Howard Kendall’s final season in charge at the club was a mighty success as everything became good for Blackburn. They enjoyed a glorious run in the league as they finished the season off in a very respectable forth position, really unlucky to narrowly miss out on a deserved promotion to the top flight. They were unlucky to lose against Notts County in the third round of the FA Cup.
The 81-82 campaign was another decent one for the club, despite not reaching the heights in the league they achieved the previous year. A top ten finish off tenth place was very reasonable in what was Bobby Saxton’s first season in charge at the club. They crashed out of the league cup in the third round, losing to Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest team.
The Blue and Whites finished the 1982-83 season off in 11th place and were really unlucky to crash out of the FA cup in the third round as they lost 2-1 to Liverpool.
Bobby Saxton enjoyed another fine season in charge of Blackburn during the 1983-84 campaign as his side finished the season off in sixth position, in turn earning a play off birth. The club reached the fifth round of the FA cup, however they lost against Southampton.
The 1984-85 season saw the arrival of Alan Ainscow and Chris Price at the end of the season. Blackburn were outstanding in the league, once again reaching the play offs however they just missed out on promotion a fifth place finish meaning the campaign was a great success. They reached the fifth round of the FA cup; however they lost their tie against Manchester United 2-0.