In the end, the 2020/21 season was a disappointing one for Blackburn Rovers.

For all the hope and expectation of a battle for a play-off place going into the campaign, Tony Mowbray's side ultimately fell some way short of those ambitions, eventually being forced to settle for a 15th place finish in the Championship table.

The club now look set to embark something of a squad rebuild over the summer transfer window, which will take place against the backdrop of the rearranged European Championships.

Many a Blackburn fan will no doubt be rooting for England during the tournament, as Gareth Southgate's side look to go all the way and claim their first major tournament title since that famous World Cup triumph in 1966.

Rovers themselves have of course had many fine English players over the years, some of whom have worn the Three Lions shirt at one level or another.

So with that in mind, we've taken a look here, at some the ten best English players to have played for Blackburn, in the last 20 years.

We start this list with a member of Rovers' current squad, in the form of Bradley Dack.

Making the move to Ewood Park in the summer of 2017, Dack's first season at the club saw him claim the Player of the Year as Blackburn secured an immediate promotion to the Championship from League One, with Dack backing that up the following year by finishing as the club's top scorer as to help Rovers re-establish themselves in the second-tier.

Injuries have sadly blighted his last seasons, but his 49 goals in 131 Rovers games is an excellent return even so, and you feel certain he would be being talked about for a Premier League move now, were it not for those fitness issues.

Another member of Rovers' current squad to make this list, is of course Adam Armstrong.

The England Under 20 World Cup winner has filled the void left by Dack brilliantly in the past couple of years, winning the club's Player of the Season in 2019/20, and the Player's Player of the Season this time around.

In total, Armstrong has scored 64 goals in 160 games since initially joining on loan from Newcastle in January 2018 - a move Rovers quickly made permanent - and it is no surprise that off the back of his goalscoring exploits, which include 29 this season alone, the man affectionately known around Ewood as The Angel of the North, is now being linked with a top-flight move ahead of the summer window.

Replacing the legendary Brad Friedel between the posts at Ewood Park was never going to be easy for any goalkeeper, but it is one that Paul Robinson filled rather well.

Joining from Leeds in the summer of 2008, Robinson had already earned the last of his 41 senior England caps before he arrived at Rovers, but he would still become a regular and important feature in the Blackburn's side for some years to come.

In total, Robinson made 201 appearances in all competitions for Rovers, more than he made for any other club in his career, with his performances consistently proving just why he had been England's first choice for a number of years earlier in his career.

Flitcroft joined Rovers from Manchester City - where he had been capped at Under 21 level by England earlier in his career - in 1996, and would go on to become a regular feature in the centre of the park for Blackburn for the next ten years.

Having established himself in the Rovers side, it was Flitcroft who captained the club back to promotion to the Premier League during the 2000/01 season, a role his leadership abilities ensured he held for several more years.

By the time he left Blackburn in 2006 to see out the latter stages of his playing career at Sheffield United, Flitcroft had made 282 appearances in all competitions for the club, having made a considerable impression in that time.

He wasn't part of Blackburn's first-team setup for long, but there can be no denying Phil Jones was an impressive young player during his time at Ewood Park.

Having graduated through Rovers' academy, Jones made his senior debut for the club in September 2009 as a 17-year-old, with his performances over the next two years - during which time he became an increasingly regular feature in the starting XI - convinced Manchester United to pay at least £16million for the centre back in the summer of 2011 after 40 appearances in a Blackburn shirt.

Although things haven't gone as Jones would have wanted recently, he still has plenty of honours, and a fair few England caps, to his name from his time at Old Trafford, while there can be no doubting that even at the start of his career, he was a huge presence in the backline at Ewood Park.

One of the few individuals in the last 20 years to have been capped by England whilst on the books of Blackburn, David Bentley was a player you always felt could produce something special for Rovers. Well, during his first spell with the club at least.

Having joined on loan from Arsenal at the start of the 2005/06 season, Rovers moved to make his move permanent in the 2006 January transfer window, a deal Bentley marked with a memorable hat-trick in a 4-3 win over Manchester United a day later.

The midfielder eventually scored 21 goals in 133 appearances for Rovers - with his form allowing him to break into the England team for a period - before a move to Tottenham in the summer of 2008, and while a return to Blackburn on loan in 2013 failed to produce the same impact, Bentley's efforts during those first three years at the club mean he is well worth a place on this list.

Blackburn broke their transfer record to bring Andy Cole to the club from Manchester United midway through the 2001/02 season, and it was a move that certainly paid off.

By the end of that season, Cole had scored 13 goals in just 20 matches for Blackburn to help the club secure their Premier League safety, as well as coming up with the small matter of the winning goal in that season's League Cup final victory over Tottenham.

In total, Cole would score 37 goals in exactly 100 appearances for Rovers prior to his departure from the club at the end of the 2003/04, with those contributions having proved vital to helping Blackburn establish themselves as top-flight club once more.

Having joined Rovers in 1999 from Crystal Palace for £4million, Jansen is another who proved to be money well spent for Blackburn.

It was the striker's goals during the 2000/01 season (23 of them in total) that proved so crucial in Blackburn's promotion to the Premier League, Jansen following that up with double figures in the top-flight in 2001/02 - including the opener in that League Cup final win.

Sadly, that wasn't quite enough to earn him a place in England's squad for the 2002 World Cup, which indirectly led to the tragic events in Rome that almost cost Jansen his career, and even while he might not have been quite the same after that, there can be no doubt that a place in these standings is well deserved for the sheer goalscoring ability that he showed for Rovers on so many occasions.

Joining Blackburn from Liverpool in January 2007, the arrival of Warnock proved to be another excellent piece of business for a price of just £1.5million.

The left-back became an integral of Rovers' side over the next two-and-a-half years, with some outstanding performances that saw him named the club's Player of the Season for the 2008/09 campaign.

Those performances also saw Warnock earn his England debut in a friendly with Trinidad and Tobago in May 2008, and he would make just over 100 appearances in all competitions for Rovers before a move to Aston Villa in 2009, having become a popular player amongst the Blackburn fanbase during his time at Ewood Park.

In the end, David Dunn is probably the man who could have claimed top spot on a list such as this for Blackburn.

A graduate of Rovers' academy, the midfielder spent almost his entire playing career at Ewood Park, earning his only senior England cap in 2003 thanks to his performances for Blackburn, where his goals from midfield played a key role in the 2001 promotion and subsequent stay in the Premier League, as well as that famous League Cup success.

In total, Dunn made 378 appearances and scored 59 goals in 14 seasons with the Rovers first-team over those two spells at Ewood Park, and you will be hard-pressed to find a Blackburn fan from the era who does not consider the midfielder a club legend.