Blackburn Rovers FC – A Soccernomincs story?

To the outside world, the last 18 or so months that Venky’s have been at the helm of Blackburn Rovers may have seemed like pure, impossible, unpredictable chaos – but have they had a plan all along?

Two weeks ago I picked up the book “Soccernomics: Why England lose, why Spain, Germany, and Brazil win, and why the US, Japan, Australia, turkey – and even Iraq – are destined to become the kings of the worlds most popular sport” – by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski – after reading a few chapters it became apparent that the ideologies they discussed about the way football clubs are run made very logical sense. The book itself uses statistics to explain why things in football happen and how traditional methods of running clubs set teams up to fail, drawing heavily from Michael Lewis’ ‘Moneyball’ (now a major motion picture) – now I am a bit of geek for using statistics to evidence facts, so the book immediately made sense to me. However, the more I read, particularly the opening chapters, the more I had the image of Anuradha Desai and her brothers in my head, making me think, is there method to their seeming madness? To explain this I’ve taken a few key points from the book and put them in the context of BRFC.

1. A new manager wastes money on transfers; don’t let him. – The Venky’s have hardly made any funds available for transfers since taking over the club. Allardyce didn’t get to spend a penny of their money, and Steve Kean has had a similar measly packet of spending money to spend on transfers (Scott Dann being the exception but also the point in case – he spent £6m on a defender who wasn’t that brilliant). Kuper and Scymanski argue that teams perform better with more money spent on wages, not transfers, however, to play devils advocate, arguably the highest waste Venky’s have paid since taking over has been for Roque Santa Cruz during his loan period – and that was hardly a success (Santa Cruz was mostly injured and failed to hit the net once).

2. Certain Nationalities are overvalued – This particularly looks at nationalities such as Brazilians. Venky’s have tended to look to certain ‘unfashionable’ nations such as Scotland, Serbia, Montenegro and avoided Germans, French and South Americans (one exception being Mauro Formica).

3. The best time to sign a player is when he is in his early twenties – in their first transfer window Venky’s brought in youngsters Mauro Formica and Ruben Rochina, and added to them with Goodwillie, Slew and Marcus Olsson the following season. Buying players young takes a gamble on inexperience (but not as big a gamble as buying 15-16 year olds the likes have Chelsea have started doing) but also allows for them to develop in to the player they want to be, and ultimately sell them off at a massive gain. At Ewood, this is replicated with the academy which has produced many stars over the years and has brought in huge sums of money from transfers (Duff, Dunn, Jones, Given etc.).

4. Sell any player when another club offers more than he is worth – every club will have a figure of value in mind for every player, the problem some clubs have is they get greedy and ask for more, often meaning the player in question hangs about at the club for a couple of extra years and his value decreases (or he leaves on a free transfer) – with this in mind, Arsenal would probably be wise to sell Robin Van Persie this summer. Looking at Blackburn Rovers, since pulling up a chair at the boardroom table, Venky’s have sold no less than: Phil Jones (£17m), Chris Samba (£12m), Yakubu (£1.2m), Kalinic (£5m), Roberts (£500k), and Fielding (£300k). It would be hard to argue that any of these players could have been valued at more than these figures. To add to this, the clubs that these players were sold to is also interesting – Manchester United; Anzhi; Guangzhou; Dnipro; Reading; and, Derby – at the time of their sale, these players where not going to clubs who Blackburn where likely to be competing with. The key transfer here is Samba, in the eyes of Blackburn Rovers, they did not want him going to a QPR, a Villa or a Spurs so Anzhi offered the ideal chance to cash in on him and given that he had stated his desire to leave in the press, to keep him against his could have caused further rifts in the squad. The issue Rovers fans have with the transfers is the lies about who is staying and who is going, and then allowing key players (Nelson, Emerton, Salgado and Diouf) to leave on free transfers, particular as they were experienced and senior members of the squad.

