THE last club to come in was Blackburn and I met Don Mackay, the manager.

He wanted me to play left-back. I didn’t exactly agree with that but mentioned it was funny as that was where I’d been playing under Alex Ferguson.

Don offered me a contract and with everything more or less perfect with not having to move and the status of the club, I agreed to join.

Blackburn Rovers were in the Second Division but had narrowly missed out on a couple of promotion attempts in recent years, so I was satisfied that they were a club on the ‘up’.

I joined with positivity and what I would like to believe was the right attitude but the difference in going to play for Blackburn Rovers and Manchester United was profound.

It wasn’t just the size of the clubs, though that played a part, I think it was more the change itself. I’d gone from the only place I knew in the profession (and a place that I wasn’t alone in feeling was the best) to somewhere new that wasn’t quite the same.

Kevin Moran was there, as was Frank Stapleton, so there were familiar faces, but becoming etached from United had, in a way, detached me from football.

I still enjoyed the game, don’t get me wrong, but it was like it had suddenly become a job. I was doing it for a living, rather than living to do it.

Perhaps my character and personality didn’t help as it had taken me a long time to really feel ‘at home’ at United, if that makes sense. It was taking a lot of getting used to and ironically I think that staying in the area compounded that problem.

I was so used to my routine and that routine was dictated by Manchester United. Now, everything in my life was the same, except I was playing for Blackburn Rovers.

That’s not meant as a slight at my new club, I just mean that in retrospect, perhaps it would have been better for me to have taken the plunge and moved away.

The only decision that I had any cause to consider was whether moving to Blackburn had been the right one but that’s easy to say with hindsight. It was hard to see what we were going to do to progress – Don Mackay was a decent enough manager but there didn’t seem to be much organisation or direction to the training, as in the week we seemed to just play games.

There was a difference in intensity. It didn’t translate well on the pitch, though the injuries we had in the squad played a part in our lack of consistency.

When I initially joined the club I was of the belief that they had the intention to get promoted; no club has a directive to get relegated or struggle but you can quickly ascertain the strength of ambition.

The problems that were out of the manager’s hands meant I wasn’t going to question the ambition but it was clear that moving into my second year at Blackburn, the objective was for a vast improvement all round no matter what.

Not that it made any difference once August came around. We drew the first and then lost the next two of our opening three games.

Around this time, the ownership of the club changed hands, with lifelong fan Jack Walker taking over.

There was immediately talk of investment but we didn’t see it right away. There was certainly no way of knowing the transformation of the club that was about to happen in a remarkably short time.

There was a gymnasium for the team in a derelict terraced house across the road from Ewood Park and the manager’s office was upstairs in the house.

It was a throwback to the 1950s and 60s in many ways. Medical facilities were so threadbare you’d go to the hospital.

One of the first changes was Kenny Dalglish coming in as manager. He and his assistant Ray Harford changed training and made it a lot more active and different.

Kenny and I had differing allegiances from our backgrounds but we got on all right – I always felt that he was approachable enough to talk to.

My experience of working with him was limited due to what was about to happen in the near future but he obviously went on to do very well for Blackburn.

I know people say that he spent money but he is well revered at the club for winning them the league and that’s all that matters.

n n n As I say, people accuse Blackburn of buying success, but with Jack being such a passionate fan of the club and so passionate about their success, I think they did it in the right way, even if I was about to become something of a victim of it.

I suffered an ankle injury in training just before Christmas 1991 and it was very sore, so I went to see a specialist at a Blackburn hospital.

After examination, all he did was give me a cortisone injection, but it didn’t really help. I knew that it was more than just swelling.

A couple of days later, I was feeling my foot in the bath and felt a piece of bone in my ankle as if it was floating about. I went to the physio and asked him to look – he said I’d broken it.

I had to have an operation to have it fixed, and in the meantime, the club signed a replacement on loan.

I went into the club as part of my rehabilitation and saw the new lad in my training gear. Were they trying to tell me something?! Was there really not another kit or number he could have worn?

That really didn’t sit right with me.

I went to Lilleshall for more rehabilitation but by the time I was fit the team had really turned around and was picking up results in a promotion push.

Frank Stapleton was in charge at Bradford and asked if I fancied going there on loan.

I enjoyed my short time there and when the loan ended, it seemed there was no future for me at Blackburn as they had David May playing in my position.

Bradford had been impressed with me and said that if I found myself without a club, then I was more than welcome to go back there and they’d give me a contract.

That decision was made fairly quickly in May, and then I watched Blackburn achieve promotion in the play-offs into new Premier League.

The turnover of players in that team was prolific and clearly there was no place for me.

It was disappointing to leave after the spell I’d had.

Nothing had really worked out at Blackburn, I’d never had a proper chance to establish myself and prove myself to the supporters in as much as I didn’t get to show them what I was capable of.

Okay, I was a little past my best, but I was still capable of better than what I showed on the pitch during my spell at Ewood Park.

  •  The autobiography of Mick Duxbury: It’s Mick, Not Mike (ISBN 9781785310492, published by Pitch Publishing) is available now from Amazon, Waterstones and WHSmith.