and even fewer survived.

On their way to the 1886 FA Cup final, Rovers beat Clitheroe 2-0; Oswaldtwistle Rovers 1-0 and Darwen Old Wanderers 6-1.

They then beat Staveley 7-1 in the fourth round and Brentwood 3-1 in the sixth round after they were given a bye in the fifth round.

Lancashire Telegraph:

Rovers then beat Swifts 2-1 in the semi-finals.

The 1886 FA Cup final was a goalless draw so the final was replayed at the Racecourse Ground in Derby the following week, on April 10, 1886.

Rovers won the replay 2-0 thanks to goals from Joe Sowerbutts and captain James Brown.

The Rovers line-up for the 1886 FA Cup final was: Herby Arthur, Richard Turner, Fergus Suter, Joseph Heyes, Jimmy Forrest, Hugh McIntyre, Jimmy Douglas, Thomas Strahan, Joe Sowerbutts, Howard Fecitt and James Brown.

A spokesman for Graham Budd Auctions said: “This programme was issued for the 15th FA Cup Final in 1886 and the auctioneer has only ever seen one earlier example, the match card issued for the 1882 Cup final between Old Etonians and Blackburn Rovers in 1882, also played at the Kennington Oval, and sold at Graham Budd Auctions May 13, 2013, for a world record auction price of £30,000.”