[Archived] 2011/12: The Final Countdown

[Mercer]

You're clutching at straws matey. When did Salgado last kick a ball in anger ? 6 months ago ? He was struggling for pace then, what do you think he'll be like now ? Young Henley would be a better bet. As for Givet of course he should play. I don't know about you but I've had plenty of problems in my life. Another thing I know is that for 90 minutes I could forget all my problems and get rid of all my frustrations on the opposition. I didn't see the half time kick about but for him to join in was a strange thing to do, seems to me he was trying to get across he wants to play. I know he's an odd bod but surely he should want to play if only to put himself in the shop window. Maybe his next move is already sorted.

Agree, however, the guy doesn't even seem to be training with the 1st team !!! Get him in there training in order to share his passion, commitment, knowledge and experience. Then include him in the match day 18 as a sub - surely, there is something there that would rub off on the other players, in particular the younger ones. Someone like Nzonzi, who seems to have lost his way, would benefit enormously from listening to someone who he can't fail to respect as Salgado has simply done the lot - put another way, who would you respect and listen to more, Kean or Salgado !?!?

[John]

Salgado is a top professional and his attitude would surely help - can't believe he has been completely frozen out - then again, we seem to specliaise in decisions detrimental to the football team.

[47er]

Stranger things have happened - the injury situation may force Kean into playing players that had previously (like Simon) been on the side lines - to be honest could they do any worse ?

Vucevic hasn't played for months! He couldn't possibly be match-fit. Do you really expect him to save us at the eleventh hour?

Givet "isn't in the right frame of mind"!!!!!!!

I think I accused you of clutching at straws last week! Its over, the fat ladies warming up.

[budha]

Vucevic hasn't played for months! He couldn't possibly be match-fit. Do you really expect him to save us at the eleventh hour?

Givet "isn't in the right frame of mind"!!!!!!!

I think I accused you of clutching at straws last week! Its over, the fat ladies warming up.

To be fair, Givet hasn't played for 2½ months, but we expect him to, if not save us, but atleast make a difference.

[Kelbo]

Agree, however, the guy doesn't even seem to be training with the 1st team !!! Get him in there training in order to share his passion, commitment, knowledge and experience. Then include him in the match day 18 as a sub - surely, there is something there that would rub off on the other players, in particular the younger ones. Someone like Nzonzi, who seems to have lost his way, would benefit enormously from listening to someone who he can't fail to respect as Salgado has simply done the lot - put another way, who would you respect and listen to more, Kean or Salgado !?!?

Even at Tottenham, Beckham was involved with the team, helping and motivating, as for not playing for a while, remind me, how long was Scholes retired before coming back and being an intregal part of the Man U show?

He is 38 and still a top player!!

[getskills]

Agree, however, the guy doesn't even seem to be training with the 1st team !!! Get him in there training in order to share his passion, commitment, knowledge and experience. Then include him in the match day 18 as a sub - surely, there is something there that would rub off on the other players, in particular the younger ones. Someone like Nzonzi, who seems to have lost his way, would benefit enormously from listening to someone who he can't fail to respect as Salgado has simply done the lot - put another way, who would you respect and listen to more, Kean or Salgado !?!?

Yep. And I think that's Kamys point too. Robinson apart, there was no-one shouting yesterday. No passion. Just complete indifference. N'Zonzi the epitome of 'can't be bothered'. In these last four games maybe we do need players who are going get annoyed at others mistakes and attitudes. Givet, Salgado may not be match fit but I always felt they had a bit of fire in their belly.

As to putting non match fit players on the bench to fire the others up, maybe bringing them on for however long they are able to run around, dare I mention Scholes and Tevez? Oh. I have done.

And WTF is this "not in the right frame of mind"? Kean - isn't one of the main traits of a successful manager the ability to motivate and change 'frames of mind'? (Sorry- manufactured to put Kean and successful manager in the same sentence just to see what it looked like. But the point is still valid.)

