Blackburn Rovers: perpetual turmoil

One can hardly blame Blackburn Rovers fans for growing very, very tired with the shambles that their once proud club has become under the ownership of Indian poultry conglomerate Venky's. There's hardly any need to rehash everything that has happened at Ewood Park over the last couple of seasons in the greatest of detail at this point, such as the mysterious sacking of Sam Allardyce and the bemusing, if not fatefully disastrous, hiring of Steve Kean as his replacement, puzzling squad selections and transfers, and the subsequent relegation that would eventually befall Rovers at the end of last season. Life in the Championship this season has hardly offered much of a reprieve from the head scratching and bizarre behind the scenes.

Though the unpopular Steve Kean, whose winning percentage at Blackburn was absolutely woeful, began the season in charge, there was still at least some reason to hope for promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking. The signings of Danny Murphy, Dickson Etuhu, Colin Kazim-Richards (on loan from Galatasaray), Leon Best and Jordan Rhodes certainly seemed to be those of a club that had ambition beyond the league they found themselves in. With Kean's sacking after a decent yet somewhat unconvincing start to the new season, the fans had more reason to think, or at least hope, that maybe, just maybe, the owners were beginning to see the light of how to run a club. The appointment of a proven manager would have done so much good to inspire Rovers fans to return to Ewood Park en masse.

What transpired and what has continued to play out since then is nothing short of shambolic. It took the better part of a month for Venky's and global advisor (a title that should probably actually be director of football) Shebby Singh to appoint a new, permanent manager while assistant coach Eric Black steered Rovers to a few pragmatically attained points during that time. Fans might have assumed that such a long, drawn out managerial search might have yielded a big name, but that expectation would be soon squashed. Instead, former Rovers centerback Henning Berg, who had previously managed at Lyn and Lillestrom in his native Norway, was to emerge as the new man in charge. Suffice to say, it was not the hire fans would have hoped for, but the Rovers faithful were willing to give him a chance.

With all due respect to Henning Berg, the job at hand was always going to be one that was beyond his management acumen, for reasons on the field and off of it. I have absolutely no doubt that he tried his hardest, as most Rovers fans probably also realize, but a meager return of one win, three draws and six losses is the proverbial proof in the pudding that things just weren't working with Berg in charge. Yes, there were a couple of decent performances in that run of games that probably deserved more points than they yielded (Birmingham, Burnley, Huddersfield), but that's the nature of the game. Abject second halves against Blackpool and Middlesbrough (both losses) put the final nails in Berg's coffin.

And so now, with Rovers teetering in mid-table and as close to the relegation spots as the top six, Venky's, Singh and whoever else might be involved behind the scenes have another choice to make, and of course it's another choice that could have everything to say about just where Rovers are headed, both in terms of wins and losses and getting the fans back into the stands. Despite this reality that anybody could see, Singh has already come out to say that urgency is apparently lost on those in charge at Ewood Park. Considering how vital the next month of games and the January transfer window will be for Rovers' fortunes, such a flippant attitude about the appointment of the third manager of the season is troubling and continues to suggest that those in charge still just don't get it. This is not the time to dally about, and this is not the time to underestimate the gravity of this situation Rovers find themselves in at the moment.

As I wrote a couple of months ago in the wake of Kean's firing, Venky's must get this hire right, and quickly, if they are going to finally show that they are serious about returning this club to the levels it has largely maintained for the better part of the last two decades. Whoever takes over will inherent a squad that, while having some shortcomings and players who haven't performed at their best this season, is at least talented enough to be challenging for promotion. Such a challenge for promotion could be realistic under the guidance of a proven manager in the second half of the season, but will a manager of this caliber be in the fold? Sadly enough for Rovers fans, the answer to that question is hardly a certainty.