5. Replace your best players before you sell them – here Venkys have not been too brilliant. Phil Jones was not replaced until 3 weeks in to the season, where damage had already been done, similarly, Chris Samba has yet to be replaced, as too has Jason Roberts. Kalinic was replaced by Yakubu and Fielding by the upcoming Jake Kean. Emerton was replaced by Rochina, Benjani by Goodwillie, Diouf by Formica. Moving forward I think, personally, that Venky’s have a plan to replace experience with youth, cashing in both the experienced players in their prime, and then at a later date, when youth has become experience, cashing in again and started the cycle off again. This has already been seen with the first team action for the likes of Jason Lowe, Adam Henley, Grant Hanley, Raheem Hanley and Jake Kean – the worry is that, as shown last season, it may be too soon to bring these players in to the limelight for extended periods, particular when some many are promoted at once. In the Championship though, they may flourish, and with the extra games, Rovers will need squad options and depth.

6. Buy players with personal problems and help them deal with their problems – looking at the players that Venky’s have brought in, a bit of google-research quickly reveals that some have had run in with law and others clashes with other vices. Goodwillie has been the subject of lawsuits from GBH, Bradley Orr was the first footballer to wear a tag, and Yakubu hadn’t had the best of spells at Leicester and has had issues with his size. These vices arguably knock pounds off their pricetag but also gives clubs an opening offer to get them on board – “club play for us and we’ll help you with your problems”. Blackburn isn’t a big city, and this has helped other players in past avoid the limelight and turn a corner – Craig Bellamy, Paul Dickov, Andy Todd and Kieth Gillespie. These ‘vice-players’ may not be world beaters, but take away their issues and your more likely to get more than your moneys-worth.

7. Don’t pick a ex-world class player as manager – clubs have a habit of hiring coaches who have had success on the pitch but little or no experience of management, and often they fail catastrophically. Often a key issue, is whether the manager is available immediately – usually this means they have just been sacked. With Blackburn Rovers it looks very much as though Venkys have tried to avoid this problem. They removed a reasonably successful player in Allardyce and replaced him with Kean who had a near unheard of career in Scotland and Portugal. Kean has had a many years of coaching experience and has worked with a number of managers at the top-level – not too dissimilar to Jose ‘the special one’ Mourinho. Couple this with the appointment of a little known Malaysian defender/pundit Shebbi Singh and it appears that they have gone for under the radar staff with experience but not the hype to match. The question remains though, are they up to the job? With a high-profile manager it easier to lay the blame of failure at their doorstep, with unknowns, the blame can arguably still be with the players.

8. “Doing a Leeds” – cutting your wages, getting relegated, and competing at a lower level. Unfortunately for Blackburn fans, this seems to be the way the club is heading. Although removing a large wage structure and making the club more sustainable, this could arguably also be the end of the club. The failure Kuper and Szymanski talk about here is how Leeds United paid top dollar wages in the early 2000’s to get them to the Champions League semi-final, only to then be relegated with a massive wage bill which was sliced and followed by relegations through the leagues – this is obviously not the ideal way to run a football club.

It would be best here to point out that I am in no-way condoning what Venky’s have/are doing to Blackburn Rovers, and I am against their ownership and running of the club. However, those looking for reasoning behind the decisions they have made, may well find this in the fantastic book  by Kuper and Szymanski – a recommended read for any football fans and those involved in the running of a club. It’s main point is that the traditional running of a football club makes no sense when put against business decisions and when combined with stats will not, in most cases, result in success. Venky’s appear as though they may have taken this on board, but what you cannot argue against is that they are certainly doing things differently to the norm.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Soccernomics-England-Germany-Australia-Destined/dp/1568584253/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341058550&sr=1-2

Messi Versus Ronaldo, Flair Versus Power

The FIFA Ballon d’Or – the award that says you are the best in world football. Previously the name given to the best player in Europe, the award was merged with FIFA World Player of the Year in 2010 to make the decision unanimous. Previous incumbents have been Lother Matthaus, Marco Van Basten, Roberto Baggio, Romario, Brazilian Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, and most recently, one Lionel Messi has picked up the award on no fewer than three occasions (2009, 2010, 2011).  Can Messi pick up the award for 2012 making him the only player in FIFA history to win it four times? One man stands in his way, Christiano Ronaldo, the 2008 winner.

