2001–02 Blackburn Rovers F.C. season

Blackburn Rovers
2001–02 season
Chairman	Robert Coar
Manager	Graeme Souness
FA Premier League	10th
FA Cup	Fifth round
League Cup	Winners
Top goalscorer	League: ; Matt Jansen (10); All: ; Matt Jansen (16)
Average home league attendance	25,984
	← 2000–01 2002–03 →

During the 2001–02 English football season, Blackburn Rovers competed in the Premier League (known as the FA Barclaycard Premiership for sponsorship reasons).

Season summary

Blackburn won just four of their first 14 league games, a run which also included seven draws and three defeats. However, they had little time to savour their Worthington Cup glory that resulted from a 2–1 win over Tottenham Hotspur on 24 February - they were deep in the relegation mire and occupying third place from bottom following a dreadful winter period, as they won two and lost ten in 12 games, the two wins seeing them do a decidedly one-sided double over Charlton Athletic (2–0 away and 4–1 home). But Graeme Souness inspired his side, bolstered by the arrival of striker Andy Cole, to a considerable turnaround in form - seeing them win six in their final 12 games - which saw them climb to 10th place in the final table. UEFA Cup qualification had already been achieved thanks to the Worthington Cup triumph, but the club's fans were left wondering whether it could have been achieved automatically had it not been for the club's dismal winter period. Especially, their league record produced four more defeats than wins in contrast to a final goal difference of +4, concluding them as a comprehensively winning team despite their inconsistency.^{[citation needed]}

At the end of the season, striker Mark Hughes retired at the age of 38, after a playing career spanning 22 years that had yielded two league titles, four FA Cups, a Cup Winners' Cup and three League Cups.

Final league table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
8	Aston Villa	38	12	14	12	46	47	−1	50	Qualification for the Intertoto Cup third round
9	Tottenham Hotspur	38	14	8	16	49	53	−4	50
10	Blackburn Rovers	38	12	10	16	55	51	+4	46	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round^[a]
11	Southampton	38	12	9	17	46	54	−8	45
12	Middlesbrough	38	12	9	17	35	47	−12	45

Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Notes:

^ Blackburn Rovers qualified for the UEFA Cup as League Cup winners.

Results summary


Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	12	10	16	55	51	+4	46	8	6	5	33	20	+13	4	4	11	22	31	−9

Source: Statto

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38
Ground	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H
Result	L	D	W	L	D	D	W	L	W	D	D	W	D	D	L	L	L	W	L	L	L	W	L	L	L	L	D	W	W	L	L	W	D	W	D	W	L	W
Position	14	15	8	13	13	12	6	11	8	10	10	7	7	10	10	14	15	12	14	14	15	14	15	17	17	18	18	18	15	16	17	17	17	16	15	12	12	10

Source: Statto.com
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Results

Blackburn Rovers' score comes first^[1]

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

FA Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
18 August 2001	Derby County	A	1–2	28,236	Blake
22 August 2001	Manchester United	H	2–2	29,836	Beckham (o.g.), Gillespie
25 August 2001	Tottenham Hotspur	H	2–1	24,992	Mahon, Duff
8 September 2001	Sunderland	A	0–1	45,103
16 September 2001	Ipswich Town	A	1–1	22,126	Jansen
19 September 2001	Bolton Wanderers	H	1–1	25,949	Neill
22 September 2001	Everton	H	1–0	27,732	Grabbi
30 September 2001	Aston Villa	A	0–2	28,623
14 October 2001	West Ham United	H	7–1	22,712	Flitcroft, Dunn, Johnson, McCann (o.g.), Tugay, Jansen, Hignett
20 October 2001	Arsenal	A	3–3	38,108	Gillespie, Dunn (2)
29 October 2001	Leicester City	H	0–0	21,873
3 November 2001	Southampton	A	2–1	30,523	Tugay, Hignett
17 November 2001	Liverpool	H	1–1	28,859	Jansen
24 November 2001	Chelsea	A	0–0	37,978
1 December 2001	Middlesbrough	H	0–1	23,849
9 December 2001	Leeds United	H	1–2	28,309	Berg
15 December 2001	Newcastle United	A	1–2	50,064	Dunn
22 December 2001	Charlton Athletic	A	2–0	25,857	Duff, Dunn
26 December 2001	Sunderland	H	0–3	29,869
29 December 2001	Derby County	H	0–1	23,529
1 January 2002	Tottenham Hotspur	A	0–1	35,131
12 January 2002	Charlton Athletic	H	4–1	23,365	Tugay, Cole, Hignett, Jansen
19 January 2002	Manchester United	A	1–2	67,552	Hignett
30 January 2002	Arsenal	H	2–3	25,893	Jansen (2)
2 February 2002	West Ham United	A	0–2	35,307
9 February 2002	Fulham	A	0–2	19,580
2 March 2002	Bolton Wanderers	A	1–1	27,203	Jansen
5 March 2002	Aston Villa	H	3–0	21,988	Dunn, Duff, Cole
13 March 2002	Ipswich Town	H	2–1	23,305	Duff, Cole
17 March 2002	Leeds United	A	1–3	39,857	Jansen
30 March 2002	Leicester City	A	1–2	16,236	Hughes
1 April 2002	Southampton	H	2–0	28,851	Duff, Yordi
10 April 2002	Chelsea	H	0–0	25,441
20 April 2002	Middlesbrough	A	3–1	26,932	Yordi, Cole, Dunn (pen.)
23 April 2002	Newcastle United	H	2–2	26,712	Gillespie, Cole
28 April 2002	Everton	A	2–1	34,976	Jansen, Cole
8 May 2002	Liverpool	A	3–4	40,663	Duff, Cole, Jansen
11 May 2002	Fulham	H	3–0	30,487	Cole (2), Duff

FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R3	5 January 2002	Barnsley	A	1–1	12,314	Hignett
R3R	16 January 2002	Barnsley	H	3–1	10,203	Grabbi, Dunn (pen.), Johansson
R4	26 January 2002	Millwall	A	1–0	15,004	Cole
R5	16 February 2002	Middlesbrough	A	0–1	20,921

League Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Goalscorers
R2	12 September 2001	Oldham Athletic	H	2–0	9,559	Jansen, Dunning
R3	10 October 2001	Middlesbrough	H	2–1 (a.e.t.)	9,536	Hignett, Short
R4	28 November 2001	Manchester City	H	2–0	17,907	Johansson, Johnson
R5	11 December 2001	Arsenal	H	4–0	13,278	Jansen (3), Hughes
SF First Leg	8 January 2002	Sheffield Wednesday	A	2–1	30,883	Hignett, Cole
SF Second Leg	22 January 2002	Sheffield Wednesday	H	4–2 (won 6–3 on agg)	26,844	Jansen, Duff, Cole, Hignett
F	24 February 2002	Tottenham Hotspur	N	2–1	72,500	Jansen, Cole

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[2]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	USA	Brad Friedel
2	DF	ENG	John Curtis
3	MF	TUR	Tugay Kerimoğlu
4	DF	NOR	Henning Berg (Vice captain)
5	DF	NOR	Stig Inge Bjørnebye
6	DF	ENG	Craig Short
7	MF	ENG	Garry Flitcroft (captain)
8	MF	ENG	David Dunn
9	FW	ENG	Andy Cole
10	FW	ENG	Matt Jansen
11	MF	IRL	Damien Duff
12	FW	WAL	Mark Hughes
14	DF	SWE	Nils-Eric Johansson
15	MF	ENG	Craig Hignett


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
16	MF	IRL	Alan Mahon
17	FW	ESP	Yordi (on loan from Real Zaragoza)
18	MF	NIR	Keith Gillespie
20	FW	NOR	Egil Østenstad
21	FW	ITA	Corrado Grabbi
22	DF	TUR	Hakan Ünsal
23	GK	IRL	Alan Kelly
24	MF	ENG	Darren Dunning
27	GK	ENG	Alan Miller
28	DF	ENG	Martin Taylor
29	MF	IRL	Jonathan Douglas
30	DF	SCO	Gordon Greer
31	DF	AUS	Lucas Neill

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
9	FW	ENG	Marcus Bent (to Ipswich Town)
13	GK	AUS	John Filan (to Wigan Athletic)
14	FW	WAL	Nathan Blake (to Wolverhampton Wanderers)
17	MF	IRL	Jason McAteer (to Sunderland)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
19	MF	NIR	Damien Johnson (to Birmingham City)
22	DF	IRL	Jeff Kenna (to Birmingham City)
29	DF	ENG	Marlon Broomes (to Sheffield Wednesday)
—	DF	IRL	Fred Murray (to Cambridge United)

Reserve squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
25	DF	ENG	Simon Grayson
26	FW	WAL	James Thomas
32	GK	ENG	Ryan Robinson
34	FW	ENG	Marc Richards
—	DF	SCO	David McNamee


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	ENG	Jimmy Corbett
—	MF	ENG	Neil Danns
—	MF	SCO	Burton O'Brien
—	MF	USA	Jemal Johnson

Transfers

In


Date	Position	Name	Club From	Fee	Reference
11 May 2001	DF	Gordon Greer	Clyde	£250k	^[3]
17 May 2001	MF	Tugay Kerimoğlu	Rangers	£1.3 million	^[4]
18 June 2001	FW	Corrado Grabbi	Ternana	£7 million	^[5]
29 June 2001	MF	Alan Mahon	Sporting CP	£1.5 million	^[6]
7 September 2001	DF	Lucas Neill	Millwall	£600k	^[7]
5 October 2001	DF	Nils-Eric Johansson	Nurenburg	Undisclosed	^[8]
29 December 2001	FW	Andy Cole	Manchester United	£7.6 million	^[9]
21 February 2002	DF	Hakan Ünsal	Galatasaray	Undisclosed	^[10]

