A new book charts the colourful life and career of Blackburn Rovers’ all-time leading goal scorer.

In ‘One Last Shot’, Simon Garner chronicles the highs and lows of a tumultuous decade-and-a-half at Blackburn Rovers.

A host of former players and managers share their views on the iconic striker who remains a much-loved former player three decades after leaving the club.

Garner played for Rovers from 1978 to 1992 making him one of the club's longest serving players. During that time he scored 192 goals in 565 games.

The book expands on the 2003 autobiography There’s Only One Simon Garner, which was written by former Lancashire Telegraph reporter Richard Slater. Twenty years on the book has been co-written with another ex-Telegraph reporter, Dan Clough.

The book includes guest contributions from Kenny Dalglish, Mark Atkins, Mike Newell, David Speedie, Don Mackay, Bobby Saxton and a host of other former Rovers players, as well as those from his career after leaving Blackburn.

Lancashire Telegraph: 17 March 1991 - Simon Garner celebrates a goal against Middlesbrough 

Garner, who lives in Buckinghamshire said: “The last book did pretty well but 20 years on I thought there was more to say, and it was great to have so many of the lads I played with and some of my old managers get involved as well.

“I loved being a footballer and I still love football now, but there’s so much you forget about until you actually sit down and talk about it for something like this. So many great memories have come flooding back.”

Lancashire Telegraph: (above right) 1 August 1987 - Garner battles to keep possession with a Bolton Wanderers defender. (Below) 25 April 1981 - Simon Garner pictured here with Blackburn Rovers' players with youngest fan - Joseph Mark Stephenson

Lancashire Telegraph:

As well as looking back at Garner’s time at Blackburn – from his arrival as a 16-year-old from Boston to his departure following the club’s promotion to the Premiership in 1992 – the book follows his career through West Bromwich Albion and Wycombe Wanderers.

Garner also talks about his short stint behind bars after being found guilty of contempt of court during his divorce proceedings and his non-league career thereafter. And there’s a look at his life after football, becoming a painter and decorator and settling in the south of England.

In a foreword. Kenny Dalglish writes: "What stood out about Simon throughout his career was his finishing ability. He was a very natural striker with two good feet and he anticipated the game very well. He was never that quick – there wouldn’t be much in it in a race between me and him – but he had it upstairs and knew where the goal was.

"Simon was a tremendous servant to Blackburn and a very fine player, but football was changing in the early 1990s when I went to the club. He was never exactly the most disciplined of players. He liked a drink and a smoke and I was never going to change his ways. But that approach to the game was on the way out."

Garner played at a time when the business of football was indeed changing, he writes: "The biggest difference between ‘the good old days’ and today is, of course, the astronomical amount of money in the game.

"The top players are all millionaires but even the squad players who barely get a kick in the Premier League are on anywhere from £30,000 a week and more. As long as they’re not stupid with their money, they’ll never need to work again.

"The kids start on big money now as well. My first contract at Blackburn was £45 a week, which was doubled to £90 when I was 19. Kids today are earning more than £1,000 a week before their 18th birthday. As Nanny Garner would say, they don’t know they’re born."

The book, published by Northpoint and priced at £12.99 or £16.99 for a signed copy, is available to buy at www.simongarnerbook.co.uk