The Curious Case of Blackburn Rovers

Put bluntly, Blackburn Rovers is a circus. A gruesome circus where in the early days the audience yelped but nobody listened.  The critics derided the fans but ignored the ringmasters. For over two years the Ewood Park outfit has seen more twists and turns than Eastenders and most would suggest that Peggy Mitchell could do a better job than 'Global Advisor', Shebby Singh.

Now I like fried chicken as much as the next person but chicken farmers should not be running a football club. They took over Rovers promising the Champions League and David Beckham but fans ended up with the Championship and David Goodwillie. The nightmare began with the nonsensical  sacking of Sam Allardyce. A manager that had the respect of the players and fans, regarded as one of the safest pair of hands to keep a club in the Premier League. Why sack such a manager and why replace him with the first team coach, Steve Kean?

Kean came in and found moderate success in the early stages. Sadly, John Williams, Tom Finn and several others of the highly respected staff members left the club. Dangerously, these people have never been properly replaced.  Despite later press reports fans got behind the manager but as the season came to crunch time, Rovers found themselves in a relegation battle. The signs were worrying but the Lancashire club managed to stay up thanks largely to the points amassed earlier in the season under Allardyce.

The nightmare really kicked in the following season and Kean remained in charge. The Scot compared various signings to top quality players: David Goodwillie was a young Wayne Rooney, Bruno Ribeiro was Dennis Irwin and Myles Anderson (now playing for Exeter) was the next Chris Smalling. Anderson had previously played just once for Aberdeen and in the end never played for Rovers. Fans could only laugh at Kean's comparisons but it didn't end there. The season started badly yet the Venkys couldn't see the need to replace the struggling Kean. A routine appeared where the team would lose several games and then a win would come along papering over the cracks. Fans could see what was happening, they shouted and no one listened. There was only one way Rovers were going. They protested and many in the media laughed. It wasn't until the Bolton game in December that the frustrations of Rovers fans bubbled over perhaps too much when Kean was barraged with abuse. Finally, the media took notice. They ignored the ridiculous owners and the hapless Kean, they chastised the fans. Kean became the victim and Blackburn fans the villains. Other Premier League managers rallied around Kean, berating the fans.

This was a nightmare where you shout for help but nobody can hear you. It seemed everyone was against the fans because of that one game.  A few national journalists could see the fans' plight. Admirably, the Lancashire Telegraph, made the bold move to call for Kean's sacking on their front page. They stood up for the fans, they could see what was happening. It was clear those who followed Rovers closely could see disaster unfolding but too many on Sky Sports and in the national press cherry picked incidents to criticise Rovers' fans but ignore the bigger picture of Venkys and Kean. Arguably, by sympathising with Kean it kept him in a job and contributed to Rovers relegation in May 2012. One interview in January 2012 Kean suggested he was getting 500 letters a day of support, had the support of other managers and told the concerned MP, Jack Straw, to focus on gritting the roads. He blindly chose to ignore the fans, a community. He was commended for his dignity but the dignified thing would have been to resign.

Blackburn aren't a fashionable club and they certainly aren't media darlings. For many of these fans, football is their lives, their hard earned wages go on season tickets and travel to away games. Kean was termed 'unsackable', fans felt helpless, hopeless and tired. They had spent so long shouting about the threat of relegation and their fears' were realised. On a rainy evening at Ewood Park, the former Premier League winners lost to Wigan and dropped into the Championship. Kean stood on the touchline, a lonely figure who had brunted both protests against him and his bosses. Could it get much worse?

Shebby Singh, a Malaysian pundit,  arrived in the summer after a relegation under the title 'Global Advisor'. He wasn't a fan of Steve Kean and this was most prominent in a Q & A with Rovers' fans. One fan joked:

'I'm a liar. I'm a suck up. I know nothing about football and I'm half Scottish. Can I have a job?' 

Singh replied,

'I'm very sorry that position has been filled.'

