As Blackburn prepare to meet Wimbledon, Peter White reports on a Wimbledon striker's distant dreams of playing for Rovers

IN one of those 'Who Am I?' quiz questions, the answer could be any one of thousands of fanatical Blackburn Rovers supporters.

You know the sort of thing:

"I bought my first Rovers shirt when I was 12 and got a new kit last summer before I went on holiday.

"My dream is to play in a first-team game at Ewood Park.

"I was a season-ticket holder from being aged about 10.

"My idol was Simon Garner."

It could be anybody but it isn't - it's £2 million Premiership footballer Gareth Ainsworth!

Groin surgery in January means that the 25-year-old Wimbledon winger must sit out Saturday's clash with his hometown club.

But Gareth will be at Ewood . . . albeit with mixed feelings!

"As a professional, if I had been playing I would have given everything I had for Wimbledon," he said.

"But, in the longer term, there isn't anyone in Blackburn who feels stronger than I do about wanting Rovers to stay up.

"I am just as big a supporter as I have always been. "It makes me laugh when you talk to some people nowadays. They say they are season-ticket holders as if they always have been.

"There only used to be five or six thousand of us then.

"But we still had some brilliant times.

"The club have given me a lot and I always think about being back up North, I'm even trying to make sure I keep my accent."

Those "great times" were not only as a supporter but also a player for two years, as Ainsworth went straight from school to become a YTS player at Ewood.

"It was the best day of my life when Jim Furnell told me the club were taking me on," he said. "And two years later when Don Mackay told me I was being released, it was on my 18th birthday - not exactly the best present I have ever received.

"But people like Jim always showed great faith in me and I have never forgotten how he told me I could still make it."

Jason Wilcox is still at Ewood from Gareth's time but the one Rovers player he will always remember is Garner. "I never idolised anyone like I idolised him," he explained.

"In my eyes he could do no wrong, he was a fabulous player.

"In fact, I tried to base a lot of my direct style on his attacking play. Every time he got the ball you sensed something was going to happen.

"My first year as an apprentice was his last year and I wish I coiuld have spoken to him more than I did.

"But I did play against him at Wembley in 94 when I was with Preston and we lost 4-2 to Wycombe in the play-offs.

"He scored that day and that's the only time I haven't liked him!"

Ainsworth was probably one of the first, admittedly lesser-known, victims of the Jack Walker revolution.

For he was released just as the big money was being made available to sign top players.

And that meant hopeful youngsters had to be the very best to be kept on.

But he was clearly good enough to make a living from the game and went to Preston before coming under the John Beck spell at Cambridge, Preston again and Lincoln before eventually joining Port Vale.

Now he aims to make a mark in the Premiership.

"Sometimes I still can't quite believe what has happened to me.

"I signed for Wimbeldon on Hallowe'en, the day we played Blackburn, so I didn't have to cheer for either side which was brilliant for me," he laughed, reflecting on the 1-1 draw at Selhurst.

"I thought I had 'made it' when I went to Port Vale for £500,000 and now this has happened.

"John Beck was brilliant for me and I respect what he did, no matter what anyone else says. "I've had some good managers and some who said I wouldn't make the grade.

"Wimbledon is like a small club which we work to our advantage as underdogs, but we also have some great players and they are brilliant lads."

Ainsworth, however, still harbours a distant dream that one day he might yet step out at Ewood in the first team colours of his favourite club.

And he reckons they will still be in the Premiership, whatever happens on Saturday.

"I really do think Rovers will stay up. I think there are worse teams than them at the bottom of the table."

If that does happen, the relatively recent recruit to the Crazy Gang might go just a little crazier than usual.

But it will also give him a chance to achieve one of two targets. He deserves to reach them after showing tremendous character and determination to build a career which has taken some knockbacks but eventually blossomed.

Gareth is desperate to play in a Premiership game at Ewood and, once fit again, wants to have a go at international honours.

"Kevin Keegan likes direct players and he knows the way I play so I must have as good a chance as anyone," he added.

If that day comes then Rovers fans should celebrate too.

For Gareth Ainsworth is genuinely still one of their own. He proved it by referring to his seats for Saturday's match as being . . . in the Nuttall Street Stand!

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