So who is better, Messi or Ronaldo? It’s safe to say any manager in world football would want them in their team. Whether it’s the glamour of the Champions League final, or a wet and windy night in Middlesbrough – both these players have the ability to win the game single-handedly.

In the 2011-12 season, Messi has scored an incredible 73 goals in 60 appearances for Barcelona (Messi is also incidentally La Liga’s eleventh all time top scorer – while Ronaldo sits around 42nd/43rd), while Ronaldo has helped himself to 60 goals in only 55 appearances – both having a scoring rate of more than a goal a game. But with Ronaldo’s haul helping the Galacticos to the La Liga title for the first time in three years, breaking Pep Guardiola’s grip on the trophy, and helping himself to the Trofeo Alfredo Di Stefano for the best player in La Liga.

So far, pretty inseparable. On the career trophy count, Messi has to his name 5 La Liga titles, 2 Copa del Rey’s, 3 Champions League winners medals, 2 UEFA Super Cup winners medals and 2 World Club Cup medals. To add to this, an Olympic Gold Medal with Argentina from 2008 and a FIFA Under-20 World Cup winners medal. In comparison, Ronaldo has 3 Premier League titles, 1 FA Cup winners medal, 2 League Cup medals, a Champions League medal, a Fifa World Club Cup winners medal, 1 La Liga and 1 Copa del Rey. So on the trophy count, Lionel Messi is in the lead.

However, look at the players around Messi. At Barcelona he sits at the head of a well orchestrated symphony containing the likes of Xavi and Iniesta passing to death the opposition, the attacking threat of David Villa and Alexis Sanchez, and the defence of Puyol, Pique, Abidal and Dani Alves – it’s a dream team in itself, containing many players who would widely be regarded as their countries best in their positions. Looking at his international credentials, although Argentina have not won a major world or Continental competition during his playing time, he has rarely set the field alight with his international performances. Up until now, recently bagging a hat-trick against the Brazilians. Bt again, look at the players surrounding him – Tevez, Aguero, Higuain, Di Maria to name a few – again he is surrounded by World Class players.

Looking at Ronaldo, he is the superstar of the Galacticos (with a price tag to match) – but certainly without his contributions, Real Madrid would be nowhere near the La Liga title this year. At Manchester United, he won titles while playing alongside the likes of Kleberson and Eric Djemba-Djemba (hardly Xavi and Iniesta). And now, he too is taking his form to international level – almost single-handedly dragging the Portuguese through the Group stage and quarter finals with Helder Postiga, Patricio, Rolando and Miguel Veloso – hardly the hedonistic golden generation of Figo, Rui Costa and Nuno Gomes.

The question of who is more deserving is definitely a subjective one. It is impossible not to watch Messi without admiration for his flair, technique and honesty while remembering his accolades and performances from over the years. But then similarly you cannot watch Christiano without the awe of his strength, pace, power and arrogance. Ultimately, I believe the award should go the Portuguese man, what he has achieved this season, almost single-handedly for club and country (incidentally, the Portuguese have a good chance of going all the way still) is nothing short of phenomenal. Yes Real Madrid have spent the money to win the title, but haven’t so many others over the last few years without getting even with touching distance of Messi and Pep’s dream team? It’s took Chelsea 9 years to spend their way to the Champions League title.

If Ronaldo takes the Portuguese to the final, I do believe that his name will be on the Ballon d’Or and he will be shaking the hand of Sepp Blatter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-vxI5OY55U

Who is Shebby Singh?

Who is Shebby Singh? The question on the tip of every Blackburn fans’ lips.

