JOHN Filan remembers the turning point, the moment when Blackburn Rovers’ woes in the second tier and their charge back to the Premier League began.

Favourites to return to the top flight at the first attempt after relegation in 1999, Rovers had failed to live up to expectations.

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Brian Kidd lasted only three months of that season, and Tony Parkes’ efforts to revive the team were only partially successful.

By March 2000, Graeme Souness had arrived as boss but Rovers could only finish 11th in the table.

Alan Kelly had started in goal for Rovers’ second season in what was then known as Division One.

They took 11 points from the first five games but then form dropped off.

Rovers were 15th in the table in mid-October, by which time Filan had replaced Kelly in goal.

Then came a match at Selhurst Park, against Wimbledon. A deflected David Dunn effort and a stunning strike from Garry Flitcroft gave Rovers a 2-0 win, and everything changed from there.

“We’d gone down into the Championship and expectation again was massive,” Filan remembers of the adjustment to life outside the Premier League.

“People expect the team coming from the Premiership to whitewash the league and it never does happen, it’s never going to happen like that. We found it a bit tough.

“Kiddo left, then Parkesy was caretaker and took it on for a bit but it still wasn’t happening for us.

“Then Graeme came and again we were still struggling again a bit.

“But things turned, I remember the game at Wimbledon.

“We battled for it and won, and it kind of turned from there.

“The club started to rise again.”

The Wimbledon win was the start of a run that delivered 19 points from a possible 21, moving Rovers right into the promotion mix.

But they would be Filan’s last games as the club’s first choice between the sticks, as Souness swooped to sign Brad Friedel - a man who would go on to become one of Rovers’ greatest ever keepers.

If there was frustration at a lack of match action, it did not take away his joy when Rovers secured automatic promotion at the end of that campaign.

“I’d come into the side and we kind of turned results around a little bit, I think I played about 10 or 12 games,” Filan says.

“So when Brad came in I was obviously I was a bit disappointed, because Graeme signed Brad to play.

“But you saw how good he was and he was a great servant for the club.

“At the time we were on the rise but that wasn’t down to me just being in the team, I think the lads had got a hold of it and things turned around.

“When we got promoted, I was happy that I’d stayed at the club and seen it get back into the Premiership.

“Several people left when we got relegated. I suppose from that point of view that always sticks a little bit, although in reality people are always going to leave.

“But I was happy that I was still at the club when it got back. I felt a bit responsible for us going down, as a lot of the lads did, so it was good to still be there and see the club go back up in the Premiership.”

During his time at Rovers, Filan had been approached to play for the Republic of Ireland, a country he qualified for via ancestry.

It would have rescued him from the international wilderness after it became clear he would not be adding to the three caps he had gained for Australia.

But his appearance for Australia’s under 23s at the 1992 Olympics led to FIFA blocking his Ireland switch.

“Ireland came up because of the situation with Australia,” Filan said.

“They’d enquired if I was interested and I said I wasn’t going to play for the Australian team and if I qualified I’d be interested.

“But unfortunately it wasn’t a possibility. At that stage if you’d played in a FIFA tournament you couldn’t change nations and because I’d played in the Olympic Games for the under 23s, that stopped me from playing for Ireland.

“Unfortunately for myself I had a bit of a fall-out with the head coach of Australia, a Scottish guy.

“People who know me know if I’ve got an opinion I’m not shy to voice it, and it wasn’t well received!

“I wasn’t aware that he was going to be the head coach for the next 12 years. I annoyed the wrong bloke I guess!”

Filan is back at Rovers now as assistant coach of the under 21s, but his playing days at Ewood came to an end early in Rovers’ first campaign back in the top flight in 2001, as he dropped down two divisions to join League One side Wigan Athletic.

“It was obvious that Brad was going well and I was always of the mindset as a player that I’d come to England to play,” he said.

“I didn’t want to come halfway round the world and sit on a bench and not contribute.

“I wasn’t happy just to sit and take the wages without the prospect of being in the team.

“Stoke tried to take me on loan and then Wigan jumped in, and I made the decision to move.

“At the time people were questioning why I’d done it, going down from the Premier to League One. But we had a good mix of young fellas and older heads, we got two promotions in three seasons and went on from there.

“Some of saw the club from League One into the Premier League, and we stayed in the Premier League as well.

“In my career probably the two clubs that stand out are Blackburn and Wigan.”

Filan is enjoying life back at Rovers, working alongside Eric Kinder to bring through players to the first team.

John O’Sullivan, Darragh Lenihan and David Raya all made their first starts for Rovers at senior level during the 2014/15 campaign.

“It’s been nice to come back,” Filan said.

“I was back home when the club went through some traumatic years.

“The under 21s is quite a rewarding position because of the difference you can see in the players quickly.

“We get them out of the scholarship set-up at the Academy and they turn up a bit raw and a bit naive.

“It’s our job to get them up to a senior mindset and to senior football as quickly as possible.

“Last season we had a great season for the under 21s, Eric was the manager and we got three first team debuts from our lads and a run in the cups so you couldn’t ask for much more from that set-up.

“Now our job is to find the next one to get into the first team set up and make a difference.”