Blackburn, Once a Force, Now a Farce

    Blackburn, once Premier League Champions back in the 1994/95 season are now relegated to England’s second tier – the Championship – and boy is going to be tough for not only for the players but also the manager Steve Kean. Blackburn had such a talented team especially during the season in which they won the league with the likes of the young Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton, as these players moved on to pastures new Blackburn had to bring in new signings to keep them a solid Premier League team.

    Blackburn lost their way and soon was slipping down the Premier League table due to a lack of funding and loss of players. Soon enough in 1999 they were relegated but managed to get back into the Premier League two seasons later. Blackburn then became what we’d call a mid-table team but still played an attractive style of football. Blackburn signed up the likes of Tugay, David Bentley and Morten Gamst Pederson who all had a profound effect on the Blackburn team. Yet despite this managers were coming and going, such managers include Graemme Souness, Mark Hughes and Sam Allardyce but they couldn’t get Blackburn high enough in the table to survive in the job.

    However over the last two seasons Blackburn has really struggled and now they have paid the price for their negligence. Last season Steve Kean – a young Scottish manager – was to be in charge midway through the season and all looked promising at first yet results seem to go against Blackburn and on the last day they managed to survive the drop by the skin of their teeth. Financial difficulty looked to be the downfall for Blackburn however Venkys arrived on the scene and soon bought the once magnificent Blackburn Rovers. Fans were relishing the thoughts of signing household names such as Ronaldinho yet all they managed to get instead was Dundee’s David Goodwillie who has been a flop this season and a few other low key players.

    This sort of kick-started Blackburn’s horrible 2011/12 campaign. Soon enough Blackburn found themselves bottom at Christmas and only one team has ever survived relegation from this position – the team I support, West Bromwich Albion – so things were looking bleak for Blackburn. However results soon picked up but the abuse for Steve Kean was getting beyond unbelievable. Chants such as “Kean Out” reverberating around the stadium caused massive upset to Steve Kean who stayed cool, calm and collected during these difficult times.  He carried on with his management style, insisting Blackburn can fight their way out of the relegation zone and constantly asking for the fans support.

    A 3-2 win at Old Trafford and a 1-1 draw at Anfield looked like Blackburn had turned a corner and could prevent relegation but the team faltered and soon results were going against them. A 2-1 derby day home loss to Bolton and a 2-1 home defeat to a solid looking West Bromwich Albion soon piled the pressure on Steve Kean and yet again the aggressive nature of abuse towards Kean was disgraceful. As fans you should stick by your team through thick and thin, as a WBA fan I’ve watched my team go up and down like yo-yos but I’ve stood by them and now look where we are, a solid mid-table team. If only Blackburn fans had this much faith in their team maybe the performances would be there.

    However this abuse continued on throughout the rest of the season and Blackburn couldn’t get out of the relegation zone. With two games to go and 6 points away from safety after QPR’s late winner at home to Stoke, meant that Blackburn had to go into their game against a Wigan team looking to pull safe from the relegation zone, with a win. However things didn’t go to plan with Blackburn not having a shot on target as Wigan were dominating the game. With only a couple minutes to go Blackburn needed a goal but a well in swinging Wigan corner headed in by Alcaraz dashed Blackburn’s hope of survival. The fans jeered and yet again the loud chants of “Kean Out” were shouted out at Ewood Park. The only thing that lightened up a horrible evening for Blackburn fans was the arrival of the Ewood chicken in the 1st Half. After the game had finished angry fans ran on the pitch assumingly trying to target the deeply sorrowed Steve Kean but security guards were soon on the scene and escorted Kean down the tunnel.

    Relegation might have been inevitable with only 2 games to go because even if they had beat Wigan they faced a difficult trip to Chelsea who are still fighting for a European place but we’ll never know for sure. Poor performances, lack of support from fans and also lack of support from the Venkys summed up Blackburn’s atrocious season. Blackburn will now find they’re playing in the most difficult league to get out of as so many teams in the Championship are very competitive so I reckon Blackburn will find it difficult to gain promotion immediately. To be honest I don’t see them getting back in to the Premier League at all as they will lose their ‘big’ name players and also the revenue from being in the Premier League.

    The only person I feel sorry for is Steve Kean. He has taken an insane amount of abuse from the fans for his player’s performances and I’m sorry but this type of behaviour just isn’t acceptable. Fans of Blackburn need to pull together and get behind Steve Kean during these desperate times so that they don’t falter in the Championship. Good funding from the Venkys has to come now for Blackburn to have a sniff of automatic promotion next season but it’s highly unlikely as the owners never show their faces.