Rovers legends: Duncan McKenzie

Blackburn Rovers fans were among those fortunate to witness the silky skills of a player who attracted a following that broke the boundaries of mere club allegiance.

One rainy night at Elland Road yours truly and half a dozen like-minded fans of football played McKenzie's way took in Leeds United against Everton for no other reason than the fact that Duncan was parading his skills.

Wearing the blue of the Toffeemen he was afforded a hero's welcome by the Gelderd End, not the most hospitable fans you'll ever find, which was the measure of a player whose tenure at clubs was always all too short for the fans.

However, the man whose talents saw him defy the strictures of such descriptions as 'striker' or 'midfielder', seemed to be often regarded as a luxury by managers and members of board of directors.

And his time at Rovers perhaps epitomised that, though he instantly describes his Ewood adventure as: "A great little love affair".

Grimsby-born, McKenzie started out with Nottingham Forest before enjoying spells at Leeds, Belgian sophisticates Anderlecht and Everton.

He set up home near Wigan while with the Toffeemen and that was a factor in his arrival at Ewood after a seven-month spell at Chelsea.

Rovers, fighting against relegation in the 1978-79 campaign under the managership of John Pickering, signed McKenzie for £80,000 in March 1979 and he was to play a major part as Rovers bounced back the following season after their demotion to Division Three. "To be honest the side was as good as down when I joined and basically I think John Pickering's position at the club was already rather tenuous," explained McKenzie.

"In fact it was the chairman Derek Keighley who came to sign me and he persuaded me to join, even though he was typically blunt.

"He just said 'If you think you are just coming for a holiday tell me now', and I just thought my God!"

But it was a move that McKenzie was not to regret -- a total contrast to his time at Stamford Bridge.

"To be honest going to Chelsea from Everton was a big mistake. I felt everyone at Goodison wanted me to stay but the manager, who was Gordon Lee, just wanted me out of the club.

"Chelsea made me a good offer but the club was a bit of a joke at the time.

"For a while I lived with Justin Heywood, the guy from the Moody Blues, who is a friend of mine but it got so ridiculous at the club that in the end I stayed at home and trained with Wigan and just went down to London for the matches."

And McKenzie again suffered at the hands of a manager as Danny Blanchflower took the reins at Stamford Bridge from Ken Shellito.

"Danny had been a journalist for about nine years when he took the job and he really shouldn't have gone there," opined McKenzie.

"He dropped Peter Osgood, Ron Harris and myself and put three youngsters in for a game against Middlesbrough and they conceded a hatful of goals.

"He then put us back in and we beat Manchester City 3-2 but then dropped the three of us again and we went down by about seven at Ipswich. "To be honest by the end of it there was not much of a relationship between Chelsea and myself to break up and Blackburn was just an ideal move for me."

From the bright lights and big money of the West End to penny pinching in the North West -- McKenzie loved it.

"It really was a great little love affair," he enthused.

"The club was as tight as you

can possibly imagine, the board used to count every shilling, in fact every penny, but it made for great camaraderie.

"The skipper then Jim Branagan would go round the dressing room once a week collecting a pound from every player so we could pay for our end of season trip to Majorca.

"It was just incredible when you consider the money in the game now, but the likes of Simon Garner, who was absolutely brilliant little goal scorer despite the 40 cigarettes a day and the pints he would down, was probably on no more than £70 a week."

Under Howard Kendall's guidance for the 1979-80 campaign, after Pickering's departure, Rovers bounced straight back.

"Looking at my time at Ewood overall, the spirit at the club was just wonderful and they were a really good set of lads," he explained.

"Howard Kendall was really shrewd, another good move by a board who knew how to get value for their money, and it was obvious that he was going to go to a bigger club."

For McKenzie the route out of Ewood was to join the glamour of the North American Soccer League and Tulsa Roughnecks. "Howard told me that the board were putting him under pressure to sell me and cut costs," said McKenzie.

"It was ridiculous really. I had cut my pay by half to join Blackburn but I was still the biggest wage earner at the club and they wanted to move me on for what was, by today's standards, buttons really.

"They say some things about Yorkshire folk, but they really did watch every penny even in Lancashire.

"Howard came to me and said that he had an offer of £80,000 from America for me and my wife and I decided we would take it just because it was one of those life experiences not to be missed."

The final fling for McKenzie came when Chicago Sting signed him from Tulsa.

"In America players had no say in transfers, if the clubs traded players then they had to go or have their contracts torn up," he explained.

"I loved Tulsa which was fantastic, but Chicago was like any other big city, full of people who looked miserable.

"I was forced to go there but, having moved, I got my own back by having my contract paid up and I retired."