I DON'T want to start a war with Manchester United fans as us Roverites have enough fun keeping Clarets' fans in their place, but R Bottomley's comments (Sport Letters, March 19) got me thinking how Rovers' football history would stand up against United's and whether it would be as bad as you might think.

I came up with five major achievements by Rovers that United have not matched:

Rovers are the only club to be founder members of both the old Football League and the Premier League and champions of both.

They have won a major trophy in all of the three centuries that football has been played.

Rovers are the only league club in existence to win three consecutive FA Cups and therefore have the longest unbeaten run in the cup. Blackburn as a town also went nap with five consecutive FA Cup final appearances, with Rovers also losing a final and Blackburn Olympic winning the Cup.

And thanks to the win in Cardiff, Rovers are now among a small number of clubs to have won every major domestic trophy that clubs from the top division have competed in, namely -- the old Football League, the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Full Members Cup.

As for Europe -- no contest -- Rovers are the only British club to have a 100 per cent home and away record against the mighty Barcelona (True, but only joking!).

So, Rovers 5 Man Utd 0. Almost as much fun as going nap against the Clarets last April and I did not even mention the last second of the last minute of the last hour of the last match of the last day at Anfield.

I'm sure Man U fans could point out a few of their achievements, but that's not bad for a town club, is it?

Realistically though I think it's more fun to measure ourselves against the Clarets, especially as Bertie Bee's tackle on a streaker confirmed what Rovers fans have long suspected -- that Burnley would do better if they played rugby!

DEREK POWER, by e-mail.