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Club Connections – Blackburn Rovers

Of course on Saturday, Manchester United host Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford With that in mind it’s worth looking at these 5 individuals who have spent time at United and Rovers in their careers.

Henning Berg

Norwegian defender Berg will forever go down in history as being the first player in Premier League history to win a title with two different clubs. He was a wanted man by Sir Alex Ferguson and almost signed for the club in 1987.

Sadly work permit problems cut a deal short for Henning who had impressed on trial from Valerenga. He signed for Blackburn in 1993 becoming part of their historic side that won the title in 1995. Despite failing to impress initially at Old Trafford, he played his part in the club’s treble success and his goall-line clearnaces against Inter Milan will never be forgotten.

Andrew Cole

Despite scoring 121 goals for United, it’s easy to forget that Cole started his career at Arsenal after coming through their ranks as a schoolboy. After only making 2 first team appearances, he left in 1992 and moved to Bristol City.

Goals aplenty earned Andrew a move to Newcastle United where he rose to prominence. He surprisingly joined United in January 1995 and starred in the treble-winning season in 1999 forming a sensational partnership up top with Dwight Yorke. After joining Blackburn in 2001, he would go onto score the winning goal in the League Cup final in 2002 over Spurs.

Mark Hughes

Both Manchester United and Blackburn fans will always remember Hughes fondly. In two spells at Old Trafford – in between a short spell with Barcelona – the Welshman’s goals helped the club win eight major honours making him a club legend.

Chelsea came calling for Mark in 1995 and despite being written off by the press, he enjoyed success in London winning 3 major honours. After ending his career with Blackburn as a player whilst manager of Wales, he returned to Ewood Park as manager when Graham Souness was sacked spending four seasons in charge.

David May

He might be remembered as the man that stole the limelight at the Nou Camp during United’s Champions League celebrations, but May was more than that. In fact he was a good defender who should have been capped by England.

David broke through the ranks at Blackburn whom he made over 120 appearances for before joining United in 1994. After losing the title to his old club in his first season, May  would go onto play a key part in the club’s two subsequent title successes as well as popping up in the box to score some useful goals like he did most memorbaly againgst Middlesborough and FC Porto.

Dwight Yorke

Few players have such had a dazzling first season at United than the smiling-sensation that was Yorke. A proven Premier League goalscorer for Aston Villa, the Trinidad & Tobago star joined United in the summer of 1998 for £12.6m much to the anger of Villa manager John Gregory.

After scoring twice on his home league debut, Dwight never looked back and formed a sensational partnership with Andrew Cole that would help United win an historic treble in 1999. In 2002 he left United joining Blackburn but his best days were past him and he retired in 2009 after a stint with Sunderland playing under Roy Keane.

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