No Sympathy for Steve Kean...

If there is one thing we love in football, its a villain. Someone to hurl abuse at in such a fashion that it would not be out of fashion at a Pantomime at the Hippodrome in Birmingham. However, in pantomime we all know that anyone booing or hissing is merely in jest and by the end of the evening the actors and actresses all are smiling away as they accept the standing ovation which their performance (just about) deserves.

However, the world of football is not as forgiving as your punters down the local theatre. The abuse which was handed to Steve Kean at the end of the West Brom game was pretty vile but lets be honest, after the last minute goal by Peter Odemwingie, it was handed to him by about 10 people, as the vast majority of fans were already streaming towards the exit gates.

I have been a football fan for around 20 years and I am going to be honest and say that I have handed out my fair share of stick to both players and managers alike, but never to the level that Mr Kean is currently receiving. In fact, my approach has softened slightly over recent years as I have come to the opinion that just because all the professionals earn more than me, it does not necessarily merit me to be able to spew words of a vicious nature to the men.

Which would perhaps lead me to suggest that I have some sympathy for Mr Kean's current predicament. But the truth is, I don't. My sympathy completely lies with the Blackburn fans.

When Fat Sam was booted out by the Indians a year ago, there was definitely a dodgy whiff in the air (no curry jokes please). That these newcomers would get rid of an established (if perhaps disliked) manager and replace him with a man with no Premiership managerial experience seemed a little odd to say the least and at best, it was completely irresponsible. In fact, I was of the opinion that perhaps Kean had walked in on the Venkys having a threesome with one of their chickens and was going to use evidence this as blackmail. That seemed a the only logical experience at the time.

Fast forward a year later, and Kean's results in the Premiership have been nothing short of atrocious. A quite simply awful 7 wins from 37 games , 2 of which were against my beloved Baggies (how embarrassing). In fact, Blackburn's survival last year was mainly based on the ineptitude of the teams around them to put a run of results together, rather than the Rovers being able to put together any decent results themselves.

In terms of taking the job, no one could really blame Kean. Almost all football professionals in his job would have done the same thing. And lets be honest, the guy talks a good game. He keeps insisting his team will turn the corner, were unlucky, got shafted by the ref or will call upon their "team spirit" to dig them out the hole they are in. How about this Steve, why don't you get them actually playing football together and doing the basics right? That is what your job is to organise! He was rather smartly been observed as football's equivalent of Comical Ali. "Everything is under control....there are no enemies here.!!". Ho hum

Even as a non Blackburn fan this can be hard to take sometimes, and God knows what it must be like for the Rovers fans to put up with. His appearances in public remind me of a recent programme which chronicled the collapse of RBS bank. For those with a only a passing interest, I will educate you if I may.

Around 6 months before the collapse, the board of members and its head, Fred "The Shred" Goodwin held a meeting with shareholders. By this time, everyone in the country knew that the bank was pretty much f*cked. However, the members refused to acknowledge this and instead of resigning, decided to declare that they were "fighters" and would help the bank out the mess. They even denied that the bank was in any sort of trouble. This was complete nonsense of course. They merely did not want to resign in the hope that they would not lose out financially which I think is what Steve Kean is doing.

It has gotten to the point that his arrogance to remain in the post is actually hurting the club more than if he stays. When it gets to the stage where a man is not willing to fall on his own sword for the benefit of others its hard to maintain any sympathy. Let me cast your mind back a year or so ago when Gordon Strachan resigned and sacrificed any pay off from Middlesborough. I believe in fact, that even our beloved Schteve McLaren did the same when he left Nottingham Forest. At least these Ginger Ninjas have a smidgen of self respect left and will probably pick up work in the future. Unlike Mr Kean who will probably end up working selling Chicken Burgers in a later life. And so, all that's left for me to say is......KEAN OUT! (come on, if everyone else is saying it then why not me?)

Sunil