His less than extensive wikipedia page lists him as a football coach, former commentator and former international footballer from the all-conquering Malaysia. Impressively, it states he won prestigious Malaysia Cup three years in a row as part of the Kuala Lumpar FA team, and went on to win a Gold medal, no not at the Olympics, at the South East Asian games. The man is not short of experience though, having played against the likes of Bayern Munich, Aston Villa, and evening being named as man of the match against, Shrewsbury Town, when the opposition manager hailed him as “top class” –  at a time when Shrewsbury Town where in and around the old Division Two (what is now the Championship).

It is worth remembering that this man has come to ‘direct’ football, not play. Unveiled as Blackburn’s new Director of Football on the 18th June, Singh has been quick to emerge and back Steve Kean, stating that he is not to be sacked and that he has experience of getting out of the lower divisions from his time at Fulham. First error – Steve Kean was at Fulham as Chris Coleman’s assistant, at the earliest in 2003 (at the age of 36) – a time when they where already in the Premiership after being promoted at the same time as Blackburn (and had been so for 3 years). In fact, Steve was at Fulham in 2000, as Youth Academy Director (after an impressive spell coaching Reading’s under 14’s), his impact upon the first team did not come until 2003 when he took charge in the absence of an ill Coleman.

Contradiction number two. As recently as the 9th May this year, Singh reported for ‘The New Paper’ (TNP), A Singapore press agency, stating that Steve Kean “was obviously not the man to lead Blackburn Rovers back to the Premiership”, calling him tactically naive. But now, he believes Kean is the man and he has qualities and he is looking to by ideal players to support the bid back to the Premiership.

http://www.tnp.sg/content/kean-must-go

This does nothing to win the fans over. Blackburn fans have been lied to enough over the last 20-months, without another ‘yes-man’ coming in to the hot seat. The last director of football of note at Ewood was Kenny Dalglish, who had just won the Premier League – Singh does not have the experience, the pulling power, or evidently the back-bone for a long arduous struggle of a season to get back in to the Premier League, and without the support of the fans, which will be near non-existent, it is an even tougher task – tougher than the Gold medal win in 1989.

For Kean to accept decisions made by a man who called for his head also calls in to question Kean’s own morals and patheticness, along with his readiness to once again become the puppet to whoever’s hand it may be.

Singh’s previous knowledge of the English game, beyond his previous verdict on Kean, seems to be limited to his punditry for ESPN in Malaysia. Is this really the credentials needed to be ‘running’ a football club? Often you see managers who have been out of the game for a while, but keeping in their hand in via punditry, returning only to fail as they have been too far removed from the game.

This instance again emphasises the fact that owners and decision makers, if there are any, are so distanced from the club they do not know what the best action to take is. Ask any Rovers fan what they thought of a Director of Football and you would have got responses like Shearer, Dalglish, Souness, Tugay – to name a relatively unknown (he did introduce the teams at last years Pune fiasco http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhQAzBRFxTk ) will do nothing to help this violent relationship, if not push it further.

What the club needs is a fresh start. It is rotten to the core – manager, owners, advisers and seemingly now the directors. The state it is in the club will not get out of the Championship, or come close, and at the minute, there will only be away fans there to witness it, as up until yesterday you literally couldn’t buy a season ticket for Ewood as the club did not know what to charge. The recent appointment of a General Manager had been greeted by a long celebratory holiday without a thought to getting bums on seats following the original early bird deal. Extending this offer to the end of July will likely not boost ticket sales significantly, but will rile those who shelled out in April, and make a laughing-stock of the club once again.

The fixtures are out now and luckily we don’t play them there neighbours until December, before then and I fear that the thirty year record would be gone, but by December, there should be just enough time to either replace the manager (undoubtedly after a poor start and every excuse under the sun – I give it until September until the ‘too many games’ excuse surfaces) or allow for a fan or other take over to go through, a change of manager and an upturn in fortunes. If the current people are at the helm I fear for the record – another thing the Venky’s will have destroyed at the club, without a thought for what they are doing.

