Long season ahead for Blackburn

On taking over, many expected Venky's to take Blackburn to the next level

When Indian poultry giants Venky's took charge at Blackburn last November, there was a great deal of optimism from Rovers fans.

With a heavy heart, the Jack Walker Trust sold the club and fans were looking forward to a new golden era at Ewood Park where their club could once again compete with the big boys.

Champions League qualification was a matter of when rather than if, they were led to believe, while they were promised marquee signings and the prospect of the likes of Ronaldinho and David Beckham playing for their club.

Just a matter of months later, though, and those promises appear to have been broken.

Venky's sacked proven manager Sam Allardyce in December and replaced him with the untried Steve Kean, Blackburn only narrowly avoided relegation on the last day of last season and the highest profile acquisition so far has been Dundee United's David Goodwillie.

Local talent Phil Jones has been sold to Manchester United for a reported fee of £18million and it appears even that money will not be given to Kean to enhance his squad.

Phil Jones' departure was inevitable but it appears the money from his transfer will not be made available to Kean

There is an awful lot of negativity around Rovers now but in truth there is the basis of a decent team there.

Paul Robinson is among the Premier League's finest goalkeepers, Chris Samba one of the most consistent centre-halves and in Michel Salgado they have a right back who has won everything there is to win at club level with arguably the world's greatest club, Real Madrid.

David Dunn, Morten Gamst Pedersen, Gael Givet and Ryan Nelsen all offer great experience while youngsters like Martin Olsson, Steven N'Zonzi, David Hoilett, Mauro Formica and Ruben Rochina are exciting talents who could form the backbone of Rovers' team for the next decade. If they can get it right this season, they could lead the club to a surprise top half finish.

Blackburn's big trouble is that their experienced players are approaching the end of their careers and have lost a yard of pace, while their younger players are arguably not ready to be regular starters in the Premier League. Rovers have no players truly in the prime of their careers and this means they will lack the quality needed to see them through this campaign without some additional strengthening of the squad.

Manager Kean went into the summer expecting to be a busy man this summer bringing in new players.

He has been busy, but that has been more to do with players leaving the club than coming in.

In addition to Jones' departure, star defender Chris Samba continues to be heavily linked with a move away and it appears unlikely he will still be a Blackburn player when the transfer window closes.

That would leave Rovers terribly weak at the back, while scoring goals was their big problem last season and even that has not been rectified.

The capture of striker Goodwillie is seen by many as the solution but last season was his only prolific one at Dundee United and the gulf in class between the Premier Leagues of Scotland and England is clear.

Kean believes Goodwillie will give Blackburn a different dimension this season

Add to that the Scotland star's brushes with the law and suddenly the £2.8million signing does not look quite so attractive.

Goodwillie could turn out to be one of the signings of the season but there is a real risk he will go the other way and be more trouble than he is worth.

The funds promised to Kean early in Venky's reign now appear a distant memory but the club continues to be linked with big names, like David Bentley, Jermain Defoe and Jermaine Jenas.

The three previously mentioned may come from Tottenham in a swap deal for Samba but there is unlikely to be any significant outlay.

Fans want to know what has happened to the Phil Jones money and what has happened to the funds promised earlier this year.

They want to know what the aim is for this season and whether this relatively light squad has what it takes.

They are still confused as to why Allardyce was sacked last year when he seemed to be providing stability for the club and why Steve Kean continues in his role despite appearing out of his depth last season.

Most pundits are wholly unconvinced by Kean's managerial credentials

Kean is an immensely positive man and that should have a great effect on his squad but Rovers struggled under him last season and fans are yet to be convinced of his managerial credentials.

The Scot forged a good reputation as an excellent coach but doubts persist as to his ability as a manager and, despite the owners appearing fully behind him, the writing appears to be on the wall for him. It would be a surprise if Kean sees out the season and it is no surprise he is the bookmakers' favourite to be the first Premier League manager to lose his job this campaign.

As Blackburn hurtled towards trouble last season, the owners' decision to sack Allardyce appeared more and more foolhardy.

Most agree appointing Kean as his successor was also a huge mistake but the owners had the chance to rectify that this summer, with managers like Steve McClaren available and willing to make the move to Ewood Park.

Venky's clearly have no knowledge of football and the absence of a chairman or executive director with football experience could cost them dear. They have struggled to get transfers over the line this summer and the more the uncertainty grows, the more players will be unwilling to move there.

The owners should be learning as they go along but that could be a recipe for disaster, as was proved at Newcastle with Mike Ashley and their relegation in 2009.

There are gaping holes in the boardroom at Ewood Park left by the likes of John Williams and they need to be filled for the club to gain back some of its respectability and to give it a chance of success.

Former chairman Williams had been a stable figure at Blackburn

A lot of the smart money is on Blackburn to go down this season and it is hard to argue with that as they haven't improved the squad which came perilously close to relegation last time out. In fact, that squad has been weakened if anything.

Kean may have a couple of more new signings in the offing, with Radosav Petrovic and Bruno Ribeiro rumoured to be close to joining, but fans are worried by their lack of experience in English football.

The club which prided itself on stability in the years before Venky's took over badly needs to regain some of it.

Kean may not be the man the fans want but the owners clearly rate him and the best option now may be to give him the whole season to prove himself.

That may well result in relegation and if that happens, the owners will only have themselves to blame and it will be the supporters who suffer.

An advert for Venky's chicken has only underlined Blackburn's status as one of this year's Premier League laughing stocks so they will need to hit the ground running at the start of the season to turn the momentum in their favour.

David Dunn certainly appears impressed with Venky's product, but will Blackburn's fans?

On paper, they have a favourable set of fixtures to start the season and it could be a case of "Crisis, what crisis?" if Rovers pick up a reasonable number of points from those games.

However, if they were to lose those games the odds on Kean being the first Premier League manager to lose his job may look generous.

It should be a great time to be a Blackburn fan, with low ticket prices and a growing fan base in Asia, but all that will count for nothing if their squad is not improved in the remainder of this month.

Nikola Kalinic and Chris Samba may both leave but Kean must bring in at least two strikers, a midfielder and two defenders if Rovers are to get through the rigours of a Premier League season unscathed.

The departures of Kalinic and Samba would be further crushing blows to Rovers' chances this season

As things stand, they look like potential relegation fodder and with owners lacking football knowledge, a manager lacking support from the stands and a squad lacking any depth, this could be a long hard slog of a season for Blackburn.

While there is great optimism for the likes of Hoilett, Rochina and Formica, the general consensus is that this Blackburn squad is threadbare and not up for the battle of a relegation dogfight.

Those Venky's public promises of Champions League football seem a galaxy away and the Championship seems a far more likely destination.

Rather than getting the passports out for trips to Milan and Madrid, it may be more prudent of Blackburn fans to dig out their road maps for journeys to Barnsley and Brighton.