When a club is relegated
from their country's top division, any attempts to remedy that
situation are based upon a number of key principles.
Firstly, one can most
often safely assume that the club's owners want the club to succeed.
Pursuant to this, those same owners must also be capable of
understanding the ramifications of relegation both on their balance
sheets and fan emotions. An ability – and willingness – to
change what isn't working has usually led these owners to become one
of the more wealthy people in the world; it should be expected owners
can bring the same flexibility to sports business as well. As we
well know, the last point is hardly a given.
Which brings us to a
confusing point: how do we understand Venky's, the poultry-farming
owners of relegated Blackburn Rovers? Since
coming to power in October 2010, the company has almost wilfully
alienated Rovers' proud
fanbase with a procession of curious statements, odd transfer
dealings and, most damningly, casual negligence.
When an autocrat has
their subjects' best interests at heart, guessing their next move
becomes a mite easier. So
obscure have their methods been, predicting Venky's next move
would have made Nostradamus rich beyond counting. However, it is
obvious that with a prodigious fall from relative safety and a
last-ditch escape from relegation last season, that changes must be
made at Ewood Park lest the one-time Premier League champions recede
into irrelevance.
With that said, here's
some suggestions how Blackburn Rovers can move forward:
Keep Yakubu and Grant
Hanley
Given Rovers' reluctance
to commit to new or significant salaries, to think that Yakubu
can stay at Rovers is extremely optimistic. The
slowly-self-inflating front man had a great year for his new club,
scoring 16 EPL goals this season in a return to form that would have
surprised Everton and Nigeria fans alike. If he was able to produce
that many goals from a team whose major creative sparks, outside
Junior Hoilett, were David Dunn and Mauro Formica, he should own the
Championship. His salary should be the one expensive one Rovers wear
in hopes of a quick springboard back to the elite league.
Hanley is opposite: a
young central defender who progressed through the Rover youth system
and earned his position with a string of encouraging performances.
He's good, and even better, he's cheap. With Hanley on board – and
perhaps even Scott Dann, whose relegation record suggests some clubs
aren't likely to touch him – Rovers should have one of the better
central defensive duos in the second tier. Which brings us to …
Stop the bleeding
Both literally –
they've allowed 76 goals so far this season despite the presence of
Dann, Hanley and former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson – and
figuratively. Rovers, through the actions and words of ownership,
manager,
ghost-managing
player agent and even vociferous fans, have shown an alarming
talent for scoring PR own-goals with a Richard
Dunne-like frequency.
The one thing you can say
for Rovers management is that they have (until
recently) presented a relatively united front. However, squad
faith in the manager varies from non-existent to excellent and fan
faith in anyone attached to the club is like finding last night's
thunderstorm. Make
of West Ham and Messrs Gold and Sullivan what you will, but on
relegation last term they clearly laid out their plans for a return
to the Premiership. Rovers fans need – and deserve – the same
clarity.
On-field, the situation
is much easier to remedy: in direct opposition to his predecessor,
Kean has promulgated an intriguing ability to keep Rovers scoring.
However, it has come at the expense of any defensive stolidity at all
– a fact highlighted by the departures of Phil Jones, Christopher
Samba and Ryan Nelsen. Even Steven Nzonzi, who for the last two
seasons has exhibited a lot of promise, was expelled from the squad
as Rovers gazed at relegation. He defines rangy and can deconstruct
many opposition forward moves – he needs to play.
Freeing the beast within
Nzonzi comes with the one, eternal Rovers caveat: everything depends
on if they can afford to keep him.
Publicly define Jerome
Anderson's role
Only
three years ago, Jerome Anderson was a football agent. On his books
he had Steve Kean, amidst a
plethora of middling-to-impressive football names. Also, he
fronted his son Myles. Many of Blackburn's signings are alleged to
have derived from Anderson's dealings; he is also rumoured to have
been behind the
firing of Sam Allardyce and subsequent installation of Kean.
Suggestions of his intimate involvement with ownership only
strengthened when
Rovers signed Myles Anderson despite the player failing to make
an impression at SPL side Aberdeen.
No-one
outside the Rovers hierarchy is fully aware of how deeply Jerome
Anderson's tendrils infiltrate the club. One thing is certain: such
opacity suits him, but damages the club's credibility. Venky's need
to prioritise either their relationship with Anderson or the club's
public face.
Fix the Kean problem
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| Image courtesy: telegraph.co.uk |
Kean's
hands probably aren't clean of Allardyce's demise, nor have his
tactics (which resemble a kitchen colander) inspired fan confidence.
Despite incessant furore he remains respected as a coach, if not
necessarily as a manager. He should be respected for getting the
best from Yakubu, Hanley and Hoilett; this is balanced by his
confusing relationship with Samba, Nelsen and Salgado.
In
the Championship, he should have fewer gnarled veterans and more of
his own foot soldiers; this in itself should promise a reasonable
season. However, in sections
of the media and much of Rovers fandom, his reputation is below
basement level. He remains, though, obviously ownership's man.
Firing
him would quickly remove the second-biggest trigger for fan ire, but
may not actually provoke a better response from a team which could
navigate the likes of Cardiff City and Watford quite well. Like
transfers, the earlier a decision is made, the better for the club.
Kean
credibility needs a quick and powerful salve. Much
like Terry Connor at Wolves, he is in many ways the victim of
circumstance, the puppet for faceless men. What stands against him
is his alleged role in creating that situation. It is Venky's
position to create a situation in which their man can thrive, but
they have hardly done so. Clarifying Anderson's role and publicly
drafting their plan for negotiating the Championship would allow much
more perspective – and provide grounds to remove Kean should he
continue to prove inconvenient or incapable.