‘The Curse’ of football betting

Let me take you back to the (not so) hot summer of 2010, Soccer City – Johannesburg, Friday 2nd July, the last minute of extra time – Asamoah Gyan steps up to take a penalty to put his nation, Ghana through to the World Cup semi-finals, making them the first African team to do so. There was no way he could miss. He takes a good pelanty. He’s confident, cocky almost. I state what I think is going to happen – “No way will he miss this, Ghana are going to the semi’s”. And bang – he hit the bar and it went over, necessitating a penalty shoot-out, which ironically he scored in, but his team went on to lose against Uruguay. The Curse was born.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBDK-HEbIZs

Ever since then, whenever I have predicted something, even the most obvious and blatant of scenarios, the complete opposite happens. Not just in football either. In games where one team is bossing it, I’ll state the fact and put money on them winning, then the opposite happens – to the point where the missus asks me what I think and she actually bets on the opposite outcome, a strategy which has won her a considerable number of bets.

I am a Blackburn fan, and towards the beginning of last season I stated that I didn’t think Yakubu was that good and I wouldn’t necessarily be playing him. Cue the curse to rear its ugly head, the very next game, the Yak bagged himself a double brace, four goals against Swansea – he may as well have celebrated by running off and flashing two, two fingered salutes in my direction at the back of the Blackburn End. Another Rovers scenario – 3-1 up at Carrow Road with ten minutes remaining – “we’ll be out the bottom three at last” – two late late goals from the Canaries and the blues remain in the bottom three. You could probably go as far as to say my curse is as much to blame as the Venky’s running of the club for their demise.

Which brings me on to my dream team. I see myself as quite an astute football fan with a good knowledge of players across Europe, and not just the big name players. As a result of this I pride myself somewhat on my dream team. I’m not quite sure for the reasoning behind this as I have never had a successful team and have yet to break in to the top 100,000 in numerous media leagues. In the Premier League last season I entered three private leagues – my finishing positions: 11th out of 11, 41st out of 43 and 249th out of 251. My record is nearly as good as Alex McLeish ‘Relegation Mastermind’.

I thought the Euro’s would be my opportunity to banish the domestic demons – I was so confident I actually set my own league up.

One week in to the tournament and my back for has yet to keep a clean sheet between them. My midfield has yet to assist or score a goal. And more worryingly, my forwards have also yet to score a goal. My team is summed up by one man: Aleksandr Kerzhakov.

The man leads the line for the Russians, who have arguably the most straight-forward group in the championship, I thought, there are goals there for them, and with Kerzhakov up top, that will mean goals for him. I was so confident in him I also placed money on him to be the top goalscorer at the tournament. Two games in and he has yet to score, although the Russians ran riot over the Czech’s scoring four in doing so. In his first game at the Euro’s he missed seven chances, a Championship record. To put it in to perspective, he missed chances that Emile Heskey would have scored. I believe after two games he has now missed twelve chances. However, he has had one assist, hitting the post from 4 yards out and the Russian’s scoring the follow-up.

 

So Aleksandr Kerzhakov, let me take this opportunity to apologies to you for my selfish use of the curse to terrorise your tournament. Whilst we’re in apologetic mode, I’ll also take this chance to issues my sincerest condolences to France who have no chance of even making it to the Final as I have them each-way to win the whole thing. In the opening group game I had an offer from a bookies, whatever you bet we will match with a free bet: £20 on Holland to beat Denmark, and then I put the free £20 on Holland to beat Denmark and the Germans to beat Portugal – I may as well have set fire to £40!

As I type this though, the winds seem to be changing. After losing all my bets in the first seven days of the tournament, and that is a considerable number of bets, I have a winner. The irony is, it comes from Andy Carroll, the man I have done nothing but slate for the past 18 months – Andy, I am forever grateful.

