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
Blackburn Rovers F.C. semi-final against Arsenal, with Rovers finishing 15th once again. He led the team to sixth the following season and Rovers's third European qualification in five years. Rovers reached the semi-final of the 2006–07 FA Cup, but lost to Chelsea in extra time, and finished that season's league in tenth, qualifying for the Intertoto Cup, which led to a short run in the 2007–08 UEFA Cup. In May 2008, Mark Hughes left Blackburn Rovers for the vacancy at Manchester City. He was replaced by Paul Ince, Ince's first job was to persuade some of the wantaway players to stay. with Archie