ROVERS will be bidding to emulate the class of 1979/80 when they begin their League One campaign in August.

Relegation from the Championship means the club will be playing third tier football for the first time since winning promotion from Division Three 37 years ago.

An ever-present from that season was Rovers’ all-time record appearance holder, Derek Fazackerley, who marshalled a defence to an impressive 21 clean sheets en route to automatic promotion.

But the immediate return to the second tier was far from straightforward, and the summer of 1979 had plenty of uncertainty surrounding it.

John Pickering left after his spell in charge, first as caretaker and then permanent boss as Rovers were relegated from Division Two, before the club turned to 33-year-old Howard Kendall as player-manager.

It was one of a number of changes made, but one that was key for Fazackerley, who turned down offers from elsewhere to sign a new deal with Rovers after meeting with Kendall.

“You finish the one season on a bit of a low and disappointed but then there were obviously changes made at the club,” Fazackerley explained.

“From a managerial perspective they appointed Howard who came in as the player manager and straight away he lifted the place not only with his presence on the football field but his personality as well.

“He wasn’t just a manager, he was a player-manager, and he played a big role in keeping me at the football club.

“My contract had expired, I could have left and gone to one or two places that were on the table for me, but once I had spoken to Howard I decided that Blackburn wasn’t a bad place to be.

“His ambition for the club, the way he was going to do things, helped me decide that I would give it a go and see if we could get out of it at the first attempt which eventually we did.”

Kendall played 41 times that season and at 33 remains the club’s youngest ever manager. He was also the first, and to date only, player-manager.

“Of course there was a risk but from a playing perspective he was a very experienced player and had success as a player coach with Stoke City and obviously wanted to make the step-up in to management,” Fazackerley added.

“He saw Blackburn as a good opportunity and from the club’s point of view they had a season of turmoil with sacking managers and then John Pickering leaving, and I suppose as much as anything they appointed a character who was not only going to lift the players but the fanbase and give them some hope and that’s what we did.”

As well as managerial changes, new faces arrived and familiar ones left. John Bailey and Kevin Hird had racked up 129 and 144 appearances respectively for the club, but opted to depart East Lancashire for Everton and Leeds respectively.

Fazackerley stayed, as did Glenn Keeley and Mick Rathbone, who would be joined in the back five by summer recruits goalkeeper Jim Arnold and full-back Jim Branagan. They would form a solid base for Rovers to build as they conceded just 36 goals, the fewest in the league that season.

Fazackerley added: “There was a lot of speculation about John Bailey, myself and Kevin Hird, so there were players that we knew would not start the next season.

“But obviously someone with Howard’s football knowledge and experience he was able to replace them.

“Jim Arnold was in the non-league international team so he had good pedigree but obviously hadn’t played league football before, Jim Branagan came from Huddersfield reserves, so he did take a punt on one or two.

“Andy Crawford came in from Derby County, they paid a bit of money for him, and it added to the squad that we already had so it started to look like a bit of a team.

“We didn’t set off like a house on fire but we started to get in to our stride just before Christmas and built and improved over the course of the season.

“We didn’t concede too many goals either which always give you a chance.”

Indeed, Rovers started the season slowly, winning just one of their opening 10 matches, failing to build on their win at Hillsborough in their third match of the season on August 25, with their next three points not coming until October 6. Their first home win didn’t arrive until October 13.

However, the season turned on a run of 14 wins in 15 games between January 12 and April 7, which included a club record eight consecutive league victories. That run also included 11 clean sheets. And that was enough to propel them in to the top two, as Rovers finished three points behind champions Grimsby Town.

“One of the big things you have to do when you get relegated is get over the disappointment as soon as you possibly can,” added Fazackerley, who is currently assistant manager at Oxford United where he works under former Rovers boss Michael Appleton.

“For us, the change around of the managerial and playing staff we were a little bit slow out of the blocks and to get up and running.

“Towards the end of the season we put a fantastic run together. When you build momentum and start to get results then you start to get that belief and confidence in yourself and you feel you’re almost invincible when you go out on the pitch.

“The reverse happens when you’re not getting results and you wonder where the next one is going to come from. Fortunately we turned it around and moving in to Christmas and after that we did well.”

Promotion was sealed at Gigg Lane on April 29 1980, with around 10,000 Rovers fans said to have been among the crowd of 13,369. A brace from Crawford, his 17th and 18th goals of the season proved enough, despite the Shakers then winning at Ewood on the final day four days later.

“Going to Gigg Lane realising it was a massive game for us,” Fazackerley recalls. “We had a fantastic following that night, they must have filled three quarters of the ground and we obviously won the game and did what we wanted to achieve which was promotion.”