Looking at the Euro’s and at the risk of ruining the hopes of a number of nations…. The Germans look the strongest team so far and in Gomez they have a striker who, like Yakubu, will offer nothing for 89 minutes, but then pop up with the winner in the last minute. The Russians started well, but didn’t rise to the occasion for the Poland game. I don’t think the Dutch will now get through the group and I think the Portuguese will get a point and go through and possibly get to the semi-finals. Spain are Spain and will pass their way to either the semi’s or the final, but I think they may come undone against a team who can defend resolutely like the Italians did, but perhaps have more power upfront. The Italians look to have put their off the pitch issues behind them and have set up a team playing to each players attributes, and in De Rossi they have a man who will sit in front of the back four to protect them but also give them an outball which allows them to build from the back. And finally, Group D, I think France have the potential to win the tournament, but a lot may depend on the shooting boots of Karim Benzema in the latter stages as he is yet to find the right size; and England, rejuvenated, patriotic, fighting for their chance to progress – they appear to have weathered the storm without Rooney, but the worry is that they struggled to make an impact and create chances against a French side, if they are to go all the way they will need to show more intent then they did in the France game against the other contenders.

My tip to win is either France or Italy, and my tip for Golden boot – Torres………

So lump your money on the opposite!

Press Officer to CEO – The next step in the demise of BRFC

They say a week is a long time in football – if your a Blackburn Rovers fan, you’d think it was a nano-second. Although the days of Big Sam’s reign seem long ago, it was just 19 months ago (next Tuesday) – some would say that those days where long ago – others would argue that the downfall of the Lancashire club has been so rapid, it could have been last December – the wounds are still bleeding.

The turn at Ewood took another strange and derranged turn this week with Paul Agnew being appointed the General Manager of the club (a CEO in all but name). So what, you may be saying, “he’s fulfilled the role before at neighbours, Preston”. However, would you see the postboy at a global company become the Managing Director overnight? In football terms, would you put an under 15’s goalkeeper upfront for the senior team cup final? The answer (unless you are the postboy or the young shot-stopper) would invariably be a resounding ‘no’ – especially if that ‘General Manager’ was to be in charge of the day to day running, including: transfers, wages, sponsorship, ticketing, pre-season arrangements, and most of all, overseeing the return to the Premier League of your beloved club.

Looking at this from a different angle, only weeks ago the two Venky’s brothers – Venkatesh and Balaji – where obviously looking to move Mr Kean on, but their attempts where halted by their sister, Anuradha Desai, who opted to give herself ‘a month or so’ to make the right decision. It then emerged that Steve Kean wanted to start making decisions other than the team, allegedly meeting with Ms Desai and her brothers and suggesting one Paul Agnew be promoted from his role as ‘Press and Public relations officer’.

To put this in perspective, for the last season, there has been discontent at Ewood Park, the voicings of a fan mutany being before the home game to Arsenal back in September, when a march to the ground was planned to voice fears and worries over Kean’s handling of the club and ability as a manager. The situation got no better as the results got worse and the season developed into a relegation battle, with everything coming to a head in the home clash against Bolton in mid-December, a game which Blackburn ended up losing 2-1. Cue widespread protest both during and after the game. Following this, the fans were promised if they kept off the players (and ultimately managers) back they would be granted some form of communication with the people running the club (this itself is a major question at the minute – but I digress). In return, the fans got behind the team and refrained from protesting against the manager, and results picked up, only to be followed by two wins in nine games – and no communication or meeting with the fans. Protests again started, with fans believing the manager should have been changed prior to the January transfer window (a window where key players Samba, Nelson and Roberts where sold, on top of the Salgado who had been frozen out for seemingly no reason, and the sale of Andrews, Diouf and the release of Emerton earlier in the season – and who came in? Anthony Modeste (????) and Bradley Orr) – bearing in mind, since well before that game against Bolton on 20th December, not a word had been heard from the owners or their representatives. The only sight of the owners was them leaving at half-time during the game at Wigan (if they’d stayed until the end they’d have seen why we are all football fans – a last minute penalty to steal a point).

