1994–95 Blackburn Rovers F.C. season to success, Alan Shearer won both the Golden Boot for contributing 34 of Blackburn's 80 league goals and also the PFA Players' Player of the Year award as nominated by his fellow professionals. Graeme Le Saux, Colin Hendry, Tim Sherwood and Shearer all made it into the PFA Team of the Year. Blackburn started the campaign with a 1-1 draw away to Southampton; in his debut, Chris Sutton could have been on the score sheet as early as the second minute but fired wide. It was the home side who took the lead, however, when, in the fifteenth minute, Nicky
Howard Gayle twice in a 3–2 defeat against Bradford City. He then spent five years at Blackburn Rovers, signing for them in 1987 and being a regular striker in their quest for top flight football. However, by the time Blackburn were promoted in 1992 (to the newly created Premier League), Gayle had been left behind in the pecking order by expensively signed new players like Mike Newell and David Speedie, and with the arrival of national record signing Alan Shearer that summer, it was clear that Blackburn manager Kenny Dalglish felt that Gayle was surplus to requirements at Ewood Park. Gayle joined