Blackburn's hiring!

Let’s just start by saying that Blackburn has its problems, from bad reputation management to inadequate sporting ability. Blackburn has its problems but Blackburn always looked like it had potential. Sometimes rooting for the underdog pays off, but sometimes jumping off the bandwagon is the smartest thing to do.

Post the 2-1 home defeat against Middlesbrough in September, Blackburn owners, Venky’s booted Steve Kean from the post of manager. While, it was politely termed as “forced to resign” across tabloids, the subtext was clear and out there. The new club owners were looking for some wins and they were tough to come by, especially after the Premier League relegation in May. The club was shrouded in controversy then, this is now and things don’t look very different.

Earlier this month, Blackburn’s manager Henning Berg expressed his solidarity with the club’s fans after the dismal 4 – 1 loss to Cardiff. The team was booed off the field after the disappointing performance then, but things don’t seem to look up for the squad. Berg took responsibility for the squad’s performance, and said: “We are all in it together, but I have the responsibility and there is no way I am going to go away and hide. It’s part and parcel of the job”. The loss against Cardiff was Blackburn’s third consecutive home defeat.

That was early December, but considering the fact that Blackburn has only won just one of their ten matches since Berg’s appointment, he has been asked to pack up and leave. It has been a paltry 57 days since Berg took over from Kean, but the 1 – 0 defeat against Middlesbrough, which incidentally was Blackburn’s fifth loss in six outings, penned down the pink slip for the Norwegian manager. The club seems to be between a rock and a hard place without a manager; they are looking for apt replacements and hope to make an announcement soon. The fact remains that the 17^th spot in the Championship doesn’t look too good for the team, especially with the departure of Assistant manager Eric Black, Coach Iain Brunskill and goalkeeping coach Bobby Mimms.

While Kean’s departure was met with protests by the fans, against the club’s management and owners, Berg seemed to have made no such contribution to elicit such a reaction. Under Kean’s supervision, notwithstanding the relegation in May, Blackburn made it to the top of the table in the second tier. After Berg took over affairs at Blackburn, they have struggled for points consistently and have dropped to the bottom eight due to their poor performance. He hasn’t won a single home game since his arrival and his only achievement seems to be the win against Peterborough.

The club made an official announcement regarding the manager, assistant manager, coach and goalkeeping coaches’ departure, stating the rationale as: “This decision has been taken following a very disappointing sequence of results. The club thanks the four men for their efforts and wishes them every success for the future.”

It looks like Blackburn has several vacancies to fill this season. Hopefully, a relegation pit isn’t one.