Kean To See Him Gone

Today, Steve Kean went into the training with hundreds of befuddled fans lining his way, protesting his employment and yelling hopeful calls for his dismissal. They’ve held up their placards and voiced their opinions for weeks now, both in the stands and out. The local paper itself has backed the calls to see Steve Kean kicked away from Blackburn Rovers, and yet he remains.

It’s amazing, the amount of derision that can be poured upon a man before he cries enough. Steve Kean has been vilified so hard you’d expect his routine to consist of crying himself to sleep, crying himself awake and crying himself to work. However, Kean presses on despite the fans calls, which are now beginning to become hoarse with frustration. While you have to admire Kean’s resilience, it begs the question of how much a man can be despised by the fans before a board will give in.

For many clubs I imagine this situation would have been quashed long before it got to this stage. Boards are notoriously itchier than supporters, and it’s ultimately their finger that lies temptingly on the trigger throughout the manager’s tenure. However, Venkys seems unwilling to make any move regarding Kean, and it’s this combined with the vociferous protests that is leading to a dangerous situation at Blackburn Rovers.

It’s difficult to know what the supporters’ job is in this type of predicament. On the one hand, these protests make Kean’s position practically untenable and the fans have succeeded in making Kean’s sacking a wise decision. However, with Venkys looking reserved in their motivation to rid themselves of Kean, the constant chanting and booing of the current management may only serve to distract the players and consequently lead to worse results.

It’s a bit of a see-saw for the fans. On the one hand they want Kean gone, but on the other hand they don’t want to distract the team and see them condemned further into the relegation mulch. As much as people will tell you that these protests are aimed directly at Kean and don’t concern the players, it’s impossible to suggest that it doesn’t affect them negatively. They will be aware that Kean is under pressure. They themselves will begin to scrutinise his management. The effect will be negative in the short term.

That said, Kean’s management has been very poor and I’m not sure ‘bad’ and ‘worse’ will make much of a difference for Blackburn’s current plight. They need Kean gone, and it really has got to the stage that all other considerations need to be discarded. The team’s chance of avoiding relegation under the current management is hopeless, and only the board seem unaware of these, or at least nonchalant about doing anything to counter it.

Is it right to barrack a man as he goes about his job though? After all, Steve Kean is only human and as much as he does a poor job, there’s no doubt in my mind he tries his very hardest. Alex Ferguson, Harry Redknapp and Paul Lambert have all come out in support of Steve Kean’s plight and offered encouragement to the Glaswegian. It would perhaps seem that the fans are overdoing it and only serving to harass someone who works hard for the club.

However, I think once you move into football management, you are well aware of the nature of the beast. Fans don’t make their opinion known through subtlety, and if they feel you aren’t up to task they’ll be sure to let you know about it, with their words encapsulated in eloquent ‘fucks’ and ‘arseholes’. Though the abuse of Kean probably isn’t fair, he will know better than anyone else that it was the risk of being a football manager. The fans themselves will say they have a right to voicing their opinion, and that’s true. 20,000 people all voicing their opinion against you will never sound too pleasant, but that really is part and parcel of football.

It seems there are two options for Kean. If he’s willing to accept the abuse, he can move forward and continue breaking his back to turn things around. If he feels he can’t hack it anymore, he can resign. If he did the latter, I’d imagine the abuse will stop instantly, and the Blackburn fans may even be appreciative of his effort and the fact that he called it quits for the good of the club.

To be honest, I’m not sure it’s Kean whom they are angry at anyway. I’m pretty certain that, one way or another, Venkys has been behind the real aggravations throughout the Blackburn support. They need to act in the interests of the club, and it’s becoming undeniable that allowing Kean to remain is beneficial to anyone involved. The fans who are directing their abuse at Steve Kean should perhaps ask themselves “If I was given a dream job as a football manager, and began mucking up, would I soldier on?” It’s Venkys job to prevent a situation like this from getting out of hand, and in their first major task as a board, it seems they are failing.



Oh and have a Merry Christmas