[Archived] Steve Kean Thread (Poll reset after Stoke game)

[John]

Real pressure games coming up now, really can't let the gap get any wider.

[booth]

All this talk about Mrs D not knowing anything about football, or Kean being silver tongued, or other conspiracy theories.

Have none of you realized yet? Sacking Kean would cost money and lots of it. At least a lot to Mrs D.

The reason Kean is still in charge is purely because she does not want to spend any money. That's all there is to it.

That's how he got the job and that's how he will stay in it.

[Mattyblue]

But what was the double you money pay rise about?

[broadsword]

He probably got that because he's slipping her one.

[Athlete]

All this talk about Mrs D not knowing anything about football, or Kean being silver tongued, or other conspiracy theories.

Have none of you realized yet? Sacking Kean would cost money and lots of it. At least a lot to Mrs D.

The reason Kean is still in charge is purely because she does not want to spend any money. That's all there is to it.

That's how he got the job and that's how he will stay in it.

Have you realised we are the next Portsmouth

[booth]

But what was the double you money pay rise about?

No one can explain that. We'd have to bring in experts in the field of the paranormal.

Although speculating, that was supposed to have been agreed before Mrs D threw her toys out of the pram and put a block on spending.

[Mattyblue]

From the Guardian:

Call Gok Wan! Blackburn need a style rethink

It all started so well for Steve Kean and Blackburn Rovers. For most of the first hour it was pretty stolid stuff at the Stadium of Light but there was a crucial difference between the sides Sunderland were aimless but Blackburn had a plan.

It is a plan based on set pieces and territory a throw-in to the opposition 20 yards from their own goal is preferable to a throw in of your own at the other end of the pitch. Is it pretty? No, not especially. Is it entertaining? It can be. One thing direct football tends to produce is goalmouth action. Direct does not necessarily equal dull (although watching midfielders tip and tap the ball between themselves in the hope of winning a free-kick on halfway quickly loses its charm). Most importantly, is it effective? And to an extent it is Blackburn are the highest scorers in the bottom half of the Premier League.

The problems come at the other end. The direct approach means Rovers cede huge chunks of possession. Fine if you are José Mourinho's Internazionale in the 2009-10 Champions League semi-finals, less so if you are entirely reliant on the colossus that is Chris Samba, you have lost both full-backs to injury and you are without your roving roadblock Steven Nzonzi in midfield. Defensively Rovers were simply not good enough to hold out in the face of Sunderland's ever-increasing onslaught, a siege that Rovers were utterly incapable of breaking. Even so, the lock was picked only by a defensive mistake (Grant Hanley's poor headed clearance) followed by a moment of brilliance, David Vaughan's sweet strike, and it took a late pearler from Seb Larsson to secure the win.

It is not a style that Kean has introduced Rovers played exactly the same way under Sam Allardyce but he is struggling to get the best out of it. Rovers have thrown away 12 points from winning positions this season had they held on to those leads they would be sitting comfortably in the top half of the table. The statistics against Sunderland tell the tale: of 307 passes attempted 126 were unsuccessful; in the second half they completed 67 out of 131 attempts. Pressure was invited and one mistake was all it took to send victory slithering through their fingers. If Kean is given the chance to lead the club into 2012, then he needs to come up with a new plan. Continually ceding control is not working.

The media have worked him out, hopefully some of our fans who still cling to the belief 'that at least the football's better' will do the same.

[Torgeir]

From the Guardian:

Call Gok Wan! Blackburn need a style rethink

It all started so well for Steve Kean and Blackburn Rovers. For most of the first hour it was pretty stolid stuff at the Stadium of Light but there was a crucial difference between the sides Sunderland were aimless but Blackburn had a plan.

It is a plan based on set pieces and territory a throw-in to the opposition 20 yards from their own goal is preferable to a throw in of your own at the other end of the pitch. Is it pretty? No, not especially. Is it entertaining? It can be. One thing direct football tends to produce is goalmouth action. Direct does not necessarily equal dull (although watching midfielders tip and tap the ball between themselves in the hope of winning a free-kick on halfway quickly loses its charm). Most importantly, is it effective? And to an extent it is Blackburn are the highest scorers in the bottom half of the Premier League.

