WHY BLACKBURN ROVERS?

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I have always felt a slight affection for the football club Blackburn Rovers. Why? I've asked myself that question several times and I've only managed to come to one plausible explanation, the incredible striker Alan Shearer. Being the all time top scorer of the Premier League with an amazing 260 goals along with the record of 34 goals in a season he is one of the greatest players to have ever graced the Premier League. And also, he was the man who made me follow Blackburn Rovers. Although I really don’t care about their results or whether they play in the Premiership, Championship or League 2 Blackburn will always be a club that I will enjoy following and watching.

WHO AM I?

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I am going to take on the role as the legendary Southampton, Blackburn and Newcastle striker Alan Shearer. Being a former England national as well as the Premier League's all time top scorer he certainly has a lot of player experience. Although manager wise his career haven't been as successful with only a brief stint as Newcastle manager. At 43 years of age Shearer believes the football world is once again ready for him and he will leave his current work as a sports pundit to work for his old club, Blackburn Rovers.

Introduction

The club Blackburn Rovers F.C. was founded in 1875 in the city of Blackburn, Lancashire and are one of the five teams who have won the Premier League since the founding of the league in 1992. The now deceased owner of the club, Jack Walker, played a big part in the clubs success during the first half of the 90s. Today, on the other hand, the owners are the ones to blame for the bad state of the club.

The fall of Blackburn Rovers began in 2010 when the Indian company Venky’s bought the club. After being a stable mid-table Premier League club for about 10 years, the club were soon to be facing relegation. The Indian delegation knew nothing about managing a football club, except spending a lot of money. However the investments were spent poorly, splashing cash on 5 unknown portuguese players, signing old players at very high wages (Danny Murphy, Nuno Gomes, Dickson Etuhu) and paying extremely high agent fees. As if this wasn’t enough many of these players were signed without involving the manager.

Last season (2012/2013) the club changed manager no less than 6 times, beginning with the resignation of Steve Kean. As of his departure assistant manager Eric Black was appointed caretaker until former Blackburn player and Norwegian national Henning Berg took over. However the experienced Norwegian wasn’t as successful outside the pitch as he was on it and was sacked after just two months leaving the manager post to reserve team coach Gary Bowyer. But having the reserve team coach manage the first team wouldn’t suffice for the Indian owners and soon Blackpool manager Michael Appleton was appointed as the new manager of Blackburn. Appleton wasn’t any luckier than his predecessors and was sacked after only two months. Bowyer then got his second chance at the steering wheel and is currently the manager of the club. In the 12/13 season the club was in danger of a second successive relegation but managed to finish in 17th place, 4 points clear of relegation…

The club's home court is Ewood Park. A classic arena built in 1882 with a capacity of about 31.000.
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Legend set for return

http://images.football365.com/13/06/800x600/Alan-Shearer_2961683.jpgWe are saddened to announce the retirement of our associate and friend Alan Shearer who will take over the role as Blackburn manager with effective immediately.

Today Blackburn’s managing director Derek Shaw announced that Gary Bowyer will not continue to serve as manager for Blackburn Rovers. His succeeder will be no other than former Blackburn player and BBC pundit Alan Shearer. Shearer has previously only managed Newcastle for 8 games in which the team only took 5 out of 24 points and thus got relegated. Even though his not so impressing curriculum, the fans are jubilant their former star is back.

At the press conference Shearer promised the fans he would do everything in his power to get the club back to its former glory. He also announced that his former colleague Chris Sutton will replace Terry McPhilips as assistant manager. Shearer and Sutton, who are the most successful partnership ever to play in the premiership, are expected to lead the team back to its former glory like they did in the season 94/95 when Blackburn won the league for the first time since 1914.

New arrivals at Ewood Park

Yesterday Alan Shearer was revealed as the new manager for Blackburn Rovers. Rumour was that he would introduce his first signing today. Today not one, but four new players were unveiled at Blackburn's home ground.

The Preseason

The preseason results have been excellent with 4 wins and 1 draw. The appointment of Shearer and Sutton have clearly had a positive effect on the team who finished in 17th place last season. With the courage of recent games the team is set to face Derby in the opening game of the season next week.

Shearer has stated that a top six finish is a must for a club like Blackburn and that they will aim for promotion. Players like Jordan Rhodes, Phil Robinson and David Dunn are expected to be vital parts of the team.

