They promised Beckham and delivered Barnsley: The story of Blackburn’s demise

The Venky’s acquired Blackburn Rovers through a £43m takeover from the Jack Walker estate in November 2010. Their outrageous promises included Ronaldinho, Raul & Beckham. No-one thought their promises would be fulfilled, but nor did the fans see Blackburn falling from a established and stable top flight club to dropping out the Premier League trap door.

The Venky’s first major decision took the foundations from the club that has since crumbled into the Championship. Sam Allardyce was sacked just a month into their reign; the club were stable and sitting 13^th in the Premier League table. You can understand the Venky’s wanting to bring in their own man who shares their vision of steering the club toward the top of the league and Champions League that they genuinely believed Blackburn could achieve.

Two months following the sacking of Allardyce came the departure of long serving chairman, John Williams who had stabilised following the departure of Jack Walker. Not only did he understand the fans, he understood Blackburn and the way the club should be run. His departure left the club with little influence from the previous era and the Venky’s geographical detachment resulted in Blackburn becoming a rudderless ship.

Steve Kean’s promotion from first team coach to manager was seen as a step back. Kean a rookie to management wasn’t an appointment that was likely to bring success, but it just so happened that Kean’s agent; Jermone Anderson engineered the Venky’s purchasing Blackburn Rovers. The promises being made to fans were not being kept and sacking Allardyce was undoubtedly a backward step. The Venky’s weren’t regular visitors to Ewood and Kean became an unfortunate figurehead at which fans vented their frustrations.

Kean has been left hung out to dry, incredibly under qualified, the way he has handled himself has been admirable. But you have to question his intentions and sanity; surely he cannot believe; with the state the club is currently in and with the fans at such lengths with the current regime he can actually guide the club to promotion next season? He is already planning his summer in charge of Blackburn; the owners have shared his delusions. Selling the best assets, not replacing with quality and still expecting success. Jones, Samba and Nelsen left and Dann, Orr and youngsters have taken their places. To lose players of such quality and to expect youngsters with little to no league experience to come in and play to a high standard week after week is plain idiotic. The one shining light  is Yakubu of an otherwise dark season, this is more out of luck than a successful transfer policy. The only other diamond in the rough is Junior Hoillet whose contract runs out at the end of the season. To be promoted back to the top flight, changes need to be made from the ground up as they’ll struggle to keep anyone who has performed this season and those that haven’t need to be moved on.

Former Premier League winners Blackburn Rovers decline has been painful to watch, an institution of the Premier League whose bad management from both boardroom and pitch side  has combined to ruin an otherwise stable club. Blackburn weren’t on the decline when the Jack Walker estate decided to sell and the promises made by the Venky’s looked as though the club would only go from one strength to another.

Yakubu chasing a chicken around the Ewood pitch just served to highlight the joke the club has become. Once selling out week in week out, now the fans that do decide to turn up voraciously show their hostility toward Kean and the Venky’s. Venky’s need to quickly replace the manager and stop trying to persist with their previous bad decisions, whether it’s stubbornness or bad advice from the yes men surrounding them they need to make changes. Employing someone who’ll inspire the fans and players, my suggestion would be Lee Clark. As seen at Newcastle, it doesn’t matter how hated the Boardroom are as long as what is happening on the pitch garners success there will be no complaining from the stands.

Instead of Beckham they got Barnsley, instead of Galaticos they’ve got Grant Hanley and instead of Champions League they’ve got Championship, now one good choice the Venky’s could make would be swapping Kean for Clark. It’s definitely too late for Kean, but a quick swap of management could capture the imagination of the fans and a strong start to the Championship season coupled shrewd pre season signings could get the majority of fans back on side and it’s the fans that will be crucial if we are to see Blackburn grace the Premier League anytime soon.

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