Monday 8 October 2012

We are all just Kean to move on...

It's fair to say that Steve Kean's reign at Ewood Park could be described as somewhat tumultuous, but where Blackburn go from here is vitally important to seeing if fans can rediscover their connection to the club. Rovers fan Gareth Thomas takes you through his thoughts on the way forward
(I am a Rovers fan and make no apology for writing this blog from that perspective.)
So Steve Kean’s 21 month tenure at Blackburn Rovers is over. The stats speak for themselves, for the 74 painful games he was in charge Rovers won 21, drew 16 and were beaten 37 times, which included some real drubbings, by Arsenal in particular. The odd highlight, a 4-3 win at home to Arsenal cannot mask the fact that we conceded a truck load goals (78 in 38 matches, i.e. just over 2 goals for every league match), and despite Yakubu slotting in more than a dozen strikes I think Mr Kean can blame no one but himself.
His footballing philosophy was clearly more expansive that Big Sam’s, and Mark Hughes before him (we don’t talk about Paul Ince), and to some people that should applauded. Those people would do well to remember who Blackburn Rovers are. We are not a top 10 side pushing for the Europa League, those days are long gone. We were a solid mid table team who tended to take the league cup more seriously than most, and by the time the FA Cup started realise that we must exit ASAP to concentrate on staying up…or not as Mr Kean was determined to prove.
I am not a fan of abusing a manager’s family members at the ground, and I will admit that Kean did take some prolonged abuse, most of which was deserved. After all he was paid handsomely to voluntarily do a job most people would love a crack at. The fact he stayed in post as long as he did is either testimony to his sheer determination and bloody-mindedness, or proof that he was a mere rabbit caught in the headlights from day 1. I would suggest somewhere in the middle. Kean has some solid coaching credentials, but Rovers fans have sufficient recent experience of great coaches becoming mediocre managers – Bryan Kidd perhaps the best example, and to a lesser extent the club legend that is Tony Parks.
Other than Kean’s slightly cavalier tactics on the pitch my main gripe would be that his transfer dealings were poor, the best players in the squad (at least during our last EPL campaign) were already present when he took the reins. Players such as Ruben Rochina, Simon Vukcevic, Mauro Formica and David Goodwillie flattered to deceive, and were found lacking when we need some more David Batty/Paul Dickov-types in the second half on the season. The fact we let Brett Emerton leave astounded me, and was compounded by the loss of Nelson and Samba, coupled with the refusal to play Salgado and Roberts for contractual reasons. It all added up to the loss of 80%+ of our experienced players, players you need when you are battling for your survival.
The overall administration of the club has also been found wanting, we have gone from being one of the best run clubs in the UK, under John Williams and Tom Finn’s stewardship to being a soap opera run from afar by some seemingly clueless owners. The appointment of Shebby Singh highlights how far we have sunk, a football pundit from Malaysian TV….fantastic, just what the doctor ordered. The club’s dealings with shady agents, and rumours that all the Portuguese signings share the same agent have only added fuel to the fire that things behind the scenes are not all they should be.
 
My main worry is the club’s ambition to obtain a ‘big name’ manager…I would much rather see a Glen Roeder, Keith Hill or Alan Curbishley come in and quietly go about their business and stabilise the team and the club, get the fans back through the turnstiles and get everyone talking about the action on the pitch not the mickey mouse boardroom antics. I live in hope…
To end on a positive note I was fortunate enough to attend the FA Youth Cup final between Rovers and Chelsea last season and there are several promising young players coming through, some of whom to be fair to Kean were blooded on occasion last season – watch out for Josh Morris, Adam Henley, Jason Lowe and Jake Kean (no relation thank god..) in the coming months and years.

The Kean is dead, long live the Kean…actually no, if Roy Kean somehow gets the job things may actually get worse. Please ITV don’t let him go.
 
Gareth Thomas

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