In 1996, Zinedine Zidane joined Juventus. It would begin the imperial stage of his career,
during which he’d establish himself as not only a star of the sport,
but a legend of the game in perpetuity. He’d win Serie A twice and reach two Champions League
finals before, in 2001, joining Florentino Perez’s Galacticos project at Real Madrid.
Before any of that, though, he might actually have played for Blackburn Rovers.
In 1995, Blackburn were champions of England. Bankrolled by the wealth
of local steel magnate Jack Walker and inspired by the goals of Alan Shearer,
Rovers held off Manchester United to complete an unlikely rise to the top of the Premier League.
What might have been the start of a dynasty was really the beginning of the end, though.
With the championship won, manager Kenny Dalglish left the dugout to become director of football,
and was replaced by first-team coach Ray Harford.
In addition to that disruption, Rovers failed to strengthen their squad after winning their title.
Their only signings would be made after the season began, with the capture
of little-known defender Adam Reed from Darlington and midfielder Matty Holmes from West Ham United.
History remembers what happened next as being among the worst-title
defences in Premier League history: Blackburn would finish
7th and be completely outplayed in their Champions League group.
However, their regeneration might have had a very different feel.
For much of the summer, in pre-internet days when transfer gossip could only be found on ClubCall
phonelines and Teletext, Rovers had been expected to sign a captivating French duo from Bordeaux:
the centre-forward Christoph Dugarry and his 23 year-old playmaking teammate, Zinedine Zidane.
But this wasn’t just rumour: Dugarry and Zidane both visited Blackburn’s training ground
and Harford and Dalglish were reportedly keen on the signings, but a deal was never agreed,
creating one of the great sliding doors moments in modern football history.
To this day, it’s unclear whether that’s because Dugarry or Zidane passed up the opportunity to
move to Lancashire, or if the club decided against signing them. What is well remembered, however, is
a quote attributed to Jack Walker which suggests that he was less than sold on players from Ligue1.
“Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?” he is supposed to have said internally,
referring to the workmanlike midfielder, later to become a pundit on British television and radio.
The veracity has of that quote has never been proven. Walker died in 2000 and there’s no way
of knowing whether he actually said it or not, or even to whom. Even so, over time the legend has
really become fact, inspiring much mirth across the subsequent decades.
But, if it is true, it requires context. As a midfielder, Sherwood was Rovers’ captain and
backbone through their mid-90s rise and, given that he’d just seen him lift the
Premier League trophy just a few months before, Walker’s regard for Sherwood wasn’t misplaced.
He was the club’s benefactor, but also a local boy who had been born in Blackburn and who had
grown up a fan. His emotional attachment and loyalty to the squad was understandable
and his faith in British players wasn’t unusual in 1995, either,
with the modern Premier League and its all-star global cast still taking shape.
But it was still a costly mistake; while Rovers did eventually sign their reinforcements after
a dreadful start to their title defence – they would win just two of their first eight
games – their momentum had been squandered and a downward trajectory had begun which,
unbelievably, would see them relegated in 1999, just four years after winning their title.
And that post-script is difficult to ignore. While Rovers were circling the Premier League drain,
Dugarry and Zidane were winning the World Cup with France in 1998 and, in the same year,
Zidane would win the Ballon d’Or. It’s difficult to imagine more contrasting fortunes and harder
to still to avoid imagining what might have been for Dugarry, Blackburn Rovers and Zidane.