Manager Keith Hill has been reflecting on his time at Blackburn Rovers, as his Dale side get set to face Rovers at the Crown Oil Arena on Saturday.
Hill started his playing career at Ewood Park, and went on to make over senior 100 appearances for Rovers after coming through the ranks there.
Looking back on his time at the club, he commented: “I’ve got fond memories of my time there.
“I couldn’t have wished for a better education from the likes of Tony Parks and Bob Saxton, who was the first team manager at the time. I really couldn’t have wished for a better coaching fraternity.
“Then we moved on to Don Mackay, and ultimately Kenny Dalglish and Ray Harford. Ray Harford was probably the first real coach with a methodology for dealing with opponents. All the work you did in training during the week was specific to an opponent – it was incredible. Kenny Dalglish was one of the best man-managers you could probably ever meet – he was charming with an incredible insight into football, both past and present.
“It was a special place for me at that time but I left because I wanted to play football. We got promoted [to the new Premier League] via the play-offs from what is now the Championship and then there was a big recruitment drive. I had been offered a contract to stay but it would just have been as a squad player and at that age I just wanted to play football. Having had a conversation with Ray and Kenny, I decided to leave and go to Plymouth.”
Watch the interview on iFollow.