Blackburn's season could not have got off to a worse start with an opening defeat to Wolves. Rovers went into the game with no recognised experienced centre backs with Samba, Nelsen and Givet all missing for one reason or another. The job of keeping Doyle and Fletcher quiet was given to youngster Hanley and surprisingly central midfielder N'Zonzi. Both tried their best throughout the game, but after seeing the starting 11 the writing did appear on the wall before a ball was kicked.
Why have we gone into the season with no defensive cover but more alarmingly a bench which only had Rochina on it with some first team experience?
Steve Kean pointed out that injuries had given him little choice, but is this a plausible excuse?
Blackburn have had all summer to replace the departed Phil Jones, whilst 11 players have left on total and Kean in his own words has admitted that after only 3 arrivals the maths don't add up and we are in serious need of bodies to bolster our squad.
Why has it took an opening day defeat for the Manager to state the obvious and Why have Rovers not addressed this over the summer?
We have had our well documented issue's with the bank but can Rovers use this as an excuse to why on paper our squad looks one of the weakest in the Premiership in terms of experience?
Blackburn's summer has been one of frustration, The owners have chose to use their own people to highlight transfer targets due to not wanting to pay agent fee's. The problem is in football every club encounters these fee's but what they get for paying such a fee, is a players signature on the dotted line, and not a summer of wild goose changes like Rovers have encountered.
Blackburn have been linked with over 100 players this summer and have made tentative enquiries for a number of these plus players who had not made it into the public domain, but despite this all that has walked through the doors is players who can only be considered as gambles.
David Goodwillie has come in from Dundee United, and despite being young Scottish player of the year for the last two seasons, never had a big list of established clubs looking to win his signature. Obviously Rangers made a few bids for him, but as they play in a two team league they can't honestly be looked upon as a better option than a club from England. Before signing for Rovers Goodwillie was highly expected to sign for a Championship team as both Blackpool and Middlesbrough appeared to be leading the chase, Then Rovers made their move and got their man, But this is not the signing the fans were expecting and unless Rovers back this up by bringing in two established strikers we WILL be in serious trouble. I see the Goodwillie signing as one of those which is a gamble, but is a gamble worth taking providing Rovers supplement it with some established experienced Centre forwards, Then if that occurs the Goodwillie signing suddenly becomes a good move, but I'm still cautious that no other Premier league team was interested in him.
Radoslav Petrovic has also joined the club and is an established young International. I'm quite lucky that I have seen lots of him over the last four years and was thrilled that we had made a move for him, as I fully expected to see him at a big club this season. However being just 22 and coming from a weak league he is going to take many months to come to terms with the speed and physical demand of the Premier league. A little like Goodwillie he is very much one for the future, however the Premier league is an unforgiving one and all teams need players that are ready to roll right now, Its okay buying for the future, but that's when you have a squad capable of competing now, Sadly for Blackburn we do not!!!
Bruno Riberio has also joined and is an unknown quantity, He is now 28 and is relatively unknown in his own native Brazil which is a worry. He has not played for any of the bigger clubs in Brazil and last season was part of a side which was relegated. He may turn out to be one of the finds of the season, or he may just flop and end up another player Rovers are trying to get off the wage bill in 12 months time.
All in all none of these signings are inspiring, and when you have a summer of being linked with players like, Witsel, Cisse, Raul, Barrios, Rondon, Soldado, Dann, Johnson, Piatti only to find your first 3 signings have come out of the bargain bin, as a fan you feel very short changed.
The infrastructure behind the scenes is inexperienced, and the ignorance of moving away from tried and tested methods to rewrite the book is not comical but scandalous.
Rovers have had many list of targets, and after speaking with my sources I do have to ask myself did they really have any serious ambitions to grab the players they went for or are still going for?
Especially when Vineeth Rao who is now overseeing transfer proceedings got one of his latest list from a fan!! Yes you read that RIGHT, a fan compiled a list of targets for Vineeth with the Marketing Directors blessing, (You really could not make this stuff up) Which included players for all budgets including free transfers, and some of those players including Ciprian Marica was approached by Vineeth. Can you imagine what the papers would think of they knew our trusted owners were taking transfer tips of fans?
This week there have been reports that the loan market and in particular loans from Manchester United is one option we are looking at. Blackburn made a move for Darron Gibson around 6 weeks ago around the time he was in talks with Sunderland, at the time Rovers agreed to match Sunderlands fee, and Gibsons wage demands but only after the player had joined initially on loan. However after getting the green light Rovers just didn't follow up their initial enquires and let that move go cold. There is still a possibility that this deal could happen, but surely they should of pushed it through weeks ago after the initial enquiry and given the player the opportunity to get a good pre-season integrated with the squad under his belt before our assault on this years Premiership.
Steve Kean after this weeks match finally broke his silence on transfers and after listening to him, it appeared to be a plea to the owners to give him the tools to do his job, and to back him in the transfer market. Kean will get all the flak if our season is destined to be one of struggle, but is this entirely fair if the owners won't give him what they promised?
I call out to Venkys to steady this ship and follow through with your promises, The blame lies entirely at your door, The inexperience card that you keep playing is wearing very thin, back the Manager and the team with the finance you promised and if you can't give the money then at least give him the money from sales. It is in your best interest to have a Rovers playing Premier league football, and unless you take your head out of the sand this will be the final season that you witness such a feat.
The fans deserve answers why you have not stood by your promises, and the TRUTH