Maybe a couple of the old war horses will fire the others up. What is it - 70 international appearances for the two of them, must be many hundreds of top flight appearances between them. They've been there ...

Won't happen. Too sensible. Or maybe Kamy is right. Too costly.

[Mr. E]

It was a pleasure, gentlemen.

We had a good run that we can proud of. At least before Kean and Venky's.

[Stuart]

It was a pleasure, gentlemen.

We had a good run that we can proud of. At least before Kean and Venky's.

And yet Venkys and Kean will sail off in their lifeboats when the time is right, whilst the fans in steerage are pushed under the water.

[perthblue02]

And yet Venkys and Kean will sail off in their lifeboats when the time is right, whilst the fans in steerage are pushed under the water.

You can guarantee that Kean will be first in lifeboat (ala Italian cruise ship captain style) after pushing his wife , children and Roswell (his invisible dog) to one side, Don't think Venky's will be far behind though after going the pockets of coats left in the cloakroom. Paula Abdul will be on the ship PA system berating passengers that it's their fault they hit an iceberg and Mr Sham the security man will inform his band of reprobates to frisk all the kids before they get on the lifeboat's (after turning the cctv cameras off).

[m1st]

I'm just watching the London semi-final and wondered which of the teams I wanted to win. For me, the first criterion in something like this is always, "Will either of them overtake Rovers in the all-time list of winners"?

I looked at the list and saw that Spurs are already ahead of us, while Chelsea are level on 6 wins. Then I woke up and remembered that, under our absentee landlords, we're unlikely ever to be relevant to the list of all-time winners and that, in the forseeable future, 137 years of history are likely to count for nothing.

Mrs Desai and your brothers, I have never met you, I don't suppose we'll ever meet; but I hate you more than the man who went off with the erstwhile Mrs m1st.

[Darwen Rover]

Really think we should have a HUGE flag for the last few home games saying:

'best run club in the league BEFORE KEAN & VENKYS!'

[allanncd]

Perhaps Givet is suffering from depression. According the secret footballers twitter there's alot of it about - and not just among Rovers fans just now. Then again perhaps he just doesn't want to get injured and scupper a summer move (probably also applies to Yak and Hoillet too). Footballers are good at pulling out sick notes when it suits them.

[John]

The Micky Gray view - http://www.talksport.co.uk/radio/sunday-exclusive/120415/gray-cautiousness-costing-blackburn-169871?

[FourLaneBlue]

You can guarantee that Kean will be first in lifeboat (ala Italian cruise ship captain style) after pushing his wife , children and Roswell (his invisible dog) to one side, Don't think Venky's will be far behind though after going the pockets of coats left in the cloakroom. Paula Abdul will be on the ship PA system berating passengers that it's their fault they hit an iceberg and Mr Sham the security man will inform his band of reprobates to frisk all the kids before they get on the lifeboat's (after turning the cctv cameras off).

Good effort!

[roverandout]

micheal gray, another ex rovers who thinks kean is doing brilliantly!! though i did agree with everything else he said

[47er]

To be fair, Givet hasn't played for 2½ months, but we expect him to, if not save us, but atleast make a difference.

Givet has passion and can be an example. Too much passion on occasions!

[Sparky Marky]

Id love to see Gordon Taylors secret files....I bet rovers players have hotline to union.

[purplegrover]

Really think we should have a HUGE flag for the last few home games saying:

'best run club in the league BEFORE KEAN & VENKYS!'

Nice idea, but good luck getting anything bigger than a hanky past the security goons.

[patrickvalery]

Agree, however, the guy doesn't even seem to be training with the 1st team !!! Get him in there training in order to share his passion, commitment, knowledge and experience. Then include him in the match day 18 as a sub - surely, there is something there that would rub off on the other players, in particular the younger ones. Someone like Nzonzi, who seems to have lost his way, would benefit enormously from listening to someone who he can't fail to respect as Salgado has simply done the lot - put another way, who would you respect and listen to more, Kean or Salgado !?!?