Transfers

Transfer wise the Blackburn camp have been relatively quiet with only players going out on loan. Goalkeepers Jake Kean and Simon Eastwood have left for Sheffield Wednesday and Cardiff City for the rest of the season, Kean in order to get regular first team action and Eastwood because he has a weekly wage of £5.500 which is very high for a backup keeper of his class.

The promising central defender Ryan Edwards has left for a 3 month loan at Portsmouth. Defensive midfielder Jason Lowe left for a season long loan at Ipswich because he was worrying about his amount of playtime. Wide men Alex Marrow and Craig Conway have left for Bournemoth and Brighton for the rest of the season.

Notable players that were loaned out before the managerial change were Leon Best (Sheffield Wednesday), DJ Campbell (Millwall), Rubén Rochina (Rayo Vallecano), Alan Judge (Brentford) and Bradley Orr (Toronto FC).

The preseason’s hat trick hero Luke Varney was loaned in from Leeds by Gary Bowyer but due to his high weekly wage of £9.500 Shearer decided to cancel his loan as Varney was only considered to be the third choice striker behind Rhodes and Gestede.

Senior Squad

Goalkeepers

No. Name - Pos - Age
1. Paul Robinson - GK - 34

31. Lewis Price - GK - 29

Defenders

2. Tommy Spurr - DL/DC - 26

21. Paul Dummett - DL - 22

4. Matthew Kilgallon - DC - 29

5. Grant Hanley - DC - 21

3. Todd Kane - DR/MC - 20 (on loan from Chelsea)

6. Sam Hutchinson - DR/DC - 24

27. Adam Henley - DR/DL - 19

Midfielders

41. Tim Payne - DM/ST/AMR/AML - 19

43. Bryan Dabo - DM - 21 (on loan from Montpellier)

14. Tom Cairney - MC - 22

17. Lee Williamson - MC/MR - 31

20. Dickson Etuhu - MC/DM - 31

29. Corry Evans - MC/DM - 23

37. Robbie Cotton - MC/DC/AMR - 19

7. Joshua King - AML/AMC/AMR - 21

16. Marcus Olsson - AML/ML/DL - 25

19. Chris Taylor - AML/AMC/AMR - 26

8. David Dunn - AMC/MC - 33

10. Jason Holt - AMC/MC - 20

12. Ben Marshall - AMR/AMC/AML - 22

Strikers

11. Jordan Rhodes - ST - 23

15. Rudy Gestede - ST - 25

Three months in

After an astonishing preseason Blackburn have continued the following months in similar fashion. With 11 wins, 4 draws and only 2 defeats the team is currently in second place behind Leicester City and with a comfortable lead over third placed Reading. The team, who was on beforehand predicted to fininsh in 12th place, have really stood for a couple of amazing results except for the exit in the third round of the Capital One Cup where they lost a 3-0 lead to Southampton.



The most notable match so far has been the "Cotton Mills Derby" against Lancashire rivals Burnley. It is described as one of the most fierce derbys in English football and is regarded as the most important match of the season by the fans. As of the brilliant 3-0 effort by Blackburn away at Turf Moor the Rovers fans have secured bragging rights until the next derby game in March.

Most valuable player so far

http://foreverwestham.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Jordan-Rhodes.jpgThere is one player who has been truly remarkable so far and has proven that he was worth every single penny, record signing Jordan Rhodes. With 2 hat tricks, 1 quadruple (!) and a total of 19 goals in 20 games, Rhodes has proved that he is one of the best strikers in the league. Although even more impressive is that 40-year-old Kevin Philips of Leicester City have scored equally many goals.

December-January

Blackburn have continued in fantastic shape with 9 wins, 3 draws and just a single loss (even though most games has been against teams on the lower half of the table). If they are able to maintain this shape for another month they are certainly going to be favourites for promotion. Next month the team will take on Arsenal in the 5th round of the FA Cup.

Player of the months

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In recent months Marcus Olsson have been truly extraordinary. The Swedish wide man who mainly is a defensive winger have scored 7 goals and have set up several goals with his impeccable crossing ability. Jordan Rhodes has to be mentioned as well with 2 very successful months behind him.

Transfers

Along with January comes the winter transfer window and even though Blackburn already have a seemingly invincible squad you always need to search for players who can strengthen the team. Blackburn have confirmed that 3 new players will join the team.