Good day to you and welcome back to part 3 of this short challenge. Can you turn Blackburn Rovers into Premier League challengers in the first season? Well, yes. Whether they will be challengers or the real deal remains to be seen, but here we are with 15 games remaining and a 4 goal lead. 15 cup finals await.

First though, we’ve sold Lars Bohinen. He never played and Parma of all teams wanted him. Goodbye.

A trip to Spurs is trickier than ever this season, they sit in a dangerous 4th and the Ginola/Ferdinand/Klinsmann axis is lethal. Two of the three account for us here and it’s a loss to get us underway today.

If it was 15 cup finals, I guess we’re out at the first hurdle. The cliché has lost all meaning but we put that behind us as we thrash Bolton in an all Lancashire affair. The boy Leon likes to score.

More dropped points here as Kenny attempts to thwart his former club. We lead, we trail, we draw. It’s not an awful result but how many chances are we really going to get to drop points before our illustrious rivals disappear away from us.

That vital clash has been moved back a month. Going to be even more pivotal by then.

We survive a mad half hour in East London where after going 3-0 up we seem to decide that’s enough for one day. Still, a 3-2 win takes us closer to the target.

Ah, man. Season over Jason Wilcox. I think I’ll have to dip into the market before the deadline.

Barnsley are brushed aside. It’s just a two weeker for Emmers.

Newcastle seem to think Keith Gillespie will tempt me into selling Billy McKinlay. They are right, to an extent, but Wilcox being broken means I need to focus my attentions on the left side of attacking midfield.

For £1m, Nick’s favourite is recruited.

Another tricky away trip is checked off. Ex-player Flitcroft threatens to make me look an idiot but thankfully the lads pull it out of the fire.

It’s advantage Man Utd though, with a two point lead and a game in hand.

What is going on here? A bunch of no hopers are in the Semi final, playing Dinamo Tblisi.

This game might never get played at this rate.

Good news, Patrick Valery made his debut for France. Bad news, he threw out a hip thrusting in delight. Never straight forward is it?

With Valery down, I need a left wingback (Wilcox could have given it a go had he not already been crocked) so when Rangers bid for Billy McKinlay, I ask them politely if they’ll throw Jorg Albertz into the mix.

That seems to please everybody. A rare success story.

I’ll have Tony Thorpe as well. That 20 for passing means he can play central midfield if Emmers gets injured again.

Meanwhile, whilst we sign players from Division 2, Man Utd raid AC Milan.

Well, at least we won.

Sigh. The curse of the left wing back.

Back to the top though, with Man Utd not playing.

This was a weird game, we didn’t really deserve to win with finishing this poor. More dropped points.

Ewood remains a tough place to come and Freddy Leon’s happy place.

Coventry do us a massive favour, defending like beavers and keeping out Man Utd for 90 minutes. More twists and turns to come.

Spurs are also back (back?) in the title race with this win at Highbury.

And when we enjoy the fastest of starts at Leicester….

It’s an Easter Monday to remember, with Chelsea beating the Champions.

How has this happened? We are a net third if Man Utd win their games in hand.

Southampton were never likely to cause us any issues.

Man Utd are playing every other day as their commitments start to catch up with them. Here they are playing the day after an International weekend, and drawing 0-0.

Sky would be wetting themselves over this.

The big game arrives and frustratingly, we can’t hold onto a lead twice. Ex-Rover Henning Berg is the unlikely scorer in a result that keeps everyone guessing.

Goal difference is increasingly looking like it might be a factor…

Therefore scoring 4 here is a huge help.

In typical Spurs fashion, this was their chance to really put a cockerel amongst the pigeons but they fall well short on the day.

Should be a two horse race now.

Bank holiday Monday success.

Man Utd win their game in hand, so we head into the final day 6 goals ahead. I suppose it’s really 7 due to us having scored 18 more than them.

This really is a cup final then. Imagine if we were playing each other? Goodness. Instead we have Wimbledon whereas ironically, Man Utd are off to Upton Park…the scene of their 1995 disappointment when Blackburn previously won the league. Ooooh I love a good coincidence.

Never easy is it? We were 1-0 down, 2-1 up and when Ardley equalised with 7 minutes left, I thought that was it for us. Super sub Tony Thorpe restored our lead and Leon, fittingly, sealed the win and the trophy. Phew.

West Ham, already relegated, did not even try to help.

Thankfully we didn’t need them. We did it! And yes, I will lay awake tonight with us scoring 99 goals.

Just for completeness, here’s the bottom of the pile.

44 for Freddy. Lethal.

The two centre backs were outstanding too.

Better than a goal a game. Quite rare to get that in one of the top leagues.

Man Utd won the League Cup, FA Cup and Champions League, so don’t feel too bad for them.

So there we have it, the answer to this challenge is a big YES. Blackburn can win the Premier League in season 1. Granted, we had to do it on goal difference with a massive 92 points, but we did it. Freddy Leon is a legend. I’ll be back soon with the 2024 CM Cup and then back again in the new year with some more challenges. Until then, goodbye for now!