BRYAN Douglas is a legend in the eyes of many Blackburn Rovers fans.

But to his grandkids, he is just 'Grandad'.

"They are more interested in David Beckham than me," says the man who played more than 500 league and cup games for Rovers in the 1950s and 60s.

"I don't think the younger ones realise it. To them I am just Grandad.

"My grandaughter is 14 and she said to me the other day 'Grandad, do you know you're on the internet?', and I said 'Oh, am I?'

"She had been looking up the history of the club because of the 125th anniversary. It is All Our Yesterdays to them."

Douglas and many of his former team-mates will be at Ewood Park today, celebrating 125 years of Blackburn Rovers.

"It will be nice to see some of the old faces again," said Douglas, who is now 66.

"I am just glad that I am still around to see it. I'll be thinking of the guys that aren't there, players like Roy Vernon, John Bray, Keith Newton, Bill Eckersley, they were all part of the Rovers history, great players, and many more I haven't mentioned. I'll just give a thought for them as well."

Douglas, who was born practically on the doorstep of Ewood Park and now lives just a couple of miles away, was voted the greatest-ever Rovers player by readers of the Blackburn Citizen.

The tricky winger, who won 36 caps for England, is modest about his achievements.

"I enjoyed what I was doing and I was quite successful at it. I was a player who wanted to take defenders on and the crowd seemed to like that.

"I realise that I played near on 500 games and I am very proud of that but I am still a down to earth guy. When I see my old school pals, I love to have a chat with them so it is a bit embarrassing sometimes when people say these things.

"But we never won anything when I was playing. We got to a cup final and won promotion to the First Division but we never won anything.

"We weren't consistent enough, we could beat anybody on our day, including Manchester United, but other teams that we really should have beaten often turned us over."

Douglas made his debut for Rovers against Notts County in 1954, aged 20. His last game for the club would be more than 15 years later, when he was forced to retire because of a cartilage injury.

The only other football club he ever played for was non-league Great Harwood Town, where he was later joined by his former Ewood captain Ronnie Clayton and a host of other former Rovers favourites.

"It wasn't as unusual as it is now to be a one-club man," he said.

"It is quite rare now with all these agents who are always trying to find you better terms elsewhere and putting pressure on you.

"There was a club came in for me while I was at Rovers.

"I'll not go into who they were, but there was a time about halfway through my career when I became disillusioned and asked for a transfer.

"But that only lasted about a month. I had a rethink and decided the grass was just as green on this side of the fence."

At the end of his career, Douglas was earning a top wage of £70 per week. But in his prime, under maximum wage rules, he was taking home just £20.

"I made nothing out of football," he said. "For the last few years it was £70 a week but the man in the street was earning that.

"But I enjoyed every minute of it and I thought I was well paid at the time.

"I have no problem with footballers earning vast amounts of money now. I suppose they are trained to a higher standard today than we were.

"They train like racehorses and I think that is why they get so many injuries.

"I don't think we had as much pressure on us from the media and especially the television.

"These footballers can't even go into pubs and have a drink without the papers writing that they were drunk, even if they only have a couple of pints.

"I would have liked to have been paid what they are earning now but I don't know how I would have handled the media."

He had to handle the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, of course, and his dad had a message for Rovers reporter Alf Thornton when he broke into the first team.

"I was christened with a 'y' in Bryan and my dad always insisted on it. When I first got into the first team at Rovers he told me to tell Alf Thornton that he had to spell my name with a 'y'!"

In 15 years, there were good and bad times and Bryan went through possibly every emotion thinkable.

"The best memories were getting promotion in 1958, getting to the cup final in 1960, beating Spurs 7-2 and West Ham 8-2. And we beat our old rivals Burnley in the fifth round of the FA Cup, when we were 3-0 down with 20 minutes to go, got a draw and won the replay. There are many, many great memories."

But bad ones too: "After the cup final defeat in 1960 I don't think I have ever been so depressed. The only highlight was that my son Graham was born the night before.

"I lost the cup final but gained a son which in the long run was much better."