BLACKBURN ROVERS WERE relegated to English football’s third tier for the first time in 37 years despite a 3-1 win away to Brentford on the final day of the Championship.
Tony Mowbray’s side knew that a win would not necessarily be enough to keep them safe, with fellow strugglers Birmingham City and Nottingham Forest holding marginally better hands at the start of play on Sunday.
And as it happened, Birmingham snatched a 1-0 win away to Bristol City thanks to Che Adams’ early goal, while Forest were 3-0 winners at home to Ipswich.
It leaves the bottom of the Championship table looking like this, with Forest surviving by virtue of their better goal difference:
Blackburn have four Irish players on their books at present – Anthony Stokes, Darragh Lenihan and Derrick Williams, while Tommie Hoban is currently at the club on loan from Watford.
Birmingham stay up following their second win in three games under manager Harry Redknapp, who was brought in to replace Gianfranco Zola and save the Blues’ Championship status only three weeks ago.
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Nice of the 42 to pay lip service to The Championship on a nail biting final day. You’ve ignored it all season like you usually do, why stop now?!!!
Feel sorry for Blackburn, Venkys are the absolute devil. They’ve taken a well established Premier League team, stripped it of its most valuable assets and turned it into a League 1 side inside 5 seasons.
Al Hasawi attempted to do the same at Forest but luckily we had enough quality just about left to stay up. Thank god he’s gone next month.
If there was a god, it should have been Birmingham who should have gone down. What they did to Gary Rowett was unforgivable and I felt no sympathy for them when it went pear shaped under Zola. Would have been most enjoyable seeing the luck on Wheeler Dealer ‘Arrys face if they had gone down.
@Colm O’Sullivan: ya sure why dont they add in bundesliga 2, serie B and the 4th division in Tonga as well
@Colm O’Sullivan: why should they – they have to cover the Kerry club championship. Can’t be covering all the big leagues.
@Mick: Mick, that post just shows your utter ignorance of the division. You’re either a very bad troll or just not very bright. There are plenty of big clubs in The Championship that Irish people support – Leeds, Newcastle, Villa, Wednesday, Blackburn, Forest, Norwich to name just a few.
How many Irish people follow teams in Serie B or Bundesliga 2?!
@Colm O’Sullivan: Perfect comeback.
@Colm O’Sullivan: new dawn for Forest !! I like Warburton hopefully bright future under the greeks !! Hasawi was a disaster from start to finish !!
@Colm O’Sullivan: I’m a massive Hannover 96 fan, where’s my articles!?!?
@Colm O’Sullivan: none of the above ‘colm,’ but we dont need anymore attention taken away from the league of ireland especially from second tier divisions in other countries
@Mick: As a fan of my local league of Ireland side as well as a team in England, I don’t find your LOI snobbery helpful. The 42 or other media outlets churning out a few articles on England’s second tier isn’t going to stop people from going to LOI games. To even suggest it is nothing short of ridiculous.
@Colm O’Sullivan: Not too mention the 20 odd Irish internationals and prospective internationals plying their trade in the Championship. As a Forest fan myself we’re possibly the largest supported Championship club in Ireland alongside maybe Leeds and Villa
@Colm O’Sullivan: 100% agree mate Tom the words out of my mouth
@Patrick Dara Kelly: *took *
@Mick: trolll
Was at the game. The overriding emotion at the end wasn’t misery or sorrow. It was outright aggression at Venkys.
Decent performance though. Pity it didn’t translate to staying up but the table doesn’t lie.