The problems come at the other end. The direct approach means Rovers cede huge chunks of possession. Fine if you are José Mourinho's Internazionale in the 2009-10 Champions League semi-finals, less so if you are entirely reliant on the colossus that is Chris Samba, you have lost both full-backs to injury and you are without your roving roadblock Steven Nzonzi in midfield. Defensively Rovers were simply not good enough to hold out in the face of Sunderland's ever-increasing onslaught, a siege that Rovers were utterly incapable of breaking. Even so, the lock was picked only by a defensive mistake (Grant Hanley's poor headed clearance) followed by a moment of brilliance, David Vaughan's sweet strike, and it took a late pearler from Seb Larsson to secure the win.

It is not a style that Kean has introduced Rovers played exactly the same way under Sam Allardyce but he is struggling to get the best out of it. Rovers have thrown away 12 points from winning positions this season had they held on to those leads they would be sitting comfortably in the top half of the table. The statistics against Sunderland tell the tale: of 307 passes attempted 126 were unsuccessful; in the second half they completed 67 out of 131 attempts. Pressure was invited and one mistake was all it took to send victory slithering through their fingers. If Kean is given the chance to lead the club into 2012, then he needs to come up with a new plan. Continually ceding control is not working.

The media have worked him out, hopefully some of our fans who still cling to the belief 'that at least the football's better' will do the same.

Unfortunately for us I don't think Mrs. D reads English newspapers.

I want Kean out as much as anyone, but Venky's are the problem here. It won't matter if we get Kean out as long as they don't get their act together.

The substitutions yesterday were out of Kean's hands. He could have made some tactical adjustments but our players just didn't seem to be able to clear the ball far enough - goals against HAD to come. We defended heroically, especially Samba, and I thought we were unlucky not to come from the game with at least one point - considering the fact we had a goal disallowed that never should have been.

[martmitch]

Rovers have thrown away 12 points from winning positions this season – had they held on to those leads they would be sitting comfortably in the top half of the table

this, says it all

[den]

The substitutions yesterday were out of Kean's hands. He could have made some tactical adjustments but our players just didn't seem to be able to clear the ball far enough - goals against HAD to come. We defended heroically, especially Samba, and I thought we were unlucky not to come from the game with at least one point - considering the fact we had a goal disallowed that never should have been.

Agreed on the substitutions, they were out of his hands, but I wouldn't describe our defending as heroic, I would describe it as suicidal. It wasn't about clearing it far enough, it was about getting the back four to push Sunderland's forwards further upfield. That would also have closed the gap between Yakubu and the midfield. At no point did I see either Samba or Kean trying to push upfield. It was poor.

For those reasons, I didn't think we were unlucky. We got what we asked for.

[Torgeir]

We really needed to get hold of the ball, keep it and draw some fouls in order to push upfield. EH Diouf would have been perfect for that job.

[DE.]

Robbo was constantly yelling at the back four to push up, but the midfielders didn't really know what to do when they did, and we gave the ball away so quickly it just ended up being two banks of four defending every single time. In fact, it was a bank of four and a row of five, as Yak was the only one left waddling around at the top of the pitch.

You'd struggle to find a half where a team has played with a worse style or formation. Our players just had no idea how to stop what was happening, and knew that the manager wasn't going to give them the answer.

[Jansen is God]

All this talk about Mrs D not knowing anything about football, or Kean being silver tongued, or other conspiracy theories.

Have none of you realized yet? Sacking Kean would cost money and lots of it. At least a lot to Mrs D.

The reason Kean is still in charge is purely because she does not want to spend any money. That's all there is to it.

That's how he got the job and that's how he will stay in it.

1) She just gave him a pay rise.

2) Relegation would cost a whole lot more than sacking Kean & replacing him with a decent manager, which she should have done in the summer.

So clearly it's not JUST a case of money.

[Waggy76]

Personally , I think it is disgraceful that Kean is still employed by BRFC ...Any other club on the planet he would have been history a long time ago ...I have stopped bothering now ,relegation is a formality ..I just want Kean ,Anderson and the Indians out of Ewood Park and let us start again from scratch whatever division we finally sink too.

[Neil Weaver]

I sort of laughed off the idea that Venkys bought us with the plan to asset strip us.. but the longer this goes on the more I am beginning to think it might be true.

