FORMER Blackburn Rovers defender Ron Suart has passed away at the age of 94.

Suart signed for Rovers in September 1949 as a replacement for the great Bob Pryde and went on to make 187 appearances for the club without scoring.

The rock-steady centre-back or full-back was one of a number of astute signings made by then manager Jackie Bestall and he established himself in the former England international’s starting line-up in the 1950-51 campaign.

The following season Suart, alongside Rovers luminaries Bill Eckersley and Ronnie Clayton, helped the club reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup where it was beaten by Newcastle United.

He was then an ever-present in the 1952-53 and 1953-54 campaigns, the latter of which marked the start of an exciting new era for the club under Johnny Carey.

Suart then made 25 appearances in the remarkable 1954-55 season before he took over from another former Rovers player, Walter Crook, as Wigan Athletic’s player-manager in September 1955.

He moved to Scunthorpe & Lindsey United in 1956 before returning to Blackpool in 1958 where he helped unearth future England internationals Alan Ball and Emlyn Hughes and where he remains the club’s second longest-serving boss behind Joe Smith.

In 1967 Suart, who was born in Barrow-in-Furness, then became assistant manager to Tommy Docherty at Chelsea, where he won the FA Cup in 1970 and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1971 before taking charge of first-team affairs at Stamford Bridge from October 1974 until April 1975.

Suart played only one game with the legendary Bryan Douglas at Rovers.

But it is said he gave the winger a lesson he would never forgot after watching him play for Rovers in a match at Huddersfield Town in the late 1950s.

Douglas retaliated after a foul and Suart, the then Scunthorpe boss, told him that his former team-mate at Blackpool, Stanley Matthews, would never have done such a thing.