The last four days have been frantic since the publishing of "Puppet or Puppeteer" On Rover Revisited, At the writing of this follow up post the article has received 33478 views from a Worldwide audience covering the UK, Scandinavia, Asia, India, Australia, India and the rest of Europe. Journalist and media outlets from around the world have been in touch about doing a follow up article of their own, after Blackburn Rovers fans United as one to protect the long term future of the club. Blackburn Rovers, Venkys and media outlets have been swarmed with letters and emails asking for the removal of Manager Steve Kean, whilst asking questions about Venky's future plans for the club.
Henry winter of the Telegraph after receiving calls from a number of fans published an article which was inspired by the Puppet or Puppeteer Blog post, Whilst over in Norway where Blackburn Rovers have a fantastic following, leading TV journalist Kaspar Wikestad has also done a follow up article posing even more questions of the Rovers administration the link to these articles can be found here.
http://www.tv2.no/sport/fotball/england/premierleague/fra-smak-av-fugl-til-raatten-kylling-3566141.html#.TlWstT3Ik58.twitter
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/blackburn-rovers/8716982/Henry-Winter-Venkys-falling-short-at-Blackburn-Rovers-compared-to-high-standards-set-by-Jack-Walker.html
In addition to this I have personally received hundreds of emails and messages offering support and asking what individuals can do to help rid the club of unethical practices.
Facebook and leading Rovers supporter sites have been running polls and drumming up supporters to stand as one in an attempt to try and get Venkys to see the light and move the club forwards. Steve Kean despite having one of the worst records ever held by a Manager of the club remains at the helm.
On Tuesday co-owner Venkatesh Rao came out fighting as news of discontent amongst the supporters was growing to a whole new level, with polls showing that 96% of fans wanted Steve Kean removing with immediate effect.
He told the Lancashire Telegraph:
"There has been wrong information and it looks really bad but we are financially very strong. The only issue is we want to spend very carefully."
"If the right player becomes available and we can get a good deal then we are going to grab it.
"We need to improve in some places and I am sure we are bringing in some players and we are working hard on that.
"This is our baby and we owe it to the fans to get results.
"Please do not be disappointed. We are very positive we will improve results."
Venkys also read a copy of the article on this Blog site and Vineeth Rao's reaction was to remove me off his facebook, This is the same Vineeth Rao who has been conducting Blackburn Rovers transfer activities and famously earlier this month asked a fan to draw up a list of transfer targets for Blackburn to have a look at. One of these players on this list was free agent Ciprian Marica, who Rovers subsequently made an approach to sign. This shows a complete lack of organisation that a fans view would be taken over the clubs scouting network.
There is still lots of rumours surrounding Blackburns relationship with Jerome Anderson, Rovers have in recent weeks tried to make people think that their relationship with the controversial agent was at a fractured level.
However on Wednesday Rovers played their second round League cup tie at Ewood Park against Sheffield Wednesday. In attendance was co-owner Balaij Rao who was clearly seen in the directors box with Jerome Anderson as his guest. Was this whole fallout rumour the club put out through Venkys PR company all a smokescreen? It certainly looked that way and with the Venkys/Kentaro relationship already under scrutiny with fans this public showing has only fueled rumours that Jerome Anderson is still pulling the strings at Ewood Park, Whilst his client Steve Kean remains the untouchable Manager.
Various sources alleges that Steve Kean was offered the Managers Job prior to the completion of the takeover of the club in December. If this is true, It would explain WHY, Steve Kean continues to be publicly backed by the owners in public.
With all the rumours going around and "In the Know" Individuals making others aware of the chain of events at Ewood during and after the takeover, Its become a worrying time to be a Blackburn Fan. However these frustration has been channeled by hard facts on the pitch. After narrowly escaping relegation last season Rovers have started this season with two successive defeats and sit 19th in the table. £25 Million has been raised in sales, whilst other players including longest serving player Brett Emerton are expected to leave before this window closes.
To date Blackburn have taken the stance to buy young players who have no experience of the Premier league, and all of these transfers have taken an age to complete. Blackburn are still in the market for another 3 or 4 players and their transfer dealings will go down to the last minute of this transfer window.
The club has promised to deliver on the transfer front and Steve Kean maintains that deals are close on a daily basis. I can confirm transfer activity behind the scenes is frantic as Rovers look to add faces capable of improving the squad. These will not be the marquee players that Venkys promised but cheap sensible buys with low risk factors in terms of sell on value
Saturday in normal circumstances would be like a cup final to supporters as we crave our first league win of the season, But some fans have said they would gladly take another defeat if it meant justice was done and Steve Kean was sacked with immediate effect. He has no experience of running a top flight football club from the front and he is tactically naive,. Managers are judged on results and he has just not produced them. Therefore he should be shown the door purely on his Management record, if Venkys were to take this step they might just get a few fans back on side. By keeping Kean at the helm they are showing they don't have the clubs best interest at heart, by their continued association with Jerome Anderson they are showing that they think they are above the rules.
INEXPERIENCED OWNERS, ADMINISTRATION TEAM, MANAGER AND PLAYERS
A football club can't exist without its fans, and if Venky's continue to alienate us fans for their own personal gain then the backlash will be vast.
I call out to all Rovers fans to show your hand and to continue the good work you are already doing to try and save our club from ruin. It takes many voices to make an impact, but if you stick together and tell the right people then Venkys will have no choice but to listen.
I'm afraid I have to agree with the idea that losing a few more games might be the best way to get him sacked quickly so we can move on. We cant go on like this, we've all known from day one Kean isnt up to the job, and him being given the job to the end of the season and then almost immediately handed a 3 year contract had a bad smell about it. That smell is just getting worse with the rumours getting stronger about the likes of Jerome Anderson pulling the strings. On the upside, there finally seems to be a bit of a wider interest in this, with the likes of Henry Winter writing an article, obviously this type of blog, and various furious comments (including my own -rovers808) to stories about Venkys like http://www.skysports.com/story/0,,11095_7121570,00.html
ReplyDeleteMy main concern is that when Kean goes, we will be left with a mess. Venkys coming out with comments like "I'm sure we'll be getting some players in" is hardly reassuring and just underlines their naivety and lack of footballing knowledge. We will be left relying on them to get a decent manager by luck rather than judgement, and who knows how deep the claws of SEM really are into Blackburn. Ideally I've been saying for a long time we need new owners, a new manager and then some new players in that order, so the people at the top of the chain get to choose those lower down. I have no faith in Venkys ability to pick a manager or buy players, Kean to select players or manage the team. And clearly our playing staff look inexperienced and lacking in a bit of quality at the moment, as well as short on numbers. As it stands if we get Kean out, we'll still be left with people at the top making some pretty shocking decisions, as they have stupidly removed so many good footballing people from the club. A dreadful mess I'm afraid.