Beginning to think that when JA sold them the idea of the club he would as any salesman does sold them a viable exit strategy (if it does not work you can always sell everything off at a profit) as well.. given the results, fans turning on them, JA conning them out of millions and a smaller impact than expected in India they may just decide to wind us down.

Welcome to the club Veevs. A possible answer to those wondering why Kean got a payrise recently - what if Venky's wanted to make sure the club were relegated so that selling off assets was more justifiable? Just a thought.

I'm not naturally a conspiracy theorist, it's just that Venky's make it easy.

[ChrisyG]

And every single decision made by Venkys has been detrimental to our club, every single one.

[roverandout]

well i see kean is still here and his spouting his fat scottish mouth off with more lies, 'i know nothing of the £10 million owed to be bank' buulllsshhiitt!! every word that comes out of his mouth is a lie, i wouldnt believe him if he said christmas was on the 25th of december!!

[booth]

1) She just gave him a pay rise.

2) Relegation would cost a whole lot more than sacking Kean & replacing him with a decent manager, which she should have done in the summer.

So clearly it's not JUST a case of money.

She clearly doesn't understand the consequences of getting stuck at the foot of the table. There's no other plausible reason for it.

Then when it's too late to sack him, she'll keep him on believing he'll get us back up (on a limited budget).

She wants to spend as little as possible in my opinion, can't see any other logical explanation.

[DE.]

What makes me laugh about Steve Kean is his continuous verbal diarrhoea relating to the way we play football. We hear him espouse meaningless platitudes and vague references about 'the direction the club is going' and 'the vision' he claims he has for the club. I'm not sure what vision Steve is having, but away from the influences of any liquid drugs he may or may not be ingesting it's apparent to the entire footballing world that not only is he a horrific tactician but his failure to implement the system he craves has led to our team reverting to the tactics that made us successful before Big Sam was so senselessly dumped. I feel like reflecting to validate this.

When Kean started as manager the majority of people were ready to give him a chance, and to be honest he didn't get off to a terrible start. He definitely changed the way we played football, and at first it seemed like it may form into something successful. We had a rocky start with a few bad results, but wins against Liverpool and WBA x2 suggested Kean had a formula which could work. Unfortunately, in retrospect it is clear to see those victories were mainly down to the opposition and not Steve Kean. We played the worst Liverpool side in years, rock-bottom on confidence and IMO not playing for their manager at all. We almost threw that result away, and both wins against WBA were fortunate. The second win in particular was undeserved.

It became apparent Kean's tactics were not going to stand the test of time. We entered February and proceeded to lose 3 and draw 1. Our losses included conceding 4 goals twice, against Villa and the mighty Wigan Athletic. March continued the downward spiral as we lost 3-2 to Fulham, and then salvaged a 2-2 draw at home to Blackpool. The same Blackpool who were relegated from the league at the end of the season. Depending on who you listen to Kean potentially lost the dressing room at half time and the players took matters into their own hands. True? Who knows, but the two goals we scored were straight out of the 'Big Sam' handbook.

Our next 8 games yielded only 2 wins, but also a few crucial draws (albeit one at home to West Ham[away], relegated as the bottom club in the league, and Birmingham City[home], also relegated... Kean tried to spin these as "positive results"). The teams we beat were Bolton, who had entered a run of form somehow as horrifically bad as ours, and coincidentally enough also with a young Scottish manager, and Wolves on the last day of the season. We very nearly threw the Wolves result away as well, hanging on at the death having had a comfortable 3-0 lead reduced to 3-2.

We did stay up, and at this point Venky's should have done the right thing and sacked Steve Kean. He had failed to deliver success or good football. If Venky's had sacked Kean and appointed a decent manager I think most of us would have said 'okay, they made a mistake, they were lucky not to pay for it. Let's wipe the slate clean and look forward to pushing on'. Instead, they kept Kean on and made an absolute pig's ear of the summer transfer window. Their incompetence was staggering. We ended up selling our brightest young star Phil Jones and failing to replace him. We also let Emerton and Diouf go - both useful players with bags of prem experience. Despite Venky's promises of investment we actually ended up with a NET PROFIT in the summer and our signings consisted of unknowns and cheap foreigners. I think we all knew we were in for a struggle this season, and so it has come to be. Other than a mind-bogglingly lucky win against a hapless Arsenal (who scored two goals for us) and a win against a Swansea team newly promoted and yet to win away, we've crashed and burned this year. Kean's tried to implement "his style" of football again with "his players" and surprise surprise, it hasn't worked. We're even more woeful than last season, and even though Kean seems to have now attempted to revert to his predecessors style of football again... without a Jermaine Jones or Phil Jones to give us an extra push it isn't working either. Instead it’s like a sad parody.