Out

Date	Position	Name	Club To	Fee	Reference
13 September 2001	FW	Nathan Blake	Wolverhampton Wanderers	£1.5 million	^[11]
19 October 2001	MF	Jason McAteer	Sunderland	Undisclosed	^[12]
23 November 2001	FW	Marcus Bent	Ipswich Town	Undisclosed	^[13]
12 December 2001	DF	Marlon Broomes	Sheffield Wednesday	Free Transfer	^[14]
14 December 2001	GK	John Filan	Wigan Athletic	£600k	^[15]
1 February 2002	DF	Jeff Kenna	Birmingham City	Free transfer	^[16]
8 March 2002	MF	Damien Johnson	Birmingham City	Undisclosed	^[17]

Loans In

Date	Nation	Position	Name	Club From	Length	Reference
20 February 2002		FW	Yordi	Real Zaragoza	Until end of season	^[18]

Loans Out

Date	Position	Name	Club To	Length	Reference
4 September 2001	DF	Simon Grayson	Notts County	One Month	^[19]
6 September 2001	DF	Marlon Broomes	Grimsby Town	One Month	^[20]
10 October 2001	GK	Alan Miller	St Johnstone	Three Months	^[21]
13 February 2002	DF	Simon Grayson	Bradford City	One Month	^[22]

Statistics

Appearances and goals

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Premier League		FA Cup		League Cup
No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	GK	USA	Brad Friedel	45	0	36	0	3	0	6	0
23	GK	IRL	Alan Kelly	3	0	2	0	1	0	0	0
Defenders
2	DF	ENG	John Curtis	16	0	10	0	1	0	5	0
4	DF	NOR	Henning Berg	38	1	34	1	2	0	2	0
5	DF	NOR	Stig Inge Bjørnebye	29	0	23	0	2	0	4	0
6	DF	ENG	Craig Short	26	1	21+1	0	2	0	2	1
14	DF	SWE	Nils-Eric Johansson	28	2	14+6	0	3	1	5	1
17	DF	TUR	Hakan Ünsal	8	0	7+1	0	0	0	0	0
28	DF	ENG	Martin Taylor	29	0	12+7	0	3+1	0	6	0
30	DF	SCO	Gordon Greer	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
31	DF	AUS	Lucas Neill	31	5	31	1	0	4	0	0
Midfielders
3	MF	TUR	Tugay Kerimoğlu	43	3	32+1	3	3+1	0	5+1	0
7	MF	ENG	Garry Flitcroft	32	1	26+3	1	1	0	2	0
8	MF	ENG	David Dunn	36	8	26+3	7	2	1	5	0
11	MF	IRL	Damien Duff	39	8	31+1	7	1+1	0	5	1
12	MF	WAL	Mark Hughes	30	2	4+17	1	1+2	0	4+2	1
15	MF	ENG	Craig Hignett	29	8	4+16	4	2+1	1	5+1	3
16	MF	IRL	Alan Mahon	22	1	10+3	1	3	0	3+3	0
18	MF	NIR	Keith Gillespie	39	2	21+11	2	2+1	0	3+1	0
24	MF	ENG	Darren Dunning	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1
29	MF	IRL	Jonathan Douglas	1	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0
Forwards
9	FW	ENG	Andy Cole	20	13	15	9	2	1	3	3
10	FW	ENG	Matt Jansen	43	16	34+1	10	2+1	0	4+1	6
13	FW	ESP	Yordi	9	2	5+3	2	0	0	0+1	0
20	FW	NOR	Egil Østenstad	7	0	2+2	0	1	0	0+2	0
21	FW	ITA	Corrado Grabbi	19	2	10+4	1	1+1	1	1+2	0
Left club during season
9	FW	ENG	Marcus Bent	10	0	1+8	0	0	0	0+1	0
13	GK	AUS	John Filan	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
14	FW	WAL	Nathan Blake	3	1	0+3	1	0	0	0	0
17	MF	IRL	Jason McAteer	4	0	1+3	0	0	0	0	0
19	MF	NIR	Damien Johnson	12	2	6+1	1	2	0	3	1
22	DF	IRL	Jeff Kenna	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0

Top scorers

Premier League

Football League Cup Final line-up

24 February 2002

14:00

Blackburn Rovers	2 – 1	Tottenham Hotspur
Jansen 25' Cole 69'	Report^{[dead link‍]}	Ziege 33'

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Attendance: 72,500

Referee: Graham Poll (Hertfordshire)

