[Archived] News Article -> Rovers Hit Headlines

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[caption id=attachment_2432" align="alignright" width="300" caption="

Picture courtesy cn174

][/caption]Rovers fans are waking up this morning to learn that the club has made headlines both in the national and local press for all the wrong reasons.

Firstly local and national media reports allege that Rovers manager Steve Kean was arrested on Saturday evening for drink driving. It is alleged that Kean was stopped by police and failed a breath test. A spokesman for Cheshire police said: "At 8.50pm on Saturday 14 May, Cheshire officers stopped a Mercedes car on the M6 southbound carriageway, between Junction 19 and 18. The driver, a 43-year-old man, provided a positive breath test. He was subsequently charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol and bailed to appear at Crewe magistrates' court on June 7."

In addition to this, The Sun newspaper is running a front page lead story alleging that the FA have opened an investigation on allegations that Rovers defender Gael Givet paid a £50,000 bung to an unlicensed agent or "middle man". The Sun alleges that Paul Black, who is a Manchester-based tailor, was paid £50,000 by Givet for his part in the transfer from Marseille to Rovers. Talking to The Sun, Givet said: "Phil Black was the first person to contact me, texting and asking if I was interested in joining Blackburn."

Givet added: "I just thought he was working for Blackburn. But after I'd signed, he started demanding money, saying he was due a slice of the agent's fee agreed by Blackburn with my agent. Black kept on asking me for money. He kept saying he should have been paid and had received nothing. It felt bizarre, it felt wrong and I was very uncomfortable about it, but he was very persistent. I was in a strange country, I didn't know if this was usual — I didn't know who to turn to. Afterwards I felt such a fool."

It is important to point out that at this stage there is no suggestion that there has been any wrongdoing by Rovers or that the alleged payments made to Paul Black had anything to do with the club. If there is an FA investigation, then we should all wait for the facts to emerge.

However, the headlines that fans and players are waking up to this morning are not pleasant and can only have a negative impact ahead of the crucial game against Wolves on Sunday. With the club involved in a battle for survival, the players' and management's focus should be totally on preparing for the clash with Wolves and it is hoped that these stories do not hinder those preparations. A few weeks back, Steve Kean revealed that Givet had been dropped because mentally he was not focussed due to a tax problem, so the question is: will the alleged bung story cause Givet to lose focus again? If it does and he doesn't play on Sunday, then that could have a huge impact on the team, especially with star defender Samba struggling with a hamstring injury.

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