Agree with 95% of that Mercerman. But I'm afraid young N'Zonzi wouldn't take much from the experience. The boy looks like he's got a real attitude problem. Even when things have been going well (relatively speaking of course) he is prone to hissy fits and strops. It is a real shame that we have to rely on players like this during a relegation dogfight. Even more so when you think we could/should have had the likes of Nelsen, Samba, Salgado, Givet and Roberts in the side.

When we go down, which we will do, there will be no credible place for our manager and owners to hide. All the required ingredients were already in place to give us a decent chance of staying up even with the inept Kean at the helm. But we have frittered it all away and now rely on oversized egos such as N'Zonzi to drag us over the line. It simply won't happen.

And this is the greatest tragedy of all for me. We are a side with no fight. Nobody in that team is scary. I never thought i'd say it, but what i wouldn't do for an Andy Todd right now! The only decent pro's left at the club imo are Robinson, Orr and Hanley. Everyone else is riding the gravy train and will watch the club go down without a degree of shame. They'll recruit their overpaid agents to find them another cushy home in the summer. This was perfectly summed up for me when Yakubu missed his penalty against Liverpool. His reaction was to laugh. He has scored the goals which have kept us in touch with the pack, but i expect more from a senior pro than to laugh at such a lame effort.

I hope that our manager and owners take a long hard look at themselves when the inevitable is confirmed. I don't expect them to change because that is just the stuff of dreams. But i hope they, well Kean, can find the decency to apologise for the mess they have preceded over. The decisions the club has made over the last 18 months has set us back an entire generation. The club needs to build the trust of the fans once more and that will be a long process. Sadly, my greatest fear is without a John Williams figure at the club, even radical change from Venky's will still lead to yet more heartache. There is nobody left at the club who i trust to make the correct decisions in taking the club in any direction other than backwards.

[alexanders]

Really think we should have a HUGE flag for the last few home games saying:

'best run club in the league BEFORE KEAN & VENKYS!'

Agree Darwen. Because that is key in all this mess.

[Kamy100]

After reading the LT this morning, afraid to say that we'll be lucky to pick up another point. This morning's LT reports that Givet did not refuse to play on Saturday, he was dropped from the squad after a "heated" exchange of words with Kean at the hotel pre-match. Kean has lost control of the dressing room, when you have arguments pre-match with key players then the result is that you get performances ala Saturday.

[roverwhelmed]

You can guarantee that Kean will be first in lifeboat (ala Italian cruise ship captain style) after pushing his wife , children and Roswell (his invisible dog) to one side, Don't think Venky's will be far behind though after going the pockets of coats left in the cloakroom. Paula Abdul will be on the ship PA system berating passengers that it's their fault they hit an iceberg and Mr Sham the security man will inform his band of reprobates to frisk all the kids before they get on the lifeboat's (after turning the cctv cameras off).

Comedy gold!

[Miker]

You have to wonder what he had to have said to the players to lose the dressing room just as we were picking up form.

I thought at the time that all the focus on the awesome job Kean had done to get us 6 points away from the drop was going to backfire badly.

[beerwins]

You have to wonder what he had to have said to the players to lose the dressing room just as we were picking up form.

I thought at the time that all the focus on the awesome job Kean had done to get us 6 points away from the drop was going to backfire badly.

I mentioned this months ago, this was always going to happen, Kean is a coach and as a coach he will be responsible for raising players morale and keeping pally pally with the player's, a manager has to have a bit of both.

As a coach that has been promoted Kean retained his pally stance with the player's but when the crap hits the fan and you have to start handing out the rollockings the players won't respect you and resent the change in attitude towards them.

I don't agree with promoting someone to manager internally as it very rarely works, I'm sure it has somewhere but I can't think of any.

[BuckyRover]

Nicko on twitter basically saying that he doesn't think there is any chance that Venky's will leave in the summer (or words to that effect)