Rovers' American Adventure

Last updated : 16 February 2008 By Dan Clough

"The last few years we have traveled to other places where the weather was a bit cooler, but we wanted the opportunity to get a change of scenery in a warm weather environment," said Hughes.
"With the great weather and the fantastic facilities here at Disney's Wide World of Sports, we are able to get away, recuperate and refresh ourselves to prepare for one more big effort to achieve European qualifications."

Former USA National Team goalkeeper Brad Friedel, Paraguayan

"We have 12 games left to get ourselves in at least a top-six position and are very close to that goal right now," said keeper Brad Friedel.

"Hopefully training here will give us the rejuvenation we need to finish the season strong as we are normally an exceptional second half team."

The relationship between Disney's Wide World of Sports and the English Premier League can be traced back to 2001. Celtic FC trained ten days at the Disney's sports complex and went back to win three major domestic trophies: Scottish League Cup, the Scottish Premier League trophy, and the Scottish FA Challenge Cup. The team returned in 2003 and finished as runner-up in the UEFA Cup. In 2004, during their mid-season break, West Bromwich Albion FC came to Disney's Wide World of Sports at the bottom of the English Premier League standings. After training at Disney's sports complex, the team returned to survive relegation and became the first team in the history of the Premiership to avoid such after being at the bottom at Christmas. Blackburn is looking to catch some of that fire with 12 matches remaining.

Rover fans like Eric Dewberry, who traveled the nearly 450 miles and six and a half hour drive from Atlanta, Ga. to Disney's Wide World of Sports, came out to catch a glimpse of their favorite football club.

"Once I heard that Blackburn was coming to Disney to train, I knew this was a great opportunity for me to come and watch my favorite English club up close," said Dewberry.

"Once I told my wife about this opportunity, she knew there was no stopping me. Hopefully more teams will do this as it is great exposure for them here in the United States."