IT WAS on this day 20 years ago that a young winger by the name of Damien Duff made the first of his 207 Rovers appearances.

Duff was named in the Rovers starting line up on May 11 1997 as Rovers hosted Leicester City in the final game of the 1996/97 season.

Tony Parkes was in caretaker charge at the time having taken the reigns following the departure of Ray Hardford who stepped down on 25 October with Rovers bottom of the Premier League with no wins from their opening 10 games.

Parkes guided Rovers to the safety of mid-table, and in the final game of the season, and his last in charge before Roy Hodgson took over as permanent manager, included exciting prospect Duff in his starting line-up.

Duff had been an unused substitute earlier in that calendar year, but started the final game of the season at Ewood Park when Leicester were the visitors to East Lancashire.

He would go on to put on a man-of-the-match display, but couldn't help Rovers avoid defeat as despite goals from Garry Flitcroft and Graham Fenton, they slipped to a 4-2 defeat, with Emile Heskey grabbing a brace for the visitors.

Duff would go on to dazzle in many of his 207 appearances for the club before his departure for Chelsea in the summer of 2003 for a fee in the region of £17million.

Here, Jack Charlton talks about the incredible talents of the Irishman, including a few clips of Duff's best moments for Rovers, Chelsea, Newcastle, and the Republic of Ireland.