What's sad about the whole situation is that we've now reverted back to what many people believed Big Sam's style of football to be, except it’s worse. Allardyce knew how to win using percentages and a direct gameplan. Steve Kean does not have a clue, and as the second half of yesterday's game showed our players are utterly clueless when it comes to working out how they're supposed to be playing. The manager cannot advise them because he doesn't know what to do. Kean (ALLEGEDLY) went to India and told our owners Allardyce had lost the dressing room and that we could play a more entertaining brand of football. However, it has been shown beyond reasonable doubt that the style of football Kean attempts to play doesn't work with a club like ours. Allardyce inherited a team of grafters and played to their strengths. It was a team shorn of the creativeness and ability of Craig Bellamy, Brad Friedel, David Bentley and Tugay. What was left was a bunch of grafters and a waddling Benni "McDonalds" McCarthy. Santa Cruz, bereft of decent service, had become a shadow of the man that scored for fun only a season before. Allardyce did what he could with the players he had at his disposal - Kean (ALLEGEDLY) wormed his way into the job by suggesting it didn't have to be that way and the players we had were capable of more.

Doesn't seem that way now, does it Steve? Kean knows it isn't working and is desperately trying to back-pedal to Allardyce's style of football, but he hasn't got the same ability and the players don't have the same belief in him as they did Allardyce. Defensively we are a mess. We've got academy players all over the pitch who just aren't ready. Kean can blame injuries if he chooses but it is he who has said the owners have "always backed him" in the transfer market, so if that is the case why is our squad so perilously thin? Any half-wit can see the academy players are not ready to be thrown into first team football. Hanley should be on loan to Bournemouth or Torquay, Henley and Lowe should also be on loan somewhere. Blackman should be playing in the non-leagues somewhere. None of them are at a stage in their development where they can benefit our first team in any way, and the fact they're being chosen week in week out to play shows how badly Kean and the owners have failed to live up to the promises of investment in our squad. The young players are not to blame, and I won't blame them for any mistakes they make. They should not be thrust into the first team now. Our injuries speak for themselves – funny how these amounts of injuries rarely appeared during the Hughes or Allardyce eras, and even if they did we always had adequate cover. I very much doubt any manager of any competence would have allowed Ryan Nelsen or Martin Olsson anywhere near the team unless they were sure they were ready to potentially play. Kean has risked both of these players and caused reoccurrences of injuries which have kept one out for months and could potentially keep the other out for even more weeks, after being close to coming back.

I don’t normally rant or write long posts, but the second half performance yesterday really has me fuming and I needed to vent. I don’t think I’ve ever been so angry at the way our team has been set up. Totally amateur from the first whistle of the second half to the end. Most owners would have seen how incredibly poor Kean was as a manager some time ago and binned him... but we have a woman running the club who’s only ever been to one match in her life and has absolutely no idea about football. What a time to be a Blackburn Rovers fan when I hear the idiot pundits on Match of the Day, Soccer Saturday and the print media talk about giving Kean "more time" and how the fans are stupid for booing I just remember the above - a long, torturous, painful fall of a once proud club - and think you have no idea what you are talking about.

[Rovers_786]

great post by you.

[Boner]

+100. Excellent post.

[roverandout]

great post de4life, perfectly summed up, one of the best on here for a while!!!

[Lilgaz]

Cracking post DE4life hit the nail on the head totally.

[DeadlyDirk]

What makes me laugh about Steve Kean is his continuous verbal diarrhoea relating to the way we play football..............

Great post, agree with it all.

[Mattyblue]

Nice one DE, I was going to post something on those lines, you've encapuslated everything I've been thinking.

We'll probably beat a poor West Brom, Kean will then go on one of his magical tours around various media outlets, 'top 10', 'you can see what we are trying to do', 'the owners back me 1000%'.

His job is no longer up for discussion... we then don't win a game till March.

Round and round we go...