BLACKBURN ROVERS’ new owners, the Venky’s Group, have risked further internal division at Ewood Park by appointing Steve Kean as manager until the end of the season. The surprise announcement has left chairman John Williams considering his future at the club less than a week after he issued a public appeal for unity.
Kean was appointed caretaker manager after Rovers’ Indian owners sacked Sam Allardyce last Monday and given “a couple of months”, according to chairman Anuradha Desai to prove his credentials for a permanent appointment. After a brief visit to India this week to meet Venky’s officials, however, the 43-year-old’s tenure has been extended to June.
It is understood players and officials at Ewood were not informed of Kean’s impending appointment and that many are reconsidering their positions. This includes Williams, the long-standing and highly-respected chairman who contemplated resigning in the wake of Allardyce’s removal but opted to stay following extensive talks with his new employers.
Williams and managing director Tom Finn were given assurances over the direction of Blackburn and were mindful that quitting so soon could have repercussions for the club’s short-term stability. But this latest move by Venky’s has left Williams questioning his role once again.
The captain, Chris Samba, has become the latest senior player to criticise Venky’s running of the club and has threatened to leave following the treatment of Allardyce and his assistant, Neil McDonald, who was also dismissed. Ryan Nelsen and Jason Roberts, despite falling out with Allardyce, have both spoken out against the owners, and now Samba has heightened the sense of a dressing-room in revolt.
“If this is the way the club’s going to be run from now on, I don’t want to be part of it and I want to leave,” said the defender. “I’ve thought long and hard about it. Nobody in football understands the decision to sack Sam.”
Allardyce claimed this week McDonald had a closer working relationship with the players than Kean, the former first-team coach, and was therefore more suited to the caretaker role. A former assistant to Chris Coleman at Fulham, Real Sociedad and Coventry City, Kean had experienced only one Premier League game as a manager before yesterday’s announcement – the 1-1 draw with West Ham United on Saturday – and now faces a huge task to win over players and supporters.
Kean will now be in charge throughout the January transfer window when Blackburn’s signings are likely to be scrutinised by the Premier League for evidence of “third-party influence”.
Allardyce was sacked after refusing to allow a list of potential targets to be imposed on him. The list was drawn up following talks between Venky’s and Kentaro, the sports rights agency who advised the Indian company on their takeover and has a corporate partnership deal with the agency SEM.
Kean is a client of SEM and the players under consideration for January – including Kris Boyd of Middlesbrough, Geovanni and Tottenham’s David Bentley – are also on SEM’s books.
GuardianService
