Alan Shearer season. Speculation of a transfer to Liverpool, who finished the season as FA Cup winners, also came to nothing. During the middle of 1992, Southampton's manager, Ian Branfoot, became "the most popular manager in English football", as he took telephone calls from clubs "trying to bargain with players they don't want plus cash". Although Branfoot accepted that a sale was inevitable, he claimed that "whatever happens, we are in the driving seat". In July 1992, Shearer was sold to Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £3.6 million, with David Speedie reluctantly moving to The Dell as part of the deal.
Blackburn Rovers F.C. Cricket Club's ground in the centre of the town, Alexandra Meadows. Sources differ as to the date of the first match played by Rovers at Alexandra Meadows. A programme from Clitheroe F.C. states that Clitheroe was the first team to beat Blackburn at Alexandra Meadows on 17 November 1877. Other sources indicate that the first match took place on 2 January 1878 with a Blackburn victory against Partick Thistle. It was on this ground Blackburn Rovers played for the first time under artificial light against Accrington on 4 November 1878. Due to the increasing demand in football in the area