Blackburn Rovers have come a long way from the big-spending days and 1995 Premier League title under the ownership of Jack Walker. They have needed to adapt to their position in the north-west’s football ecosystem because they are no longer challenging for honours at the top of the pyramid.
The last time Blackburn won an FA Cup quarter-final, in 2007, Hayden Carter was at Manchester City – the club they beat that day – albeit in the under-sevens. The defender was released at 13 and was signed by Blackburn, where he has been joined by a number of teammates who went through similar rejection at Premier League clubs. They hope the next stage of their journey will be a Wembley semi-final, the reward if they win at Sheffield United on Sunday.
Rovers’ facilities and setup attract youngsters from farther afield. Lewis Travis arrived after time with Liverpool in his mid-teens, Joe Rankin-Costello from Manchester United and Tyrhys Dolan played for Manchester City, Preston and Burnley before joining in his late teens.
“I don’t think City helped me at all,” Carter says of his departure from the club he joined aged five. “I was doing one-to-one training with a guy who knows a few people, so he spoke to different clubs.” Blackburn took him before the end of a six-week trial. “It was tough to leave City because that was all I’ve known and when you are a kid, when you are comfortable, you are happy,” he says. “As soon as I came here, it was a category one academy and that is what people look for when they are young, playing at the better academies in the country. That is why I decided to come here when I left City and I’m glad I did.”
At City, Carter was in the same youth team as Phil Foden. “He was decent but I wouldn’t say he was the best in the age group. I thought Tom Dele-Bashiru [now at Watford] was better, but he [Foden] has developed into a pretty decent player, hasn’t he?” Carter says with a laugh.
Carter plays alongside a few others who took a little more time to develop but are blossoming at Ewood Park. Wednesday’s win against Reading left Blackburn fifth in the Championship with nine games to play. After spells in and out of the team in the past two seasons, resulting in January loans to Burton and Portsmouth, where he won goal of the season for a 25-yard strike, the 23-year-old has settled under Jon Dahl Tomasson, making 26 appearances. “Without those loans, I do not think I would be playing as well and as often as I have,” Carter says.
There are a number of local players who started in the academy, too, including Scott Wharton and John Buckley. “When I first came into the first-team training, there were already quite a few lads I had played with down at the academy that had come up,” Carter says. “It gave you the belief it could be you next. With a few of the team being academy lads, I think it helps us because we want to do the best for this club because it has given a lot to us in the academy and throughout the under-21s, then into the first team.”
Travis, Dolan, Rankin-Costello and Carter have bounced back from earlier rejections to forge impressive careers. There is plenty of scope for improvement within a squad which has a historic chance to earn promotion and a Cup trip to Wembley. “We want to play in the Premier League like every other club does,” Carter says. “I can’t remember saying at the start of the season with all the coaches involved that we have to get in the playoffs this year because it is a young team, the manager’s first year in the country. I think as players we knew we could be up and around it, so hopefully we can continue with that to the end of the season and stay in there.”
Wembley via the Cup is the more immediate target when Blackburn take on a Sheffield United team they defeated at home two weeks ago. “The club has not played at the new Wembley, so if we can get there it would be exciting for everyone at the club and all the fans,” Carter says. “To play at Wembley would be brilliant, especially as a young team. Very few of us have played there, so that would be a great experience. We know how tough Sunday will be without thinking about the potential Wembley game.”
Carter has watched his beloved Manchester United at Wembley but playing there would be very different. “I wouldn’t mind United in the final, after beating City in the semis,” Carter jokes. Whatever the outcome on Sunday, Blackburn have set themselves up with a core group that can lead them forward for years to come.