He clearly wanted to become popular with the fans and achieved this to an extent with the ousting of Kean and the signing of Jordan Rhodes. Nonetheless, these two positives are completely overshadowed with Singh's ineptitude. His interviews are embarrassing, his opinion of himself is inflated and the way he has disposed of the many managers has been cowardly and tactless.  You then have to combine his relationship with  two other board members, Derek Shaw and Paul Agnew. The latter has been a firm feature since the Indian takeover, the man that oversaw many PR disasters and an ally of Kean, was also weirdly promoted to board level. A boardroom battle: Shebby versus Shaw and Agnew has contributed significantly to the chaos at the Ewood circus. It seems like a pathetic competition between the two sides on who can win the affection of the Venkys.

This infighting has lead to the chop for several managers and has seen Rovers plummet into a second successive relegation fight. It now looks likely that they will stay up but three years ago Rovers' fans would never have imagined they'd be celebrating just missing the drop into League One. The club needs a complete clear out from top to bottom. Singh, Shaw and Agnew need to leave and experienced football administrators need put at the top to run the club. Is this really likely to happen though? Very few decisions Venkys have made make sense.  The best thing for Blackburn Rovers, a football league founder, would be to rid themselves of Venkys completely.

Fans are fighting for their club with the action group working hard to reveal the real truth behind the madness. This is a time for fans to be unified, to come together to save Blackburn Rovers. Fan ownership is one option with the creation of the Rovers Trust. The question that begs to be answered is will Venkys ever listen and will they want to sell? Singh stupidly suggested that those interested in purchasing the club couldn't even run a bar never mind a football club.  Another silly comment.

There are so many stories regarding Rovers that I haven't touched on including agents, transfers, players and also the role of the FA. Is the fit and proper persons test purely financial? Nonetheless, it cannot be denied that I wouldn't wish the disaster at Rovers on any football club. When will the circus leave town?

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

Brands that need a makeover

Sometimes you see an advertising campaign and cringe. "What were they thinking?", "Do they really think they're going to sell products?" "Where's the TV remote, I can't watch this advert?" Whilst there are a lot of brands in the world that manage to attract the consumer's attention in a good way, there are some brands that are in desperate need of a makeover. They often have a negative stereotype connected to them, a stigma, somewhere they have gone wrong and the need for rebranding is urgent.


Adverts have the ability to excite the consumer, take for instance the Christmas Coca Cola adverts. When sat around the TV in early December and you see the bright lorries winding their way through the countryside to the sound of "Holidays are coming, holidays are coming", people often scream at the TV, shouting "It's Christmas, the Coca Cola advert has been on". Then you look at your Facebook and Twitter,  people's statuses filled with, "OMG it's officially Christmas, just seen the Coca Cola advert". You know it's true. This advert has become iconic, people remember it for the right reasons.

(mancunianmatters.co.uk)

Some of the best adverts invite the consumer to laugh with them, a commercial created with humour in mind. Everyone enjoys having a chuckle normally and adverts can often be seen as the boring bit in between your favourite show, so why not make the viewer laugh with you. Nonetheless, never allow the viewer to laugh at you, create a campaign that is so bad people find it funny in the wrong way or have to leave the room. They don't buy the product because the brand has been presented so badly. I wish to look at several brands that need to sit in that makeup chair and perhaps have an appointment with cosmetic surgeon, they need rebranding.


Lambrini


Ask yourself the first thing you think of when you see the word, Lambrini. It certainly has a stigma attached to it, not the classiest of drinks perhaps? Associated with women getting drunk? It has always been targeted towards women and thus it isn't seen as "man's" drink. I entered Lambrini into the urban dictionary and saw the notion of being Lambrinified meaning, "To become intoxicated by means of cheap wine abuse". Not the best image for a brand. Their recent advert again perpetuates this notion of it being a drink for women, focusing on them in the workplace and at home. That's no problem, targeting and relating to its market. Nonetheless, these women suddenly end up on the back of an open top double decker bus singing, "I am, what I am. I'm not entirely sure what they were trying to accomplish but they certainly made a cheesy advert  that made an episode of Glee look like The Sopranos. Lambrini needs a makeover, it has to throw away the stigma of, "a drink for lightweights", " so cheap and horrible but who cares it gets you drunk." Is that really a good brand image?





