Blackburn Rovers-A club ripped apart?

Last night walking to Ewood Park I stopped to look at the Jack Walker statue. Blackburn Rovers is a club steeped in tradition and heritage. A football league founder. Only one of four winners of the current Premier League. However, it now is a club ripped apart. A sinking if not lilting ship. Bought by Indian chicken farmers in 2010, Blackburn Rovers has changed so much, and not for the better.

Nouse.co.uk

When Venkys bought Blackburn Rovers fans were excited with all the promises of big name players and the talk of Champions League Football. Nonetheless, it became apparent over time that this wasn't a realistic target with the new owners in charge. They ridiculously disposed of Sam Allardyce as they wanted a better brand of football. Granted Allardyce's tactics aren't the most attractive but Rovers could always bank of him keeping them up and getting results when it mattered. Some Rovers fan greeted the dismissal with excitement on which manager would take over. Step forward, Steve Kean. The first team coach at the club got promoted to temporary manager and then permanent. Seems a bit odd, replacing a respected and solid manager with a rookie who had arguably failed as Chris Coleman's number two. Rovers fans were willing to give Kean a chance and they certainly did, despite the media thinking otherwise.

The Guardian

It was January 2011 that Blackburn Rovers became a laughing stock within football. Venkys attempting to sign Ronaldinho and David Beckham, whilst Rovers started to creep towards the relegation zone. Signings in the January included Mauro Formica from Argentina and Ruben Rochina from Barcelona. Not exactly players you'd need in a relegation dogfight. Jermaine Jones was signed from Schalke a proved pivotal in the scrap but Roque Santa Cruz never managed to recreate the form he found in his first spell at Rovers. If it wasn't for the points Allardyce gained in the earlier part of the season, Rovers would most likely have gone down. It went down to the final day of the season and Rovers saved themselves from the drop. They shouldn't have been dicing with relegation in the first place but Rovers fans looked forward to the summer in the hope of seeing the Indian owners spend big.

The Guardian

Steve Kean said Blackburn Rovers have had the biggest transfer budget they have ever had and were ready to spend. Instead they sold Phil Jones to Manchester United for over 16 million. At the end of the transfer window Rovers had spent less than they had sold. Kean's promises of spending big never materialised. Bruno Ribeiro was bought, a player whom Kean compared to Dennis Irwin, but has never ever played for the first team. Dundee United player David Goodwillie arrived with Kean saying he is a young Wayne Rooney. Again, he has hardly featured. Early results in August were not great and fans became agitated after all the broken promises and Kean's cringing comments. Nonetheless, Kean asked Rovers fans to judge him aftertransfer deadline day. The fans did. It didn't look good. March has seen Kean's team keep two clean sheets and win two games in a row. This lead to some journalists suggesting he should win manager of the season. Bemused? I am. This man has taken Rovers into two relegation fights. He promised Rovers' fans on the summer transfer deadline day that Hoilett was on the verge of signing a new contract. It's March and fans are still waiting for Hoilett to sign. As far as fans are concerned, Kean is part of Venkys, he's part of their disastrous regime and until they both leave, there will always be unrest between fans and the club.

Metro.co.uk