Unless of course you don't like me or find my blog entries entirely useless, in which case I'm back with bells and whistles on... unlucky.
What has struck me as bizarre in the last few weeks is not the usual madcap goings on at the club, the hiring of genuine basket case Shebby "Steven Gerrard is a right back" Singh, the continued persistence with Salesman Steve as manager or the stowaway antics of our circus trained owners but in fact an event that has occurred in the last few days.
Namely the arrival of Fulham's Danny Murphy. (NB - That's not Danny above, if it is he's not aged well)
Why? Well because on the face of it this is actually... wait for it... a highly impressive coup. Yes, it stands out all the more because it is a rare sighting of a shrewd move from a group of people who have found them harder to come by than an insightful Andy Townsend comment, but credit where credit is due we've actually bagged a good one.
And quite frankly after suffering through months of David Goodwillie, Radosav Petrovic and Scott Dann and being tortured by the mental anguish of being associated with Myles Anderson and Bruno Ribeiro we deserve a little bit of a smile - even if it is only fleeting.
Murphy by all accounts would still be a very suitable fit for a Premier League side, in fact for what it's worth there was valid top division interest in his services so it makes his defection to Rovers all the more baffling, especially as we'll spend the next campaign being smashed around by the cloggers of Ipswich and Peterborough (sorry guys, love you really). Still we've stumped up the cash for him having spent six months saving it up by selling anyone decent and offered him a longer stay than anyone else... Whatever it takes I guess.
His arrival is actually a decent start for the rebuilding of a now Championship Rovers side given that he is the type of player you can build a team around. He's got a wise head, he's experienced, has feet that can still go and is the owner of a very serviceable passing range. And our midfield is fairly garbage, put Rik Waller in there and I am not sure it would get any worse at present.
(That was Danny by the way.)
Sure he's cracking on a bit but the average age of the squad is currently about 12 so I'd assume it is fair to say we could do with a few ageing rudder men to steer an enthusiastic but inexperienced vessel.
Amazingly there's even been CRITICISM aimed at the transfer, where would we be without it?
Apparently he's too old (He's 35. Too old for what exactly?), apparently he's too injury prone (42 appearances in 2010/11, a further 48 in 2011/12), apparently he's crap (ask the fans of Fulham, they'll tell you otherwise). Given the turmoil at the club I am not surprised we're a sceptical gang but it's almost as if we're now classically trained to search for something wrong in everything in life.
Taken in it's purest form the signing of the former Crewe trainee is simply a good move, they've got very little right so far have our esteemed footballing veteran friends over in India but this has to go down as a tick in a sparsely populated column of their footballing spreadsheet.
If and when the mass exodus of the current playing staff kicks in I think we'll be in a lot better position to assess whether this has been quite as clever stunt as it appears at present, but that won't happen for a few weeks yet - so for now let's crack on with complaining about all the genuine ills and problems that engulf the club.
Because signing Danny Murphy isn't one of them.
* Trion:Z are running a competition to find the worst football haircut ever (yes worse than Zurab Khizanishvili's), they're giving away a stylish double loop wristband to boot, all you've got to do is vote for the chance to win. Give it a spin folks.
It'll take more than Danny Murphy to sort out the total farce that is happening at our club. The club is rotten to the core with idiots.
ReplyDeleteAgree totally. Try posting that on the Lancashire Evening Telegraph site and watch the abuse you get Mikey.. Some people are never happy.
ReplyDeleteI agree entirely with your synopsis...It's a good start, I will never warm to Steve Kean, I'm doubtful about the ownership of the club and the role Anderson plays, but I love Rovers and this is a good signing....
ReplyDeleteHe will transform your squad for sure.
ReplyDeleteGreat article, not had much to smile about in Blackburn for a long time, got to be a bit positive folks, what is the alternative?
ReplyDeleteA good signing. Would love to see what he has been shown to convince him that division 1 is a better place for him than the PL.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope that this works BUT....
