NEVER meet your heroes, goes the old adage.

But Kenny Dalglish definitely bucked the trend for Jason Wilcox.

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Wilcox, one of the stars of the Blackburn Rovers side which won the Premiership 20 years ago this season, admits Dalglish was his idol when he was growing up in Farnworth.

It was to his surprise and delight, then, when the Liverpool legend arrived at Ewood Park in October 1991.

In less than four years Dalglish, backed by the wealth and vision of Jack Walker, hauled Rovers up from the old Division Two to the very summit of English football.

And the Scot made sure that Wilcox, who joined Rovers when he was 14, was with him all the way on what remains one of the game’s greatest rollercoaster rides.

“Kenny was my idol when I was a young kid growing up,” said Wilcox.

“I was an armchair Liverpool supporter and he was my favourite player.

“So to be all of a sudden working underneath him and taking advice from him, not just about football, was unbelievable.

“He really got the best out of me as he knew how to handle me.

“He was very, very tough on me and very, very hard on me and he never let my standards drop. I was always on my toes.

“He also stuck by me.

“I was with Blackburn from the age of 14, all the players who came through with me left, but I managed to survive.

“Kenny and his assistant, Ray Harford, persevered with me.

“I was going through a bit of a time with the crowd at one stage but they stuck by me, kept playing me in difficult circumstances, and for a young boy of 20, that meant a lot.

“Hopefully I repaid their faith in me.”

Wilcox certainly did that.

He scored five goals in 27 league games in the unforgettable 1994-95 campaign, setting up countless others, and by the time he left Rovers in 1999 to join Leeds United in a £3.7m deal, the fast, skilful and hard-working winger had made 313 appearances in the famous blue-and-white halved shirt.

“I was never one for grabbing headlines, just one of those players who worked hard for the team and added balance,” said modest Wilcox, who won three England caps.

“The players had a special bond between us, we all knew what each other’s strengths were and we played to them.

“The midfield players and Graeme Le Saux, who played behind me, knew exactly what passes I wanted.

“I knew what type of passes they were capable of delivering, and I knew what type of crosses Alan Shearer, Chris Sutton and Mike Newell wanted.

“We were really tight-knit and we had a really good spirit, not just the players, but the staff around the training ground and the staff around the stadium. It was special.

“But we were all really humble people. Alan was our star player but he was one of the lads.

“We were all really down to earth people who worked hard for each other to gain success for the club.

“It’s something a lot of players haven’t come across in their careers and I count myself as very fortunate to have been able to sit in a dressing room with a group of blokes I really respected and who I would have run through a brick wall for.”

The same goes for Dalglish.

“We were sort of a mediocre Division Two club, we weren’t very well known, we were very traditional, but we had some very good people in the background doing their best to make the club survive,” added Wilcox.

“Then all of a sudden Jack, who was a local lad, came in and started spending money and brought in Kenny and gave him money to spend.

“Now over the years people have said we bought the (Premiership) title but that’s not true.

“If you look at the players Kenny brought in, he was really clever.

“He brought in players who’d had poor times at other clubs, he brought in players who had something to prove, he had a mixture of youth and experience, and he also brought in players who were happy to be bit-part players if you like.

“That’s not being disrespectful to them but they weren’t kicking up a fuss when they weren’t in the starting line-up, they knew what they needed to do and they did a fantastic job doing it.

“And I think all the lads who were playing week in and week out, really appreciated the job they did because they were a big contributor to the success we enjoyed as the players who were in the team.”

From Tim Flowers to Bobby Mimms, and from Shearer to Newell, Rovers boss Dalglish used 20 players on the way to claiming the club’s third-top flight crown.

“It seems like it was just five minutes ago, let alone 20 years ago, as it is something that will be firmly etched in not just the players’ memories, but the staff’s and the supporters’ too, as it was a special time for us all,” said Wilcox, now 43 and coach of the Manchester City U18s team.

“That period of four or five years, when we got promoted, and then the seasons previous to winning the Premiership, were really special.”