A YOUNG John Filan had just arrived at Heathrow Airport from Australia when a horrifying thought crossed his mind as he picked up the telephone.

Months earlier, Filan had been spotted playing for the Australia under 23 team at the Barcelona Olympics and had been encouraged by an agent to try his luck in English football.

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Ambitious to progress from what was then semi-professional football back in his home country, the goalkeeper accepted the offer of an airline ticket to London.

But he embarked on his flight around the world clutching only a phone number to ring when he touched down.

“Ever since watching English football since I was young I’d wanted to play there, so I took a chance,” he admits.

“An agent asked me if I wanted to go and try in England. He thought I could do it, and he was willing to pay my airline ticket.

“Thinking back now, I don’t know if I’d do it again. I turned up at Heathrow Airport with a phone number and that was about it.

“When I dialled the number I thought if no-one answers it I’ve got a problem, because it was a one-way ticket.

“Luckily it turned out all right, but if I’d got one number wrong I might have been serving beers in London!”

The agent answered the call, and a trial with Southampton was arranged before Filan earned a contract with Cambridge United.

His performances earned him a move to the Premier League with Coventry, before new Blackburn Rovers boss Roy Hodgson came calling in the summer of 1997.

“Coventry wanted me to sign another contract but through a scout Blackburn got in touch with me,” says Filan, who returned to Blackburn as assistant coach of the under 21s last year.

“I got a call unexpectedly when I was in Australia, so the negotiations took place around the world really.

“I’d played at Blackburn before and seen the ground, I think they’d dusted us up a couple of times!

“I went up there and met Roy. I don’t think there was any doubt that I was going to come.

“It wasn’t too long after they’d won the Premier League and I saw it as an opportunity to go to a big club.

“But they had to go to tribunal with Coventry. I think at the same time Shay Given moved to Newcastle and that went to tribunal as well. I don’t know if the club had to pay more than they wanted for me!”

Filan knew he faced a steep task to displace Tim Flowers, but circumstances meant he got his opportunity right from the start of the 1997/98 campaign.

His first three games brought seven points with only one goal conceded, as Rovers topped the early table. Then came a home match against Sheffield Wednesday, a 7-2 win that ended in agony for Filan.

“Tim Flowers was going to start the season but he got injured in pre-season,” the 45-year-old says.

“I’d met Tim when he was at Southampton and I’d come over on trial. He was very good with me then, he was someone for me to learn from.

“Blackburn was an ideal opportunity to improve my trade, and then if I got an opportunity I was going to try to take it with both hands.

“But because Tim got injured I began the season and got a good start, then it became a bit more of a contest.

“Tim was back fit again but I was keeping him out of the team and the decision I think was coming about whether to bring him back in or not. Roy had stuck by me but then the Sheffield Wednesday thing happened.

“I think we were leading 6-1 and they put a young fella on, Wayne Collins was his name.

“I guess he was out to impress, as you would be. The ball was played into the 18-yard box and I just came out, it was probably 70/30 my ball.

“But he went flying in and unfortunately caught my elbow and forearm.

“It smashed my forearm and dislocated my elbow. It was a bad one, my forearm was shattered more than just broken.”

Medics suggested he might never play football again.

“There were doubts about whether I would come back because of the extent of the break,” Filan says.

“They said it was a possibility they had to bring up, but I never really believed it, I never thought it was over.

“The medical side at Blackburn was superb. If you had a choice when something like that happens, I would have chosen Blackburn’s staff to take care of me.

“They said it would be at least 12 months and I was back playing in nine.”

Filan made three appearances at the end of that season as Rovers qualified for the UEFA Cup, and played in 26 of the club’s 38 league games in the following campaign.

But the 1998/99 season turned into a relegation battle that no-one had expected.

“The season before we’d led the league in December and ended up sixth,” Filan said. “The expectation was high, we were in Europe.

“I started the season again and I was happy to be back playing and back at the level I was before, if not better.

“But the injury list was bad. I remember us going to France (to play Lyon) and we ended up playing Jason Wilcox up front by himself because we had no strikers.

“A bit of expectation and a few other things going on around the club forced the owner’s hand and Roy was moved on.

“I was disappointed because I got on well with him and I thought he was a good football man who knew the game really well. But Jack Walker always had the best interests of the club at heart and we had to respect the decision.”

There were suggestions that dressing room issues had affected Rovers’ results.

“I think it would be fair to say that there were some elements of the dressing room that added to the situation, or certainly didn’t help it,” Filan admits.

Filan was chosen as Rovers’ player of the season that year, but it was little consolation to him.

New boss Brian Kidd was unable to save Rovers from dropping out of the Premier League.

“Like everyone, I always felt a real responsibility to the club and the Blackburn fans,” Filan says. “From that point of view, I didn’t think I’d really done it for them.

“It was really disappointing to drop out of the Premier League.”

Tomorrow: It meant so much to be there when Rovers returned to the Premier League