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Most Successful Rover?

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The recent poll asking you the readers which former Blackburn Rovers star you thought has succeeded the most since moving on got me thinking about my views on your responses.

To succeed:

do well
accomplish something
achieve something
be successful
thrive
make it
happen as expected

Above are the different ways in which people could perceive the word.

The poll saw Alan Shearer crowned as the clear winner with a whopping 65% which is no surprise, with Damien Duff in second with 25%. I can see why Shearer was a clear winner as he is without question a legend, accomplishing over 206 goals for Newcastle United in 404 League and Cup appearances with only nine of these appearing as a substitute. This is equal to 0.51 goals a game, fractionally over a goal every other game.

Whilst representing England Shearer scored a total of 30 goals in 63 games. 3 of these were played for Southampton before his time at Rovers scoring 1 goal; 0.33 goals per game. However, this is irrelevant to the article as this was before his time with us. He played 25 of these games as a Rovers player scoring 9 goals which works out at a ratio 0.36 goals per game, so in simple terms almost a goal in every three played. During his spell at Newcastle 31 internationals were played with him scoring 21 times which works out at 0.57 goals a game, slightly better than a goal every other game. So internationally he was more successful after Ewood Park as well. Without doubt his incredible goal scoring record has made him one of the most prolific and successful strikers in world football history.

My personal response to the poll was to vote for Shearer’s would be Newcastle team mate had he not retired this summer, Damien Duff. This was not due to the fact that I felt he is in any way better than Shearer. My reasons for doing so are purely because he achieved more than Shearer did when he went to Chelsea. Duff was crowned a Premier League winner in back-to-back seasons and also won the Carling Cup. I feel it is a shame that Shearer never won anything as if anyone deserved to be a winner then he did. But he does prove however that you do not have to win anything to be deemed a success.

I was surprised to see that Craig Bellamy gained 3% which put him ahead of Tim Sherwood with 2% and Jason Wilcox 1%. The reason for this is that although Sherwood and Wilcox may not have achieved much success when they did move on, they did move on to big clubs, being Tottenham Hotspur and Leeds United respectively, both playing in Europe and playing out the rest of their careers.

Sherwood captained Spurs and won promotion to the Premier League during his time with Portsmouth and Wilcox even went as far as the Champions League semi-final with Leeds. They also both won most of their English caps when they left Rovers.

Bellamy only left in the summer so you could argue that he has not been away for a long enough period of time to reflect his level of success as a Mighty Red as it is only two months into the season and it has not gone as well as he probably would have liked. This could be due to Rafael Benitez’s constant squad rotation?

I am sure that he will be a success given time as he is a quality player and has the qualities needed to succeed. Moving to a club of Liverpool’s stature and history is arguably seen as succeeding already and it is only a matter of time before Liverpool again win something and no doubt he will be part of it! This, along with his recent display against us and his recent Welsh performance, topped off with a goal in each could be what got you to vote him the way you did?

Obviously this poll like all other polls is a matter of opinion and we are all entitled to our say. Technically there is no right or wrong answer so feel free to give your thoughts and/or reasons for your vote below?

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Formerly Hughes Da Man (HDM)

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