1. Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!

Opinions, please

Discussion in 'Blackburn Rovers' started by A Matter Of Time, May 13, 2013.

  1. A Matter Of Time

    A Matter Of Time Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 1, 2013
    Messages:
    1,962
    Likes Received:
    183
    After Michael Appleton was sacked, I wrote this article. Is it a fair assessment of the state of Blackburn Rovers?


    Blackburn beyond a joke
    I have no idea as to what it would be like to be a Blackburn Rovers supporter. But this once great, once traditional club is falling by the wayside in an almost comical fashion. The Blackburn faithful have not been laughing as they’ve seen three managers leave the club, the two most recent only taking charge of a handful of games and proving unsuccessful. Venky’s have single-handedly destroyed the club. There is no John Williams, there is no Tom Finn, and what is a good squad of players has underperformed.

    I’ll begin by stating the obvious. Sam Allardyce should never have been sacked. Had he not been sacked, Blackburn Rovers would comfortably be a mid-table Premier League side, and their hopes of remaining were gone as soon as Venky’s dismissed him and replaced him with Steve Kean. Kean seemed a good man, but was nowhere near the right man for the job. He was neither qualified nor worthy of replacing Allardyce, who despite having his critics, guaranteed the club Premier League football.

    Kean did not deserve all the abuse he received, some of it was out of order as he was not the one responsible for the sacking of Sam Allardyce. However, during that time I empathised with Blackburn supporters, understanding that they were angry and frustrated with what was happening. He took a competitive squad at Ewood Park down to the Championship with a whimper, and he was not sacked despite that, which sounds all the more staggering now.
    So Kean was kept in charge, and to his credit he actually seemed capable of doing well in the Championship, they were top in September by virtue of being able to score lots of goals, compensating for a poor defensive record. Kean was ‘forced’ to resign just over a month into the season, and the search for his successor brought the role of Shebby Singh, the club’s new global advisor, into the spotlight. Singh had already caused controversy by labelling long serving winger Morten Gamst Pedersen a ‘pensioner’. A fine way to begin, insulting a fan’s favourite.

    Singh’s eventual appointment was former Rovers title winner Henning Berg, who had no experience of managing in England, but worked extremely hard to improve things. However, he seldom achieved positive results and before he was given the chance to turn things around, he was shown the door.
    So then it was the turn of managing director Derek Shaw to have the final say on an appointment, all part of an internal battle with Singh. Michael Appleton, not long appointed Blackpool manager, was his preferred candidate. Shaw rushed things through with Appleton, coaxed by the ‘ambition’ of Venky’s, before Singh could interfere or scupper the deal. Appleton made a reasonable start as manager, and then enjoyed his finest moment as a manager by leading them to victory at Arsenal in the FA Cup.

    From then on though, it was downhill, and Appleton was sacked recently following a run of no wins in nine games, including defeat after a replay in the FA Cup Quarter-Finals against Millwall. The last three perfromances in his reign were simply terrible. Toothless in the extreme, losing to Millwall team which was far from firing on all cylinders, and then not having a single shot on target until stoppage time in the local derby with Burnley. They managed a very fortunate draw at the death, but that did not affect the decision that was to be made just days later.

    Appleton’s sacking was predictable unfortunately. So many clubs this season have hired and fired at will, Blackburn being the quickest to push the panic button. Shaw didn’t find out until he heard/saw the national news. He must have been incensed, wondering how he ever managed to find himself in such a titanic power struggle at a once great club. I’ve no sympathy for Appleton, however, as it was his disloyalty towards Blackpool which led him to Blackburn. An unproven manager still, as he can hardly be judged on his time at Portsmouth, he should have known better than to join a club run by complete idiots.
    Venky’s have made a mockery of the FA’s ‘fit and proper persons test’ more than any other foreign owner, which says a lot. We’ve seen chickens on the Ewood Park pitch, supporter unrest on a really high scale, overshadowing events on the pitch, which have been desperate, as the power struggle at the top has seen the club become a laughing stock in the space of two and a half years.
     
    #1

Share This Page