AS A fresh faced 21-year-old who had just made the switch to Ewood Park from Manchester United, John Curtis admits he didn’t feel any pressure going in to the 2000/01 season.

And he regards that promotion year with Rovers as his favourite as a professional, with the club having made a lasting impression on him.

Curtis, now working in soccer leagues in America, still holds an affection for the town and football club.

After joining from United in June 2000 for seven figure transfer fee, he looks back fondly on the season in which Graeme Souness guided Rovers back to the top-flight after a two year absence.

Like in their most recent promotion, from League One to the Championship last season, Rovers had to settle for second place, despite racking up 91 points as Fulham proved just too strong.

Reflecting on the 2001 promotion, Curtis told the Lancashire Telegraph: “It was a great season – absolutely fantastic.

“It was my first season for Blackburn so it was new to me.

“I’d obviously played in the Championship and got to the play-off final with Barnsley the year before.

“It was probably one of the best seasons I had as a pro, certainly the most memorable in terms of fun and it is always nice to play in the team that’s winning.

“Although we finished second, we were pretty dominant in the league and Fulham were the only team that had our number and they were a particularly good side.”

Curtis was one of a number of young prospects in that Rovers team, along with Matt Jansen, Damien Duff, Damien Johnson and David Dunn.

The squad wasn’t without experience either with the likes of Craig Short, Garry Flitcroft and Alan Kelly also in the XI.

And Curtis, an ever present that season, said: “When you looked at the squad it was a Premier League squad playing in the Championship.

“It had some big hitters so to speak, experienced players, good young players, Damien Duff, Damien Johnson, myself, so it had a nice blend of youth and experience and dominated accordingly.

“It was a good season of football

“The squad of players had everything.

“It had hardworking lads and it had that flair and skill.

“We were pretty dominant, it was brilliant to be involved in that squad.”

So what about that pressure?

Rovers, Premier League champions in 1994/95, were relegated just four years later.

They had endured a mixed campaign in the second tier in 1999/2000 with an expensively assembled squad failing to hit the heights, with Brian Kidd sacked just three months into the season.

Souness was eventually installed as his successor after another caretaker spell in charge for Tony Parkes.

They finished the season in 11th, some 14 points outside the play-off spots and 27 behind Manchester City who finished second behind champions Charlton.

And despite what Curtis acknowledged were Premier League facilities at the club’s Brockhall training base, and a squad of players with experience of the top flight, that didn’t create extra pressure.

He said: “I’d just left Manchester United to go to Blackburn – there’s no pressure compared to that.

“It was a breath of fresh air from that point of view.

“Looking back now in hindsight, having played for Nottingham Forest in League Two and doing that as a senior pro, there is more pressure.

“But I’m sure the more senior pros in that squad, Craig Short, Garry Flitcroft, Alan Kelly, John Filan, lads that had been around and played for Blackburn for longer than I had, and played for them in the Premier League, they may well have felt the pressure more than a 21-year-old kid coming into the squad from Manchester United.

“At that age I didn’t have a care in the world and just wanted to play and give the best you could for the club.

“From a pressure point of view there was none from myself.”

 Curtis, now 39, had been a play-off finalist during a loan spell with Barnsley in 2000 when they were beaten at Wembley by an Ipswich team which included now Rovers boss Tony Mowbray.

The full-back, who played 78 times for Rovers before joining Leicester in 2003, says the decision to move to Ewood was an easy one.

“Blackburn is such a good, friendly club yet being one of the teams to have won the Premier League it was regarded as a big and successful club playing in the wrong division,” he added.

“It still maintained that Premier League feel, the training ground and Academy were virtually brand new at the time, everything was set up as a Premier League club.

“From leaving Manchester United and going to Blackburn was an easy decision not just geographically but because everything was set up like a Premier League club and still is.

“It has got everything that a Premier League club needs so as a transition for me as a club and set of players it made it very easy.”