ReplyDeleteFrom memory of the last time we were relegated under a coach (Kidd), we're going to need a lot more than what a coach can offer to get the required performance from the squad no matter how skilled or experienced the players. A MANAGER is therefore crucial - Steve Kean is not a manager.
There are two things which should concern us fans about the Championship: you need 50 points just to be safe; you need 80+ points to be assured of automatic promotion.
Steve Kean's record is never achieving more than 43 points in a season (and that was when he was using players which others had bought rather than the team he assembled in the 2011-12 season which led to our relegation)and he would be a fool to underestimate the difficulty in getting a run of points in this division.
He does not have the skill or capability to manage the club and the best thing right now would be to relieve him of his position sooner rather than later. We cannot afford more dithering in Pune; we have now time for sentiment. Kean must go immediately.
Agree to the above post - isnt colin hendry due as a coach though?
ReplyDeleteI had heard the rumour about Hendry (obviously not through the new improved communication channels introduced by the new general manager). However, my feelings here are that while Hendry was a great servant to the club, his managerial/team management record at Blackpool, and later at Clyde, is underwhelming.
ReplyDeleteI take the view that hiring someone like Hendry is a stunt to deflect from the fact that Kean cannot manage. I am trying to look at this dispassionately - Kean is just not good enough, he's way too inconsistent and his win record is terrible. An experienced manager is required now; my feeling is that Kean's "one of the boys" approach never worked (in terms of getting results) in the Premiership and certainly won't work in the Championship.
To be fair to Kean, if he stays he will probably just be average and we can therefore expect no more than mid-table this season. I read on the BBC site that Venky's say that Kean was the person who got Fulham promoted - show's how little they understand the difference between a coach and a manager.
Really, he's just not good enough at the managerial level and the owners should be decisive in getting rid of him before this season turns into a mega disaster worse than last season.
There was much said about Kean having his hands tied on decisions like who played. Salgado's interview also hinted at that. With Singh on board and making the right noises, I think shifting blame to lack of players,funds will no longer be outlets for excuses.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Average to mediocre would be about right for his management but I am looking forward to seeing what different style of play he can bring this season if any, and how long before Shebby has no option but to recommend his dismissal.
Is Murphy with SEM/Kentaro ?. I think it's a good signing BUT how can it fit with what Venky's were doing last year ? why get rid of experience like Roberts, Nelsen, Salgado to save money and then pay a fortune to an even older player when it's all too late? Is Murphy going to be frozen out like they were when he's approaching a certain number of games that will trigger a new contract?
ReplyDeleteNo transfer fee for Murphy so how much has gone to the agents ? Who is his agent ? Sorry but I'm suspicious of everything Venky's and Kean do.
I admire all your optimism. I wish I could feel the same. Having supported Rovers for over 40 years I've never felt so worried for the future of our club and that even includes when we were bottom of the (old) 3rd Division in the 70s. The infrastructure of the club has been decimated and the heart ripped out through the out-sourcing of resources and (lack of) knowledge to India.
ReplyDeleteYes, Venky's has killed the club. The people involved there now are utterly cynical and are beneath contempt. Blackburn isn't the friendly home town club it was - instead it is rather like the British motorcycle industry at the end; populated by spin doctors and PR people while the engineers (and the customers) died a slow death. But that's not surprising since the Venky people live thousands of miles away and have no sense of who they are serviing. They are a depressing bunch of charlatans who, in Steve Kean, have appointed a grotesque parody of all that is wrong in today's game.
DeleteBlackburn Rovers has fallen to shambles because of the stupid and corrupt Venky family who are a bunch of fools and liars. We need to get our club back and get these deluded fools out.Someone needs to tell them to stick to chicken farming only. They have messed up our Club!
ReplyDeleteVenky's out! We are sick of you!
ReplyDeleteBloody sick of Venky's and their crap.
ReplyDeleteThe feeling above is mutual!
ReplyDeleteVenky's out!