"MY KIDS STILL BRING UP THE RABONA FAIL... I DID IT LOADS IN MY CAREER, AND I'D TRY IT AGAIN TODAY!"

The Blackburn legend talks about playing for his boyhood club, World Cup heartbreak and one of the Premier League's most infamous bloopers

- Simon Yaffe

You were subbed on and off in 11 minutes on your Blackburn debut, then scored the winning penalty in a League Cup tie in your second game. That must have been a whirlwind?
Blackburn are my hometown club and I joined them when I was eight, going through the academy. We were still a second division team around the late ’80s, so I saw the club rise dramatically under owner Jack Walker and manager Kenny Dalglish, and it was an exciting time. It was a dream come true to make my debut, but I was sacrificed soon after and it wasn’t the best start. After scoring the penalty at Newcastle, I made my full debut at Anfield against Liverpool a couple of weeks later. Roy Hodgson was a brilliant manager and coach, who had loads of new ideas and was very continental in his approach. I enjoyed my time with him and I’ll always be grateful to Roy for believing in me. Brian Kidd then came in to replace Roy, but it didn’t quite happen for him and I was in and out the team.

You played a key role in ending Rovers’ suffering in the second tier by winning promotion in 2001, before lifting the League Cup under Graeme Souness the following season...
Graeme trusted me and my career kicked on when he arrived. I had two really good spells at Blackburn and I’m not sure which was the best. In my first spell, we were promoted back to the Premier League and then beat Spurs in the League Cup final at the Millennium Stadium. I enjoyed my second spell at the club as well, which was filled with some brilliant times, and where we had a good group and good camaraderie, as well as a real mixture of younger and older players in the squad.

How disappointed were you to miss out on England’s 2002 World Cup squad, having had an outstanding campaign at Blackburn?