| Club: | Blackburn Rovers |
| Season: | 1995–96 |
| Manager: | Ray Harford |
| Owner: | Jack Walker |
| Chairman: | Robert Coar |
| Stadium: | Ewood Park |
| League: | Premiership |
| League Result: | 7th |
| Cup1: | FA Cup |
| Cup1 Result: | Third round |
| Cup2: | League Cup |
| Cup2 Result: | Fourth round |
| Cup3: | Charity Shield |
| Cup3 Result: | Runners-up |
| Cup4: | UEFA Champions League |
| Cup4 Result: | Group Stage |
| League Topscorer: | Shearer (31) |
| Season Topscorer: | Shearer (37) |
| Average Attendance: | 27,714 |
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| Prevseason: | 1994–95 |
| Nextseason: | 1996–97 |
During the 1995–96 English football season, Blackburn Rovers F.C. competed in the FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons).
Blackburn had a disappointing title defence in the Premier League, dropping to 7th in the standings in the wake of Kenny Dalglish's resignation as manager. Their first half of the season was little short of disastrous, their 5–0 defeat at struggling Coventry City in mid December being their eighth in the league, with relegation a distinct possibility. However, Blackburn improved in the second half of the season, losing just five more games and only narrowly missing out on a UEFA Cup place.
They also got knocked out of the Champions League already in the group stage against comparatively unknown Rosenborg and Legia Warsaw. Compounding the misery was the sale of fan favourite and top scorer Alan Shearer, who went to Newcastle for a British transfer record at the end of July.
See main article: 1995–96 FA Premier League.
Blackburn Rovers' score comes first[1]
| Win | Draw | Loss |
| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 August 1995 | Queens Park Rangers | H | 1–0 | 22,860 | Shearer (pen) | |
| 23 August 1995 | Sheffield Wednesday | A | 1–2 | 25,544 | Shearer | |
| 26 August 1995 | Bolton Wanderers | A | 1–2 | 20,253 | Holmes | |
| 28 August 1995 | Manchester United | H | 1–2 | 29,843 | Shearer | |
| 9 September 1995 | Aston Villa | H | 1–1 | 27,084 | Shearer | |
| 16 September 1995 | Liverpool | A | 0–3 | 39,502 | ||
| 23 September 1995 | Coventry City | H | 5–1 | 24,382 | Shearer (3), Hendry, Pearce | |
| 30 September 1995 | Middlesbrough | A | 0–2 | 29,462 | ||
| 14 October 1995 | Southampton | H | 2–1 | 26,780 | Bohinen, Shearer | |
| 21 October 1995 | West Ham United | A | 1–1 | 21,776 | Shearer | |
| 28 October 1995 | Chelsea | H | 3–0 | 27,733 | Sherwood, Shearer, Newell | |
| 5 November 1995 | Everton | A | 0–1 | 30,097 | ||
| 8 November 1995 | Newcastle United | A | 0–1 | 36,473 | ||
| 18 November 1995 | Nottingham Forest | H | 7–0 | 27,660 | Shearer (3), Bohinen (2), Newell, Le Saux | |
| 26 November 1995 | Arsenal | A | 0–0 | 37,695 | ||
| 2 December 1995 | West Ham United | H | 4–2 | 26,638 | Shearer (3, 1 pen), Newell | |
| 9 December 1995 | Coventry City | A | 0–5 | 29,469 | ||
| 16 December 1995 | Middlesbrough | H | 1–0 | 27,996 | Shearer | |
| 23 December 1995 | Wimbledon | A | 1–1 | 7,105 | Kimble (own goal) | |
| 26 December 1995 | Manchester City | H | 2–0 | 28,915 | Shearer, Batty | |
| 30 December 1995 | Tottenham Hotspur | H | 2–1 | 30,004 | Marker, Shearer | |
| 1 January 1996 | Leeds United | A | 0–0 | 31,285 | ||
| 13 January 1996 | Queens Park Rangers | A | 1–0 | 13,957 | Shearer | |
| 20 January 1996 | Sheffield Wednesday | H | 3–0 | 24,732 | Shearer, Bohinen, Gallacher | |
| 3 February 1996 | Bolton Wanderers | H | 3–1 | 30,419 | Shearer (3) | |
| 10 February 1996 | Manchester United | A | 0–1 | 42,681 | ||
| 24 February 1996 | Liverpool | H | 2–3 | 30,895 | Wilcox, Sherwood | |
| 28 February 1996 | Aston Villa | A | 0–2 | 28,008 | ||
| 2 March 1996 | Manchester City | A | 1–1 | 29,078 | Shearer | |
| 13 March 1996 | Leeds United | H | 1–0 | 23,358 | Fenton | |
| 16 March 1996 | Tottenham Hotspur | A | 3–2 | 32,387 | Shearer (3, 1 pen) | |
| 30 March 1996 | Everton | H | 0–3 | 29,468 | ||
| 6 April 1996 | Southampton | A | 0–1 | 14,793 | ||
| 8 April 1996 | Newcastle United | H | 2–1 | 30,717 | Fenton (2) | |
| 13 April 1996 | Nottingham Forest | A | 5–1 | 25,273 | Shearer, McKinlay, Wilcox (2), Fenton | |
| 17 April 1996 | Wimbledon | H | 3–2 | 24,174 | Shearer (2), Fenton | |
| 27 April 1996 | Arsenal | H | 1–1 | 29,834 | Gallacher | |
| 5 May 1996 | Chelsea | A | 3–2 | 28,436 | Sherwood, McKinlay, Fenton |
See main article: 1995 FA Charity Shield.