At this point, rather than listen to the fans concerns – as they obviously are oblivious to their pain – they decided to turn on them, enforcing a strict “no banner” policy for the remainder if the season. A decision which seems ironic, when during the last game of the season a chicken wearing a Blackburn Rovers flag was snook in to the ground and released on to the pitch.

Returning back to the movements of players during the season, at various times, fans were told Nelson, Salgado and Roberts where injured, only for players to admit through social media and other outlets, that they were fit and able to play. Jason Roberts didn’t really feature following the arrival of Yakubu, but this was in part put down to the players ‘injuries’ – after signing for Reading he scored 6 goals in 17 games and played a key part in helping Reading achieve promotion; similarly, following an injury sustainained in the game against Arsenal back in September, Salgado did not feature, however he was able to fly out to Pune (ANOTHER story!) and play in testimonial matches around the world whilst being ‘injured’; and finally, and arguably the most blatent sign of foul play – Ryan Nelson – the previous club captain, fan favourite and stalwart of the club – fans where told his knee injury was serious and that they where looking to release him from his contract so that he could return to his homeland for further treatment – cue the entrance of ‘Arry Redknapp. Ever a man to sniff out a bargain, at 10:30pm on January transfer deadline day, he made whispers of an experienced premier league player being potentially available on a free, at 10:59pm Nelson was a Tottenham player. Mr Kean’s response to this, I’d be amazed if he plays again as he’s been ‘struggling for fitness’ and has “only played a handfull of Reserve games this season”. Nelson made his Spurs debut 11 days later.

But what has all this got to do with Paul Agnew (or had you forgot about his nice new promotion?)? The point is – all the above happened with him in charge of ‘Press and Public Relations’: since the takeover in November 2010 there has been barely a squeek in the media from Venky’s or anyone associated with the club (until they either left or got sacked – the latter usually being because they had spoken out about the poor running of the club, aka Paul Hunt) – Steve kept going on his trips to Pune, talking a good game (Champions League, Carling Cup, Ronaldhino), getting new contracts, and returning saying the owners are committed. Not even the loyal local paper, the Lancashire Telegraph, could get an interview with the Venky’s, despite numerous attempts, public letters and the backing of the fans – in the end, the paper has had to feed of tit-bits and take the side of the fans – in my lifetime, I have never seen the LT go against a manager to the extent of openly agreeing he should be sacked. All this lack of media activity, communication and collaboration, while Mr Paul Agnew (now GM), was in charge of ‘Press and Public Relations’ – you could argue that in fairness he was due a promotion, as he was as good at his Press and Media role as Steve Kean is managing; and he got a nice new contract.

Where does the madness end? It appears that Steve Kean has got his way and not only kept his job, but got his buddy (the man who banned all questions regarding Kean’s future and the protests during interviews – however, he did manage to communicate to the press about Steve needing a bodyguard) a role in running the club. It has to be asked – “who really is running Blackburn Rovers”?

All of this calls into question the FA/Premier League’s fit and proper persons test, and would like to know who in their eyes owns the club?

What is clear and apparent (and it doesn’t need a press and media mogul such as Agnew to tell you) is that the club and the majority of fans (for Mr Kean’s sake lets say 99%) are not in a healthy relationship at the minute, and at a time when a club is looking for season ticket sales to boost a clubs revenue, this is not going to be healthy for either club or fans. I for one have already renewed my season ticket and will continue to do so whoever owns the club and whoever is the manager – at the end of the day, you don’t support the owners, you support your club, through thick and thin.

My honest opinion for the 2012-13 season: far from Mr Kean’s boasts of a safe season and a Carling Cup win, I think Messrs Kean and Agnew will do well to avoid relegation for a second consecutive season.