'They have a special place in my heart' - defensive great Mike England on his time at Blackburn Rovers

There are high hopes within the club that a crop of players from the side which reached the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup and the elite stage of the Under-18 Premier League can push through to the senior set-up.

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And if they can have half the careers of three graduates from what remains the ultimate Rovers academy class then they will have done well.

Jackie Campbell’s vintage 1959 team is still the only one in the club’s rich history to have won the FA Youth Cup.

That famous victory, achieved through a two-legged success over a West Ham United team containing future World Cup winners Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst, was impressive enough.

But even more so was the fact that seven members of the side which drew the first leg at Upton Park 1-1 before edging the second 1-0 in front of 28,500 fans at Ewood Park played for the club in the top flight of English football.

But while the two players who scored against West Ham, Alan Bradshaw and Paddy Daly, enjoyed fleeting Rovers careers, the same cannot be said of captain Fred Pickering, Keith Newton and Mike England, who went on to become giants for the club and internationals for their country.

England, in many ways, will be best remembered by people outside of East Lancashire for his time with Tottenham Hotspur.

The powerful but graceful defender won the FA Cup, League Cup and then UEFA Cup at White Hart Lane after making a £95,000 move following Rovers’ relegation to the Second Division in 1966.

But England, now 74 and residing in his native north Wales, continues to cherish the memories of the club where he will go down as one of its greatest centre-halves.

“When I went to Blackburn I was only 15, so it was a big thing for me, but I was made so welcome by the wonderful people of Blackburn and Lancashire,” said England. “Blackburn have a warm spot in my heart.

“When I first got there, though, I just couldn’t understand the accent. The Lancashire accent is quite strong, the Blackburn one in particular, and I had to spend a couple of months with Fred Pickering just so he could explain everything to me. I didn’t know what it all meant when I first arrived!

“They were great days. I was on the groundstaff and we had Keith Newton, Fred Pickering and myself in the youth team, along with players like John Jervis, and we beat Manchester United in the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup and then West Ham United in the final.

“For the likes of Blackburn Rovers – we were all just young kids, we were just 16 – it was a great achievement. Then we went on to play in Europe and we won that as well.

“It was a very special time and several of those players went on to become very good professionals. They did very well for themselves.

“It doesn’t happen often that three or four of your team go on to become internationals for their countries and, when I look back now, I have no doubts that I have Blackburn Rovers to thank for helping me in my career. I’ll never forget that.”

England made his Rovers debut in October 1959 and, after Matt Woods left for Australia, he went on to become a cornerstone of Jack Marshall’s side, making 184 appearances for the club, scoring 21 goals, before leaving for Spurs.

“I was only a young kid when I got into the team,” he remembers. “We had some really good players – Roy Vernon, Peter Dobing, Bryan Douglas, Ronnie Clayton, Matt Woods.

“Blackburn had some really good players but unfortunately what happened was they started selling all their best players and off they went to other clubs.

“So it got a little bit, you know, you were thinking, ‘I want to win things’, and that’s one of the main reasons why I left Blackburn. But Blackburn is very special.”

And it was at Rovers where England won the first of his 44 caps for Wales and where he became the youngest captain in his country’s history; a record which stood until Aaron Ramsey was made skipper in 2011.

England admits Rovers’ captain at the time, Clayton, and fellow Rovers legend Douglas, were massive inspirations.

“Bryan Douglas was unbelievable,” he said. “He was a fantastic player. He was magic. You could see why he played for England so many times.

“And then there was Ronnie Clayton. He was an inspiration to everyone. He was captain of the team and he was playing for England at the time; captaining them, too.

“Bryan Douglas and Ronnie Clayton were the most famous Blackburn players. They were the superstars of their day.

“It was great pleasure for me, as a youngster, to gain so much experience, particularly from those two players.

“I was on the groundstaff and I actually used to clean their boots. Nowadays, of course, they all go to the academies, but it didn’t do us any harm.”

After ending a glittering playing career, which included a spell playing in the United States, England was appointed manager of his beloved Wales.

During his eight-year spell as national team boss he oversaw two famous victories over England, including a record 4-1 victory in his debut match in charge, and went desperately close to steering the country to its first major finals since 1958.

But the pain of missing out on a place at the 1986 World Cup, after drawing a qualifier with Scotland which Wales needed to win to make it to Mexico, was put into perspective by what happened during that fateful match.

“It was tragedy because of the death of Jock Stein, the great Scotland manager,” remembers England, an MBE for his services to Welsh football, who never managed against after losing his job in 1988.

“It happened right next to me practically. It was a huge disaster and we lost a truly wonderful man that day. In football, everybody loved Jock Stein.

“When a tragedy like that happens it brings things to reality. You start thinking. Everyone was so disappointed not to be going to the World Cup but on the other hand, which was far more important, was that we lost a super, superhero, which was Jock Stein.”

Wales ended their long wait to appear on one of the big stages in international football when they qualified for Euro 2016, much to the delight of England, who added: “When I started off playing soccer I was delighted to sign for Blackburn Rovers and then become a professional footballer.

“The next step after that is to get into the Welsh youth team, then the under-21s and so on. Then you actually play in a full international and then, luckily for me, captain your country and manage your country, which was a great honour.

“I was very lucky. I had a wonderful soccer career and I wouldn’t have changed a thing.”