Blackburn Rovers F.C. Under-23s and Academy

Blackburn Rovers Academy and Under-21s

Full name	Blackburn Rovers Academy and Under-21s
Nickname(s)	Rovers, Blue and Whites, The Riversiders[1]
Founded	1875; 150 years ago (1875)
Ground	County Ground (Leyland), Leyland, Lancashire
Capacity	~2,300
Head of Academy	Stuart Jones
U21 Lead Coach	Mike Sheron
League	Premier League 2 U18 Premier League
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Blackburn Rovers F.C. Academy and Under-21s are the youth teams of Blackburn Rovers. The Blackburn Rovers Academy holds Category One status. The current manager of the Under 21's side is Mike Sheron. The team play in the Premier League 2 Division 1, after gaining promotion from the Premier League 2 Division 2 in the 2017/18 season.

Blackburn Rovers Under-21s play in the Premier League 2 Division 1.

Damien Johnson is the former manager the Under-21. His predecessor, Eric Kinder left the role to take over as the club's Head of Academy. Kinder was appointed Gary Bowyer's replacement following his appointment as first team manager following two successful caretaker spells. However, the new current head of Academy at Blackburn Rovers is Stuart Jones. The Under 21s play their home games at The Lancashire FA County Ground at Leyland, Preston.

The team now is mainly made up of players acquired from local academies like Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and Everton. Several Under 21's players have recently made the step up into John Eustace's first team, including Lewis Travis, John Buckley, Joe Rankin-Costello and Hayden Carter.

Blackburn Rovers Academy holds Category One status, the highest possible. The club maintained this status in a full audit which took place during the 2017/18 season. The Academy trains at Brockhall training village, the same location as the first team and the Under 21s. It also provides a stepping stone for youngsters to progress to the highest levels of football at Blackburn Rovers producing high quality players in the past. Former players such as Damien Duff, Phil Jones, Damien Johnson, James Beattie, Neil Danns, Jonathan Walters, and Anthony Pilkington were all nurtured in The Academy. Current professional football players also include Jason Lowe, Martin Olsson, Grant Hanley, Josh Morris, Adam Henley, Connor Mahoney, Ryan Nyambe, David Raya and Jack O'Connell have graduated from the clubs academy. Recent graduates such as Lewis Travis, Joe Rankin-Costello, Scott Wharton, Hayden Carter and John Buckley among others, play for Blackburn Rovers Championship team currently.

In January 1991, British industrialist and businessman Jack Walker a lifelong fan of Blackburn Rovers completed the takeover of the club. In the following years, the Brockhall Village Academy, was constructed at a cost of approximately £4.75 million. The centre included state of the art facilities on a par with top training facilities elsewhere in Europe. It includes 6 full-size pitches, indoor training facilities, an indoor running track, outdoor running "hill", a swimming pool, goalkeeper training facilities as well as accommodation for the youth players.

On 19 November 2010, Pune based chicken meat processing, and pharmaceutical company, Venkateshwara Hatcheries Private Limited., completed the takeover of Blackburn Rovers, under the name Venky's London Limited.^[2][3]

One of the companies early ambitions was to open an Academy back in their home nation of India. Managing director, told The Indian Express newspaper the club was planning a centre of excellence near Pune which is 100 km (60 miles) from Mumbai.

"We are getting an academy and a stadium in Pune," Venky's B. Balaji Rao was quoted as saying. "The site is near the Mumbai-Pune highway and will be ready in a year-and-a-half or two years." Rao said the academy, on the outskirts of the city, will be run exactly like a Rovers' training centre at Brockhall in northwest England, taking players from the age of 11 and 12. As of 2016 however no academy or stadium has been constructed.^[4]

As of 29 November 2024^[5]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 34 GK  ENG Jack Barrett — GK  PAK Adam Khan — GK  ENG Nicholas Michalski 48 DF  NIR Tom Atcheson — DF  ENG Max Davies — DF  ENG Rhys Doherty — DF  ENG Patrick Gamble 40 DF  ENG Matty Litherland — DF  ENG Brandon Powell 43 DF  ENG George Pratt — MF  ENG Adam Caddick 36 MF  ENG James Edmondson

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 MF  IRL Zak Gilsenan — MF  SCO Kristi Montgomery — MF  ENG Paul Murphy-Worrell 41 MF  ENG Harley O'Grady-Macken — MF  ENG Zack Stritch — MF  ENG Isaac Whitehall — MF  ENG Harrison Wood — FW  ENG Alex Baker 37 FW  IRL Tom Bloxham — FW  ENG Joe Boggan — FW  NIR Aodhan Doherty 32 FW  ENG Igor Tyjon

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 35 GK  ENG Jordan Eastham (on loan at Ashton United) — GK  ENG Felix Goddard (on loan at Ebbsfleet United) — GK  ENG Solomon Honor (on loan at Atherton Collieries) 25 DF  ENG Jake Batty (on loan at Accrington Stanley) 39 DF  ENG Leo Duru (on loan at Barrow) — DF  ENG Charlie Olson (on loan at Altrincham) — MF  ENG Lewis Bell (on loan at Marine) — MF  MAR Jalil Saadi (on loan at Ethnikos Achna) 44 FW  FRA Exaucé Mafoumbi (on loan at Lierse)

Updated 29 November 2024.^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ENG Luke Thompson — GK  ENG Blake Wolsoncroft — DF  ENG Micheal Decandia — DF  ENG Lucas Houghton — DF  ENG Leon Kelley-Quinn — DF  WAL Bruce Leeming — DF  ENG Harvey Pates — DF  ENG Teddy Ramwell 46 MF  ENG Isaac Dunn — MF  HUN Patrik Farkas — MF  ENG Freddie Leatherbarrow — MF  ENG Tyler Mansbridge

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ENG Lorenze Mullarky-Matthews — MF  ENG Aaron Potter — MF  ENG Daniel Shaw — MF  ENG Jackson Shorrocks — MF  ENG Bradley Taylor 49 MF  ENG Frank Vare — MF  ENG Nathan Willis — FW  ENG Nathan Dlamini — FW  ENG Stephen Edmondson — FW  ENG Valentin Joseph — FW  ENG Jayden Sergeant

Blackburn Rovers' youth system has been successful over the years, many players who have come through it have gone on to feature in the first-team and make an impact or progress in the 1st teams of other clubs in the future.

• Blackburn Rovers FC Official Website