Blackburn Rovers

Tottenham Hotspur


GK	1	Brad Friedel
RB	28	Martin Taylor
CB	4	Henning Berg (c)
CB	14	Nils-Eric Johansson
LB	5	Stig Inge Bjørnebye
RM	18	Keith Gillespie	75'
CM	8	David Dunn
CM	12	Mark Hughes
LM	11	Damien Duff
CF	10	Matt Jansen	74'
CF	9	Andy Cole
Substitutes:
GK	27	Alan Miller
DF	2	John Curtis
MF	15	Craig Hignett	75'
MF	16	Alan Mahon
FW	17	Yordi	74'
Manager:
Graeme Souness


GK	1	Neil Sullivan
RB	18	Ben Thatcher
CB	6	Chris Perry
CB	26	Ledley King
LB	3	Mauricio Taricco	79'
RM	7	Darren Anderton
CM	8	Tim Sherwood
CM	14	Gustavo Poyet	84'
LM	23	Christian Ziege
CF	10	Teddy Sheringham (c)
CF	9	Les Ferdinand
Substitutes:
GK	13	Kasey Keller
DF	30	Anthony Gardner
MF	29	Simon Davies	79'
FW	11	Serhii Rebrov
FW	16	Steffen Iversen	84'
Manager:
Glenn Hoddle

Notes

References

^ "Blackburn Rovers results for the 2001-2002 season". statto.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
^ "FootballSquads - Blackburn Rovers - 2001/02". www.footballsquads.co.uk.
^ "Greer set for Blackburn move". BBC Sport. 11 May 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "Blackburn agree Tugay fee". BBC Sport. 17 May 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "Blackburn sign £7m Grabbi". BBC Sport. 18 June 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "Rovers seal Mahon deal". BBC Sport. 29 June 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "Blackburn seal Neill deal". BBC Sport. 7 September 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "Rovers sign Swede". BBC Sport. 5 October 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ Wardle, John (30 December 2001). "Blackburn land £8m Cole". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "Blackburn sign Unsal". BBC Sport. 21 February 2002. Archived from the original on 22 February 2002. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "Wolves sign Blake". BBC Sport. 13 September 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "McAteer joins Sunderland". BBC Sport. 19 October 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "Bent completes Ipswich move". BBC Sport. 23 November 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "Broomes joins Owls". BBC Sport. 12 December 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "Wigan swoop for Filan". BBC Sport. 14 December 2001. Archived from the original on 14 December 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "Kenna joins Birmingham". BBC Sport. 1 February 2002. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "Blues snap up Johnson". BBC Sport. 8 March 2002. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "Yordi joins Blackburn". BBC Sport. 20 February 2002. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "Notts County grab Grayson". BBC Sport. 4 September 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "Grimsby snap up Broomes". BBC Sport. 6 September 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "Miller joins St Johnstone". BBC Sport. 10 October 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
^ "Grayson joins Bradford". BBC Sport. 13 February 2002. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[table_note_res_BLB0.23405027726388-1] Blackburn Rovers qualified for the UEFA Cup as League Cup winners.

[2] "Blackburn Rovers results for the 2001-2002 season". statto.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.

[3] "FootballSquads - Blackburn Rovers - 2001/02". www.footballsquads.co.uk.

[4] "Greer set for Blackburn move". BBC Sport. 11 May 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[5] "Blackburn agree Tugay fee". BBC Sport. 17 May 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[6] "Blackburn sign £7m Grabbi". BBC Sport. 18 June 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[7] "Rovers seal Mahon deal". BBC Sport. 29 June 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[8] "Blackburn seal Neill deal". BBC Sport. 7 September 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[9] "Rovers sign Swede". BBC Sport. 5 October 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[10] Wardle, John (30 December 2001). "Blackburn land £8m Cole". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[11] "Blackburn sign Unsal". BBC Sport. 21 February 2002. Archived from the original on 22 February 2002. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[12] "Wolves sign Blake". BBC Sport. 13 September 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[13] "McAteer joins Sunderland". BBC Sport. 19 October 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[14] "Bent completes Ipswich move". BBC Sport. 23 November 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[15] "Broomes joins Owls". BBC Sport. 12 December 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[16] "Wigan swoop for Filan". BBC Sport. 14 December 2001. Archived from the original on 14 December 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[17] "Kenna joins Birmingham". BBC Sport. 1 February 2002. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[18] "Blues snap up Johnson". BBC Sport. 8 March 2002. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[19] "Yordi joins Blackburn". BBC Sport. 20 February 2002. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[20] "Notts County grab Grayson". BBC Sport. 4 September 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[21] "Grimsby snap up Broomes". BBC Sport. 6 September 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[22] "Miller joins St Johnstone". BBC Sport. 10 October 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

[23] "Grayson joins Bradford". BBC Sport. 13 February 2002. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

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