Durham Students Union


 Durham University is often seen as one of the best in the country. You'd assume it has fantastic lecture facilities. It does. You'd assume there are gowns and formals? There are. You'd assume that it has a world class student's union. It doesn't. Well at least not yet. To look at the brand, that is the Durham Student's Union, it isn't positive within the student population. Their website is average, their interaction with students isn't great and the events they provide students were so badly attended they had to stop. They struggle to advertise to their market. Not the sign of a good brand. Other local clubs advertise and market their events far better but perhaps the greatest detrimental impact on the Student Union brand is the Student Union building itself. Built by Ove Arup, the architect behind the Sydney Opera House, the Student Union is reminiscent of a nuclear bunker. It is about as welcoming as a opening your front door to find Ann Widdecombe stood there in her nightie with a bottle of Lambrini in her hand. The building is part of the brand. With plans to redevelop the building, this will aid to redevelop the rest of the brand. A much needed rebranding for an organisation that has a dangerous stigma, where students rarely see the point of it.

(mimoa.eu)

Blackburn Rovers


One of four teams to have won the Premier League. A founder of the Football League. The only club where Alan Shearer won a trophy. One would assume Blackburn Rovers as brand looks quite good. Think again. A couple of seasons ago, Rovers were known for being one of the best run clubs in the country but were in need of new owners. Step forward Venkys. Experts in football management? No, chicken farmers. What could go wrong, I hear you ask. Not only have Venkys and the man they employed to manage the team, Steve Kean, ruined the team on the football pitch but they have decimated a brand. They supposedly bought Blackburn Rovers to enhance their own brand. Nevertheless, by destroying the brand of Blackburn Rovers they have seriously impacted the reputation of their own brand.  They have made Blackburn Rovers into a laughing stock within the football world, promised exciting players and Champions League football. When in fact, they've signed poor players and are likely to be playing Championship football. Their public relations have been abysmal, with little communication with fans or if any, patronising statements. For instance, Venkys suggested Blackburn Rovers was their "baby". Call social services, they're awful parents. They've decimated a respected brand in football. Blackburn Rovers is an embarrassing brand now, just look at the advert below. The best way to rebrand Blackburn Rovers is for Venkys to sell the club to new owners.







I hope these three very different examples illustrate how important advertising campaigns and maintaining a brand image is. Here is an added extra, which I feel represents one of the worst adverts ever made:

The Relegation Dogfight- Blackburn, Bolton and Wigan

“It will be the end of the world”, these words issued by Ian Holloway regarding possible relegation, perhaps a bit dramatic? Not to a football fan. Relegation is a word that strikes fear into football clubs and their fans across the land. Nonetheless, the relegation dogfight can often be far more entertaining and nail-biting than the fight for the Title. The North West of England is teeming with football teams whose fans live for football. Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic are small town teams hovering over the trapdoor that is Premier League relegation. Three teams that have shown to be consistently inconsistent, stuck with the same manager for the whole season and belong to a pack of five teams, of which three could face the dreaded drop. Would you be sad to see these teams leave the Premier League?

Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers have a phenomenal history within football, both belonging to the group of football league founders. They were there when the football league began and simply look at what that has turned into. Nevertheless, that is how football works, teams get relegated and have the chance to gain promotion the following season. Whether this chance is taken is another matter. Clubs such as Charlton, Sheffield Wednesday and Bradford City have plummeted into the doldrums of the football league, demonstrating it’s not always easy to get back into the top flight. Only time will tell whether Blackburn, Wigan or Bolton will follow this dreaded route or do they have that “bouncebackability” to return to premier league in the next couple of years.

