This season Prostate Cancer UK is the official charity of The
Football League. To celebrate, we've asked bloggers from each of
the 72 clubs to count down their top five strikers to have worn the
No9 shirt, in recognition of the fact that prostate cancer
affects one in nine men.
Who else? Alan Shearer was the obvious, and right, choice. Photo courtesy of Action Images
Here blogger Mikey Delap, of thewildblackburnrover.com,
selects Blackburn's five best No9s… and one to forget!
5. Andrew Cole (2001-04)
Still the record signing for the Rovers (just ahead of Kevin
Davies, who won't be making this list), Cole was at the club for
three seasons, but it's his efforts during the first that help him
make this list. His goals took us from a relegation-threatened side
to a top-half side and a trophy. His winning goal in the
Worthington Cup final against Spurs still lives fondly in the
memory, and he'll go down in Blackburn folklore as a result. His 27
goals in 83 games wasn't a bad return for three seasons either.
4. Ted Harper (1923-27)
A strong and quick forward who was a success at every club he
played for. For Rovers, Harper was an instant thumbs up and managed
to build himself up to the level where he plundered 43 goals in 37
games over the course of the 1925-26 season, a record that will
likely never be broken. After retiring from the game, he took up a
role as a coach at the club - good job he had some major skills to
pass on.
3. Tommy Briggs (1952-57)
Something of a journeyman prior to moving to Blackburn, Briggs was
the scorer of an emphatic 140 goals in 194 appearances after
settling at the club. Another old-school forward who bagged more
than 30 goals a season in four consecutive Football League seasons.
He's still a record holder to this day, after scoring seven goals
in one game against Bristol Rovers.
2. Fred Pickering (1959-63 & 1971-72)
A local lad who came good for his home club, Pickering started his
career at Rovers and was an instant hit as a classic No9, bagging
goals on a consistent basis - 74 goals in 158 Rovers appearances
spanning two separate spells. As a player he cruelly missed out on
the 1966 World Cup campaign, picking up an injury prior to the
tournament after being named in the provisional squad while in a
hot streak of form. It could have been Fred banging in that
hat-trick against Germany, but his exploits at Blackburn mean he's
not been forgotten on a local scale.
1. Alan Shearer (1992-96)
A boring choice for the top spot perhaps, but only in that it's
unbelievably obvious and deserved in equal measure. Shearer came to
Rovers as something of a hired gun - the highest transfer fee in
the UK at the time - and was brought in by Jack Walker to bring
goals and ultimately the title to Blackburn Rovers. Strong,
ferocious in the air and one of the hardest hitters of a football,
with 112 goals in 138 appearances and one league title, I'd say it
was money well spent. The best striker in Premier League football
history.
And the worst…
Anthony Modeste (2012)
A recent player, but a dreadful one. Modeste was signed on a
six-month loan earlier this year, and went about proving that new
levels of awfulness can exist in football. Leggy, ragged, clueless
and goal-less during his time at the club, he even managed to make
the likes of Corrado Grabbi and Kevin Davies (him again) look
exciting. His only clean contact came with Billy Jones, which led
to him being sent off at the Hawthorns. One to forget.
Follow Mikey on Twitter @MikeyDelap