Only nine days after Allardyce’s departure, Steve Kean who had been working as a first-team coach at Ewood Park, was installed as caretaker manager until the conclusion of the 2010/2011 campaign – this despite Venky’s prior declaration that Kean would merely take charge while the owners could ‘study and put a lot of thought into who the next manager of Blackburn Rovers will be’.
The hasty appointment of Kean was compounded when the Scot – having won two of the six intervening matches while at the helm – was rewarded with a two-and-a-half year contract. Relegation would be avoided at the season’s denouement, but the inevitable was merely being delayed.
After one of the more turbulent Premier League campaign’s that any club can have experienced, and against the backdrop of dwindling and vocally agitated and confrontational support, Rovers were condemned to second tier football having accrued a miserly 31 points.
Perhaps in keeping with the dysfunctional nature of Blackburn’s affairs, when time finally and mercifully ran out on Kean’s tenure – the manager stated his position had become ‘untenable’ due to interference in his team selection – the 45 year-old had guided the side to third place in the Championship and lost only one of their opening seven fixtures.
Eric Black’s relatively bountiful month in caretaker charge was brought to a close by the arrival of popular two-time former Rovers’ defender Henning Berg. As an integral member of the 1995 title winning team that Jack built, Berg had fans’ backing. Nevertheless, and most significantly, the Norwegian – who could boast only an unremarkable managerial record in his homeland with FC Lyn Oslo and Lillestrom SK – fell someway short in his quest to implant his English footballing alma mater as a competitive force in the cut-throat Championship.
One win in ten games sealed Berg’s fate and, after a mini-revival, – this time under the tutelage of reserve team manager Gary Bowyer – a firm eye was cast on establishing a definitive plan for the future and bringing longed for serenity to an ever more confused, controversial, and stormy reign.
Events off the pitch had continued to overshadow those that unfolded within the confines of an all too regularly sparsely populated Ewood Park.
Managers were required to travel to India for monthly meetings with their bosses – an unsatisfactory situation the hapless owners sought to rectify with their appointment of the Malaysian pundit, Shebby Singh, as a ‘Global Advisor’. The presence of the 52 year-old has only further muddied the already toxic Rovers’ waters.
Singh was reportedly the brains behind Berg’s appointment. Managing Director, Derek Shaw’s counselling for Michael Appleton held sway when the most recent occupant of the hottest seat in football was recruited. Prior to luring his man from Blackpool, Shaw – who was chairman at Preston North End throughout Appleton’s four year playing career at Deepdale – had lobbied his Indian bosses to sack Singh.
With familiar echoes of Venky’s arrival, Appleton’s introduction as the latest man to meet the taste of football’s chicken farmers was complete with bullish noises of long-term plans and a bright future.
Appleton’s choice to take his services across his native county after only 65 days at the Blackpool helm – a period defined by his imbuing a degree of resilience into an erratic outfit, rather than any immediate upsurge in form or excitement – was unexpected.
In August, the former Manchester United trainee was plotting a League One campaign with Portsmouth which would necessitate crisis management above all else. The uniquely exacting role at Fratton Park had enticed Appleton from West Bromwich Albion, the club where he had developed a strong coaching reputation after being forced end his playing career at the tender age of 27 after a two year fight to overcome a serious knee injury.
Early in the season, Appleton spoke of his determination to see the job through at Pompey where he had become a reliably welcome figurehead during a time of unprecedented turmoil. Following the then 35 year-old’s first step into the managerial breach he was unable to surmount the obstacle of a ten point penalty imposed on the South Coast club – without which Championship survival would have been secured.
Having been at Fratton through the lowest possible times, Appleton’s reasoning was that he wanted to be in place to benefit from the ceaseless work he had undertaken to merely field a competitive playing unit each week.
Nevertheless, when the opportunity to flourish away from such prohibitive restrictions arose at Bloomfield Road, the lure was impossible to resist.
That pragmatic approach to career development – and possibly the task at Blackpool not being quite as presented in the prospectus – led Appleton to set roots in his third different office of the season. This was to be the perfect marriage, with club and manager ready to grow together.
Appleton was thrilled to have secured what he believed to be his big break;
‘I am delighted to be joining such an historic club. This is a fantastic opportunity for me and I am excited about the challenge we have ahead of us.
‘I can’t wait to start working with what is a very talented group of players’.
Shaw, delighted to have got his own man was equally ebullient;
‘We are delighted to welcome both Michael and Ashley (Westwood, Appleton’s assistant) to the football club.
‘They are both highly regarded within the game and we are confident that they have the drive and ambition to take this club forward.