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Regional daily calls on football boss to go

A North-West regional daily newspaper is today taking the unusual step of calling for the boss of its local football club to quit.

The Lancashire Telegraph is demanding the resignation of Steve Kean as manager of Premiership side Blackburn Rovers.

It issued the call in a front-page editorial published today following what the paper called a “humiliating” home defeat to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

Rovers, the only team outside the triumvirate of Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal to win the Premier League, suffered their 10th defeat of the season after conceding an 89th-minute goal in the 2-1 reversal and are now mired in a relegation struggle.

In a piece headlined “Time To Go Steve,” the newspaper said the defeat was “the last straw.”

It said the club had been on a downward spiral ever since Kean took over following Sam Allardyce’s sacking by owners Venky’s a year ago.

 

The paper said:  “It is understood Kean’s future is already hanging by a thread and that a defeat against bottom club Bolton tomorrow would push him over the edge. So why has the Lancashire Telegraph taken the decision to call for his head today?

“The reasons are simple: If Rovers do manage to pull off a positive result against Bolton, in our view, further procrastination could take place and that would be wrong because we believe the club has passed the point of no return.

“Kean’s record of just seven wins from 37 league games tells its own story and, with managers ultimately judged on results, Venky’s have to take decisive action and change the manager now.

“Large sections of Ewood Park once again called for Kean’s sacking after Peter Odemwingie’s late winner on Saturday and it is impossible to see how he would ever now get the crowd back on his side.”

Read the Telegraph’s editorial in full here.

13 comments

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  • December 20, 2011 at 11:16 am
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    Methinks the Lancashire Telegraph regards itself as more powerful than it really is.
    Is it the role of a sports reporter and an editor to demand that a football manager be made redundant days before Christmas?
    Shame on you.

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  • December 20, 2011 at 3:16 pm
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    It’s such a cliche, sack the manager … where’s the call to sack the players???

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  • December 21, 2011 at 8:25 am
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    I hope the Telegraph are proud of themselves after last night. Their ‘input’ definitely contributed towards the defeat and the awful reactions of the so-called supporters.

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  • December 21, 2011 at 9:38 am
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    Pompous. Arrogant. And I am not talking about the manager or the club.
    Call me old fashioned but I always thought a paper’s job was to report, not comment.
    Readers CAN make up their own minds.
    I cannot believe a local rag is trying to get someone the sack just to suck up to supporters and sell a few papers.
    Times are indeed desperate when the paper sinks to the lowest common denominator so often sued by the Sun Mail etc. Running with the mob.

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  • December 21, 2011 at 9:42 am
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    whoops. meant “used” not “sued”. back to typing school I fear.

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  • December 21, 2011 at 11:08 am
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    OKay, here’s the deal. The editor takes over as manager of the football team and Steve Kean can run the paper.

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  • December 21, 2011 at 12:47 pm
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    Hmm. Strange decision. The acrid smell of burning bridges must be pretty overwhelming from the Telegraph sports desk.

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  • December 21, 2011 at 3:00 pm
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    Humiliating defeat?
    2-1 with an amazing goal in the last minute denying them a point!
    I think the point is Blackburn have rarelly been humiliated this season and with a bit of luck here and there could easily have acquired 5 more points.
    I don’t think I have ever seen a more ill considered and ill judged front page.
    Looks desperate.
    Will achieve nothing.

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  • December 21, 2011 at 3:02 pm
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    And one more thing!
    At the end of the day Steve Kean is doing his best
    The Venkys must bear ALL the responsibility for the current situation

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  • December 21, 2011 at 3:35 pm
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    Leave Kean alone! It’s a fans’ witch-hunt and the LET has jumped on the bandwagon. Why don’t they try and get BEHIND the manager and the team (and I don’t mean to stab them in the back).

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  • December 22, 2011 at 10:49 am
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    Lancashire telegraph circulation down 6.2 per cent and 7.2 per cent in past couple of years. With results like that, time for the editor to go!

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  • December 23, 2011 at 3:32 pm
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    Steve Keen is a good manager and the paper had no right to say them things

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  • January 25, 2012 at 3:19 pm
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    What’s the Telegraph saying about Kean and the Venkys now, I wonder?

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