Great rivalry produces characters, especially those players who bravely risked the jeers of the crowd by joining ‘the other lot’.

Jack Bruton deserved pride of place, of course, because he is the only man to score for both sides against the other.

His career record for each club is magnificent.

At Burnley, his intelligent probing and electrifying pace laid on goals galore for the club’s all time record goalscorer George Beel, but Jack still managed to land 44 goals himself in 176 matches before Rovers broke their transfer record by paying £6,500 in December 1929.

He did not take long repaying it, making 344 appearances for Blackburn, scoring 115 goals and also ending up managing the club for a short period after the war.

His loss to the Turf Moor side could be glimpsed by the fact that they were relegated that season yet were in mid-table when he departed to Ewood.

Bruton’s 250 games in total for both clubs looks formidable, but one man has more.

Keith Newton, a cultured left-back and a product of Rovers FA Youth Cup winning side of 1959 played 357 times for Blackburn before joining Everton in time to win a Championship medal in 1970.

However, Burnley pounced in 1972 to obtain his services and it proved one of their most successful moves into the transfer market as he was an ever-present in his first season which saw Burnley promoted to Division One.

In all, he turned out in either a Rovers or Burnley shirt on a record number of 593 occasions in the league and cup.

Another fullback to make the move from Turf Moor to Ewood via another club, Leeds this time, was Kevin Hird.

Converted to a midfielder at Burnley, Hird – a life-long Clarets supporter – was forgiven the Boxing Day goal he scored for Rovers against Burnley in 1978. And why not? He had found the net 29 times at Burnley, no mean feat for a midfielder appearing in 94 games for them to add to his 145 matches for Rovers.

Three Burnley stalwarts of the 1950s and 60s, who all eventually found themselves down the road at Blackburn, were goalkeeper Adam Blacklaw, defender Walter Joyce and winger John Connelly.

Blacklaw, the burly Scottish international, played 110 games for Rovers. Previously he had been a popular figure at Turf Moor where his figure of 374 league and cup games was bettered only by Alan Stevenson and the legendary Jerry Dawson, where goalkeepers were concerned.

Connelly was a fine buy for Rovers when he joined them from Manchester United after obtaining another Champ-ionship winners medal to go with the one he secured at Turf Moor in 1960. In those earlier times he had often been the thorn in Rovers’ side, scoring five times against them in League and Cup in his total of 103 in 260 games for Burnley.

His Rovers record was 39 goals in 163 matches. At his peak he played 20 times for England and was in Ramsey’s World Cup squad in 1966 but, in a side dubbed the wingless wonders, his chances of glory were curbed somewhat.

As far as appearances in local derbies go, the honours are shared between two highly respected players from each side.

Out in front at Burnley is goalkeeper Jerry Dawson, who guarded the Clarets net with great distinction until past the age of 40, finally bowing out on Christmas Day 1928 at Turf Moor. Between 1913 and 1926 he faced the Rovers forwards on 19 occasions (18 league and one FA Cup).

The leading Rovers player on the same score is Ronnie Clayton who amassed his total during the 1950s and 1960s playing 15 times in the League and four in the FA Cup.

The FA Cup figure is incidentally a record between the clubs that he fittingly shares with Jimmy Adamson of Burnley, his old adversary.

Behind Dawson and Clayton comes Bryan Douglas with 17 (14 League and 3 FA Cup) and he is followed home by Burnley's redoubtable Brian Miller with 16 (13 + 3).