| 13 August 1995 | Everton | N | 0–1 | 40,149 |
See main article: 1995–96 FA Cup.
| R3 | 6 January 1996 | Ipswich Town | A | 0–0 | 21,236 | ||
| R3R | 16 January 1996 | Ipswich Town | H | 0–1 | 19,606 |
See main article: 1995–96 Football League Cup.
| R2 1st Leg | 20 September 1995 | Swindon Town | A | 3–2 | 14,740 | Sutton, Shearer (2) | |
| R2 2nd Leg | 4 October 1995 | Swindon Town | H | 2–0 | 16,924 | Shearer (2) | |
| R3 | 24 October 1995 | Watford | A | 2–1 | 17,035 | Shearer, Newell | |
| R4 | 29 November 1995 | Leeds United | A | 1–2 | 26,006 | Kelly (own goal) |
See main article: 1995–96 UEFA Champions League.
| Group B | 13 September 1995 | Spartak Moscow | H | 0–1 | 20,940 | Michel Piraux (Belgium) | ||
| Group B | 27 September 1995 | Rosenborg | A | 1–2 | 12,210 | Günter Benkö (Austria) | ||
| Group B | 18 October 1995 | Legia Warsaw | A | 0–1 | 15,000 | Anders Frisk (Sweden) | ||
| Group B | 1 November 1995 | Legia Warsaw | H | 0–0 | 20,897 | Urs Meier (Switzerland) | ||
| Group B | 22 November 1995 | Spartak Moscow | A | 0–3 | 25,000 | Pierluigi Pairetto (Italy) | ||
| Group B | 6 December 1995 | Rosenborg | H | 4–1 | 20,677 | Shearer (pen), Newell (3) | Didier Pauchard (France) |
| Date | Pos | Name | From | Fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 August 1995 | DF | Adam Reed | Darlington | £200,000 | |
| 15 August 1995 | MF | Matty Holmes | West Ham United | £1,200,000 | |
| 1 October 1995 | MF | Lars Bohinen | Nottingham Forest | £700,000 | |
| 10 October 1995 | MF | Billy McKinlay | Dundee United | £1,750,000 | |
| 14 October 1995 | DF | Graham Coughlan | Bray Wanderers | £100,000 | |
| 6 November 1995 | ST | Graham Fenton | Aston Villa | £1,500,000 | |
| 21 December 1995 | DF | Chris Coleman | Crystal Palace | £2,800,000 | |
| 1 March 1996 | MF | Niklas Gudmundsson | Halmstads BK | £750,000 | |
| 28 March 1996 | MF | Garry Flitcroft | Manchester City | £3,500,000 | |
| 29 March 1996 | DF | Gary Croft | Grimsby Town | £1,600,000 |
| Date | Pos | Name | To | Fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 August 1995 | MF | Tony Carss | Darlington | Free transfer | |
| 14 August 1995 | MF | Robbie Slater | West Ham United | £600,000 | |
| 10 September 1995 | MF | Mark Atkins | Wolverhampton Wanderers | £1,000,000 | |
| 13 October 1995 | MF | Lee Makel | Huddersfield Town | £300,000 | |
| 9 November 1995 | GK | Frank Talia | Swindon Town | £150,000 | |
| 24 February 1996 | MF | David Batty | Newcastle United | £3,750,000 |
Transfers in: £5,750,000
Transfers out: £1,050,000
Total spending: £4,700,000
|-! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Goalkeepers|-! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Defenders|-! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Midfielders|-! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Forwards|-! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Players transferred out during the season
Only considering Premier League starts
Henning Berg, 38
Jeff Kenna, 32 Lars Bohinen, 17