A TEN-year-old boy has said it was ‘the happiest day of his life’ after finding out he had created the winning design for the new Blackburn Rovers mascot.

Rover the dog, who is currently being pieced together in Hong Kong, will make his debut at the first home game of next season with his creator, Cameron Lord, in tow.

Cameron, from Haslingden, was declared the unanimous winner after careful consideration by judges in the ‘Design a Mascot’ competition.

The pupil at Broadway Primary School took just over an hour to come up with the winning design after spotting the competition on the football club’s website.

“Rover is a dog’s name so I came up with the idea that it should be a dog. I did a few sketches first and then I chose all the colours.

“I was amazed when I heard that I had won.

“Blackburn Rovers mean a lot to me and they are my favourite team in the world,” he said.

As overall winner, Cameron has won a pair of season tickets, a visit to the Senior Training Centre to meet the players and the chance to walk out onto the pitch at Ewood Park when ‘Rover’ makes his debut.

Cameron’s family including mum, Deborah, 43, dad, Andrew, 45, and brother, Harrison, 15, are all avid supporters of the club.

Deborah said: “We’re all very proud of Cameron. He’s done really well.

“He’s always on the Rovers website and he spotted the competition.

"He was very excited when he was drawing his first pictures and I told him not to make it too fancy so that it would be easy for them to use it as a design.

“We’re all very excited about meeting the new mascot.”

The club have also selected four age group winners, who will each receive two tickets for a game next season, a signed Rovers player poster and a signed football.

The winners are: Rebecca Holt (up to seven category), Eoin Malone (age eight-11), Lucie Gowans (age 12-16) and Harry Pilling (age 17+).

A spokesperson at Blackburn Rovers, said: “As our new club mascot, Rover will attend all home games and act as a club ambassador on school visits and community events.

“The club would like to thank all of the young fans who came up with some imaginative ideas for our new cuddly character.”