Blackburn Rovers - A Desperately Sorry Tale!

Despite enjoying some fantastic Christmas engagements over the last 14 days on the Piano; one thing has really been bothering me, even more than the recession itself: Blackburn Rovers Football Club. Every REAL football follower, and I mean those weather-beaten foot soldiers of middle England who trawl up and down the highways and suffer the fare of 'Welcome Breaks' and over-zealous power hungry ground stewards on Windy Saturdays, or dark freezing Tuesday nights, will be aching for the fans of Blackburn Rovers. We have all experienced those horrible periods when uncertainty surrounds your team. Middlesbrough were hours away from a winding up order at Ayresome Park and at the Cobblers, we had the Michael McRitchie phase in the 1990s; it is times like these when you realize how much your football club REALLY means to you. Even Manchester United have been there! Remember the zany Michael Knighton 'cabaret' moment, with his juggling ball skills; that was him doing a PR stint for the fans! Thankfully for the Red Devils Martin Edwards saw sense at the eleventh hour, showed him the door, persevered with Ferguson BUT that Glazer concern just won't go away, will it! After the golden period of the late Jack Walker, Ewood Park is now at best a shambles. Let's discuss: It is almost a year ago today give or take a few days that Sam Allardyce was sacked as manager of Blackburn Rovers. I personally remember watching the breaking news on Sky Sports as the bulletin informed us that the new regime had 'wider and more ambitious plans for the club'. We're talking Blackburn Rovers here folks! By February, John Williams had resigned from his post, his parting words on the club website were diplomatic but Mr Williams, like Phil Gartside at Bolton, is a man who understands the true bass-line of the Lancastrian soul, and he wasn't digging the vibe coming from Venky's; he got out! For me the alarm bells were ringing non-stop. The men in white coats should have been sent in without a moment's hesitation! Enter Steve Kean, a dour but likeable and approachable Scotsman. He was put in temporary charge, and following a trip to India, was appointed permanently. Had he turned the team into a fluid Barcelona-type team? No! I can imagine he, and Mrs Kean wowed the owners in India with his football stories over dinner, ate and complimented them on the exquisite taste of their curry, the chicken empire and probably likened them to the Trump Organization. Maybe he even presented some shirts to the local street children too. But no real solid discussions about the strategy of running Blackburn Rovers were had at all. It has felt like 'Championship Manager' from the first utterings of the owner's spokewoman Anuradha Desai and the press briefings with Kean. He has no experience, and managing in the Premiership is no place for chancers. Rovers only survived last season because of many helpful factors: Allardyce had already amassed a few points on the board, the teams below were actually worse than they were, Blackpool had meagre resources, West Ham's hiearchy behaved like gangsters with Avram Grant in charge bungling the whole affair at Upton Park, Roy Hodgson's last game was THAT defeat to Blackburn and Birmingham's players spent the latter part of last season basking in their one-off Carling Cup win against Arsenal. So, on paper they were good enough...just. Manchester United also won the league by default, remember the Ray Wilkins sacking at Chelsea? Think on... Those chickens are coming home to roost!! The harsh reality of today is there is absolutely no stability within the side right now, every Rovers fan can see it. Upfront, new signing Yakubu has single-handedly beaten teams like his awesome four goal demolition of Swansea, but those performances cannot be expected to happen every week; the Premiership is too tight and ruthless a league for that. But, even if the Yak he does produce a sackful of goals, the defence is still far too porous for the team to survive. Blackburn remind me of the Tottenham side of the mid 1990s that boasted Jurgen Klinsmann, superfluous going forward but Ossie failed to strengthen the defence. Hoping to be like Barcelona is wonderfully aspiration but Venky's and Kean should also learn that in Catalonia they strategically graft tirelessly as a working unit when they don't have the ball. It's a mess I'm sorry to say. 13 miles up the A666 is another struggling team - Bolton. They are Blackburn Rovers opponents tomorrow at Ewood Park and they too are looking worryingly fragile. Tomorrow's match is being billed as a make or break one. I actually feel that both teams could plunge from the Premier League which will be particularly hard for the people of Bolton who I feel have re-energised the town with the impressive Reebok Stadium, great infrastructure surrounding it in Horwich. The teams at the bottom are so much stronger this season and boast greater experience and acumen in their management units. For the purposes of the actual game though, I expect Bolton to win because they have better players but like West Ham last season have lost their way a little. For Blackburn, it will be the day that Steve Kean has to accept that he is ill-equipped for this particular job and walk away before he loses all respect. But my greater fear is what will happen next, because Blackburn could easily do a Leeds United and keep falling back to the position they once occupied before Sir Jack's millions came calling. I hope that I am wrong but it's hard to see beyond a disaster looming. Time for hard hats, tough under-garments and a lot of festive liquid. I am just relieved it's not my club!