Wigan

Manager: Roberto Martinez

Stadium: DW Stadium

Average Crowd: 17,582

Promoted to Premier League: 2005

Wigan Athletic often gets criticised for its low attendances and many not being a “Big Club”, so thus some may say that they wouldn’t be missed if they were to be relegated. Wigan, like Blackburn and Bolton are located in an area rich with sports teams and thus it is difficult to attract as many fans. Additionally, Wigan is very much a Rugby League town, with the Warriors sharing the DW Stadium. Wigan came into the Premier League in 2005 and have always been one of those clubs flirting with relegation but never actually falling through the trap door. Martinez tries to get his team to play passing, flowing football but that isn’t always the best way to win games. Sam Allardyce is a key example in this, his teams were not pretty to watch but they got results. That’s what matters, this is a results business. Many fans would argue Wigan’s attempt to play “nice” football is needed in the Premier League and thus it would be a shame to go down. The owner Dave Whelan, is also one of the good guys in football, traditional and one to stick by his manager. So whilst their crowds may not be great, they do try to play nice football but looking at the table and fixtures ahead, their time in the Premier League could be coming to an end.

Wigan

Manager: Owen Coyle

Stadium: Reebok Stadium

Average Crowd: 23,532

Promoted to Premier League: 2001

Bolton’s best years were under Sam Allardyce when they even managed to qualify for Europe but since then they’ve never been able to capture that form and are perilously close to relegation. Many fans were glad to see the back of Gary Megson and hailed the arrival of Owen Coyle but this season hasn’t gone according to plan. Coyle is another manager who attempts to play “nice” attacking football but his team has been dogged by injuries. The absence of players, such as Stuart Holden has clearly impacted on results and they have conceded a whopping 54 goals. When they win a game, pundits expect a mini revival, but the following week they’ll lose again. They’ve lost more games than anyone else in the league and have not been above 16^th since the first game. Surely, a team that displays statistics such as this deserves to be relegated. Other teams have had injuries as well, look no further than Blackburn, but if other teams around them in the table continue to play badly, Bolton have a great chance of staying up.

Blackburn

Manager: Steve Kean

Stadium: Ewood Park

Average Crowd: 22,172

Promoted to Premier League: 2001

Blackburn Rovers epitomises a club in turmoil. Fans have every right to be furious with what has happened in the past year. Venkys, the chicken farmers, bought Blackburn promising fancy players such as David Beckham and Ronaldinho and pledged Champions League football. Instead Venky’s have stripped and ripped to shreds what many have argued was the one of the best run clubs in football. They sacked Sam Allardyce as they didn’t like his style of play, despite the fact that Rovers were sat in 13^th and he could guarantee Premier League football. They brought in Steve Kean, the first team coach and failed assistant manager. That makes sense doesn’t it? Respected key figures in the club have left, such as Chief Executive, John Williams and managing director Tom Finn, and have yet to be replaced. Kean took Blackburn into a relegation dogfight and only stayed up, as other clubs were not as good. Key players were sold and replaced with players who have hardly, if ever played for the team. These include Bruno Ribeiro, whom Steve Kean compared to Dennis Irwin, but hasn’t ever played a game and David Goodwillie, according to Steve Kean, the next Wayne Rooney.  
Kean told fans to judge him at the end of the summer transfer window, suggested there was no chance of relegation and stated that it was only one per cent of fans that didn’t back him. Statements like this have clearly riled supporters even more, he’s made false promises and caused divides on the terraces. In recent weeks it has been suggested Blackburn also have money problems, coupled with the threat of relegation, the future looks bleak for Rovers fans. Their best player, Chris Samba, has just left for Russia, they’ve not had a clean sheet since April and the owners are chicken farmers, who don’t seem to understand football. Many would be glad to see this badly run club go down but think about the fans. A club ripped apart in the space of a year.