ANYONE who sits near Bryan Douglas at Ewood Park these days will know his Blackburn Rovers love affair is still alive and well - some 70 years after it all first began.

As he still tries to kick every ball, but now from the comfort of the Jack Walker Stand, Rovers’ recent relegation battle would have proved a painful one - literally - for anyone within radius of ‘kicking distance’ of a self-admitted ‘nervy watcher’.

The flame that has been burning inside him for the club ever since he can remember did once die down to just a flicker though, as he was forced to cope with the moment all Rovers fans feared - his retirement.

After 17 years, 503 appearances and 115 goals for his ‘blue and white army’, the decision to call it a day was always going to break a few hearts - although a ‘falling out’ with the boss made it easier for the man himself.

“In 1969 I’d just had enough,” he said. “I was 35. I got a bit fed up with the manager then, Eddie Quigley. When I first got left out of the side earlier that season, I was left pretty bitter about it.

“I found out from the television and that left a very sour taste in my mouth. Quigley, who played with me, was manager and we had just played Arsenal and had stayed in London.

“On Friday night TV they had a football programme and suddenly my photo came on and said I was dropped. I had been left out.

“All the lads were embarrassed and asked if I didn’t know. Apparently it was in all the papers back home, everyone knew before me. So from that moment on my relationship with Quigley went downhill.”

While far from complimentary about Quigley’s management regime at Ewood Park, Douglas was honest to admit the start of the end of his career had already been put in motion.

He puts the decline to his memorable career down to a knee injury picked up against Bolton in a pre-season friendly in 1965 - as it also wrecked his 1966 World Cup dreams and played a part in Rovers’ relegation from the top flight.

He said: “We started off with a friendly against Bolton behind closed doors. I went for a ball I shouldn’t have done and got clobbered. I had to have my cartilage done. My last game for England was 1963 and I had just got back in the squad, as a midfield player, and had been to Lilleshall that summer.

“But I got injured in this pre-season friendly. I didn’t play again until February 1966. I was never ever the same because, even to this day, there is a weakness in my right knee.

“By then it was fait accompli. We were miles down the league, not simply because of me, although I had upset the apple cart. But it was start of the season there was the polio scare. Blackburn hadn’t played one game when the rest had played six.

“I was never the same after. I had a weakness in my right knee, I never admitted it. I played four more years but I had lost that little yard. I tried and tried my best but eventually it caught up with me.”

Douglas briefly attempted to prolong his career after quitting Ewood by helping out an old mate at non-league Great Harwood, but soon realised his footballing days were over.

He has gone on to remain a staunch Rovers fan and a true ambassador for the Ewood Park outfit - although for a brief interlude ‘Mr Blackburn Rovers’ tried blocking the club out of his head.

“My career was absolutely fantastic,” he said. “It is not just the playing, it is the travelling, the meeting people, going places, Places you never would have been able to and being paid to do it. It is a wonderful life. It took a long time when I finished to get it out of the system.

“The things you take for granted as a footballer. Simple things like when you go to a hotel, when you are a player the manager gives you the keys to the room. Now you have to book in yourself and make your own travel arrangements.

“It takes you a long time to adjust. It is very difficult. I hate to say it but you get envious of the players that have taken your place and are playing after you.

“That is why I stayed away for a couple of years. I didn’t come to the games because it was a bit hurtful. I kept putting myself in their position, I still do. For two or three years I was a bit fed up and didn’t come to the games. I buried my head in the sand a little bit.

“To anyone around me at the ground I apologise because they are probably black and blue. I try and kick every ball still and it is very, very difficult sometimes.”

Now, a long time adapted to life away from the field, Douglas is a huge admirer of today’s Premier League and is no doubt the game has evolved since his days of bobbly pitches, heavy balls and antiquated coaching methods.

He admits though not everything is an improvement, as he watches modern day players being treated and paid more like film stars, claiming there was place for the fans the way it used to be.

He said: “Players are fitter now. They train as athletes and that is why they get paid so much money. The grounds are much better, the ball, the equipment - everything is better.

“I envy them a little with all the money they get, but it is not the players’ fault, it is the system. I think they are now like film stars were in our day. They have that type of living.

“I don’t think the players of today can do like I do though. I can have a game of bowls at local clubs and go around town. I have no complaints. It has been very, very good to me. I would recommend it to anyone.

“The fans could associate with us when we played. We were just ordinary people who were out and about among them. Now the Premier League stars are almost unattainable.

“They all live in their huge mansions, well away from the town or city they play in. It is sad in a way but the players just don’t have the time any more.”