Steve Kean's latest own-goal should be final straw for him at Blackburn

Steve Kean admitted he forfeited yesterday's Carling Cup tie at Cardiff

It is common for managers to treat the Carling Cup as a distraction and name weakened sides in the competition.

But it is simply unacceptable for them to forfeit matches, as Steve Kean has admitted his Blackburn side did against Cardiff City last night.

Rovers, currently bottom of the Premier League, do have a crucial run of league fixtures coming up, including games against relegation rivals Swansea, Sunderland, West Brom and Bolton, but Kean needs every win he can get.

Fans have turned on him massively over recent months and a serious tilt at winning the Carling Cup could have helped turn some dissenters around.

Kean even said in the lead-up to the Cardiff match he was going all out to win the Carling Cup, so has again been proven to be a liar who fans simply cannot trust.

The Scot, in effectively throwing the quarter-final tie, showed complete disrespect to all those Blackburn fans who spent their hard-earned money to travel to Wales.

They should all be given a refund as they travelled there with their manager stating the Carling Cup was being taken very seriously.

If Blackburn had a proper board in place, full of people who have been in football for some time and understand the game, Kean would have been gone long ago.

His position has been untenable for months and he will never turn those fans around now.

Kean has no credibility whatsoever, after lavish claims Rovers would soon be in the Champions League and stating there is no chance of them going down this season, and his constant positivity has now turned into a farce.

Blackburn fans have made their feelings towards Kean clear

You get the sense that even if they are thrashed at home to Swansea on Saturday Kean will still say his side were unlucky and there are no problems. He would probably try to bombard fans with irrelevant statistics to suggest everything in the garden is rosy.

How are players supposed to be motivated by that?

There are clear issues at Blackburn, and Kean doesn't seem to have the ability to address them.

He needs to slate his team when they need slating and treat the fans with more respect.

Kean has cheated those supporters by forfeiting the Cardiff match and with it the chance of cup glory.

When are Blackburn going to have a better chance of getting to a semi-final, and possibly a Wembley final?

The league has to be prioritised, with the financial rewards of staying in the Premier League more important than ever, but Kean has turned into an even bigger joke with his "forfeit" comments.

The next few league fixtures are crucial to Blackburn's chances of staying up this season, so Kean should be sacked now before he inflicts any more damage on the club.

With him in charge, the winnable run of games are likely to provide few points and leave Rovers in an even worse position. He should have been sacked in the summer, but this is Venky's last chance for redemption.

Venky's have turned Blackburn into a laughing stock

If they sack Kean now, Blackburn might have a chance of staying up.

They would need to convince an established manager to work for them then - which may be a thankless task - but that is their only hope of salvaging this campaign.

Kean's public statements are getting more ridiculous by the week - he even said earlier this season that points and league positions are "just one way of measuring progress" - and he needs to be put out of his misery now.

If he is to make it as a successful manager, he needs to start at the bottom and work his way up.

If Blackburn sack him, he may get a job in League One or League Two and the chance to build a reputation away from the high-pressure cauldron of the Premier League.

Kean has just been laughably "rewarded" for his work at Ewood Park with a new contract, but he must go now.

His latest insult to fans should be the final straw.