Were it not for the current suspension of the football season, it would likely be talk of a more recent title win at Anfield that would be dominating the headlines, but today marks 25 years since Rovers scaled to the summit of the English game, etching their names in to Premier League history.

Through the foresight of Jack Walker Rovers would go from continual near-misses at promotion from Division Two, to Premier League winners within the space of five years under his ownership.

Accusations of ‘buying the league’, which will undoubtedly come from those outside East Lancashire, are frustrating, Graeme Le Saux even admitting it’s something he comes to defend to this day.

Rovers did break the transfer record to sign Chris Sutton and the £2.4m spent on Tim Flowers was a record for a goalkeeper at the time. The 1994/95 season saw £6.8m spent, including £1.5m on the addition of Jeff Kenna from Southampton in March. Two months earlier, Manchester United had spent £7m on acquiring Andy Cole from Manchester United.

The regular Rovers starting XI that season cost around £14.5m, but as Dalglish pointed out: “It wasn’t all about the money, it wasn’t about what I did, either. It was about the players. They were just a fantastic group and there was such a great camaraderie between them.”

Rovers used just 21 players, and while the small squad could have proved their undoing as injuries began to bite late on in the campaign, they used that to their advantage. “Our team spirit, the team ethic, the work ethic and everything like that was the best that I’ve ever known that season,” Mark Atkins said.

Walker’s expenditure brought expectation, but that is one thing Rovers were willing to shoulder, not be cowered by, and despite their lack of experience in challenging for top-flight titles, that is where the calming influence of Dalglish, a serial winner, came to the fore.

But Tim Sherwood, who lifted the title that day, said the players didn’t fear the reputation they created, embracing the ‘think big’ motto of their owner.

“The first year in the Premier League, I’m not sure we really believed we could win it,” he said.

“But we got close in the second year, finishing second behind Manchester United, and from that moment on we knew we could win it. In fact I’d say we expected to win it.

“That was the mentality going into the 94-95 season and everything went swimmingly.”

Moving at the pace Rovers wanted to, and subsequently did, would always require investment.

That came from a local boy done good, an industrialist in his mid-60s who would come to be affectionately known to supporters as ‘Uncle Jack’. In living out his dream, he shared it with thousands of others, creating life-long memories.

Raised from humble beginnings in a two-up two down terraced house in Randall Street, there were no shortcuts to success before making his fortune in the development of Walker Steel, which enabled his purchase of Rovers in January ‘91.

He had the aim of restoring Rovers to football prominence, no easy feat given just 3,587 had watched a 4-1 defeat to Brighton just four years earlier.

After near misses in the transfer market, on the likes of Gary Lineker, Walker needed a man to help achieve his dream, that coming in the form of Dalglish.

A steady stream of players began to arrive, but it was the quality of the purchases that stood out, Rovers having the foresight to bring in Alan Shearer, pair with him with Chris Sutton, and build a structure that would allow them to thrive.

And while focus will quite rightly be on the events at Anfield and that dream season, Walker’s legacy has stood the test of time.

Off the pitch, even before his takeover,essential repair work to Ewood Park was made possible by Walker Steel helping fund a restoration of the ailing Riverside Stand. In 1993, the transition of turning Ewood in to an all-seater 30,000 seater stadium began, and by 1995, the project was completed, the re-opening marked with a 7-0 win over Nottingham Forest, fittingly named the Jack Walker Stand.

There was Radio Rovers, the first dedicated football club radio station introduced in 1993, and then the mid-90s investment in buying land in the Ribble Valley that would later become the club’s state-of-the-art training facility at Brockhall.

That has been the grounding for countless players go on to live out their dreams of running out in the blue and white halves, represent their countries and to this day sees hundreds of youngsters pass through its doors.

On Monday, May 15 30,000 people crammed in to Ewood Park to witness the presentation of the Premier League trophy, the loudest cheer of the day reserved for Walker, who through investing his personal wealth in the club he’d supported since a young boy made Rovers kings of the country. It’s an accolade that can never be taken away.

Just as Lawrence Cotton did when taking over in 1905, and overseeing the league titles of 1912 and 1914, and the backing of local businessmen that helped the club to FA Cup success in 1884 and 1886, Walker’s dream was to take Rovers to the top.

But his legacy lives on much beyond the 1994/95 season.