A NEW book, entitled Engineering Archie, tells the story of how a factory architect transformed the sporting landscape of Britain, designing football grounds, including Ewood Park, writes GILL JOHNSON

Author Simon Inglis tells the story of Archibald Leitch, a blacksmith's son, born in 1865, who became football's designer-in-chief at the turn of the century.

His work in Blackburn took a total of seven years, from 1906-13 and his brief was to turn an overstretched Victorian ground with wooden stands, cinder banking and wooden barriers, into an enclosed 20th century arena, formed in brick, concrete and steel.

Blackburn Rovers, one of six Lancashire clubs to form the original Football League in 1888, were established in 1875 by former pupils from Blackburn Grammar and Shrewsbury School, one of whom, John Lewis, was a vocal campaigner for the Temperance movements and later became England's leading referee.

By 1906, they were already widely respected as a football town of the strongest traditions, after winning the FA Cup five times in eight seasons.

Ewood, laid out originallly in 1882 was taken over by Rovers in 1890 and staged an England international in 1891.

Five years later it became the first club to be found guilty of negligence when a stand collapsed on a crowd of 20,000 spectators, leading one of the injured to win £25 in compensation!

What characterised the redevelopment though was the character of the chairman, a mill owner, named, appropriately enough, Lawrence Cotton, who spent £33,000 on the Leitch improvements.

These included the creation of the Nuttall Street stand, so typical of northern football in the Edwardian era. Opened in 1907, it had seats for 4,112 on its upper tier, with standing for 9,320 in front.

The Riverside, competed in 1913 was made of reinforced concrete, because its foundations were rooted on the banks of the River Darwen. It was exposed to the wind, however, and the roof was blown off 15 years after opening.

Although it was calculated that Ewood would hold 70,866 after the improvements, its record, in fact, is 62,522, in March 1929.

Today, there are still reminders of work carried out nearly 100 years ago. The ornate panelled boardroom, famed as one of the most welcoming hospitality lounges in football, with its tea urns and heaving plates of baps and butties, has been reassembled in the Blackburn end, while a slab of masonry, bearing the name Rovers FC, taken from a turnstile block built during Leitch's stint, now forms part of the memorial to benefactor Jack Walker.

l Engineering Archie is published by English Heritage and is available in soft back for £14.99.

We have two copies to give away to readers who can correctly answer the following question -- What nationality is present goalkeeper, Brad Friedel? Send your answers to Looking Back, Features, Lancashire Evening Telegraph, High Street, Blackburn, BB1 1HT, to arrive before Tuesday, June 14.