Saturday 25th August 2012, The Championship
Ewood Park, Blackburn – Ground 75
Blackburn Rovers 2 Leicester City 1
Some away trips can be attractive to visit, some away trips can be best avoided and some away trips can just be plain average. Blackburn Rovers’ Ewood Park can be categorised as the latter; situated in a town lacking culture; a product of the Industrial Revoltion. The football club much – like most local industry – is in decline. Except Rovers are run by the most baffling, dysfunctional set of foreign owners, the Venky Group. Now an established laughing stock to the average English football fan, the combination of idiotic board statements and a David Brent-esque football manager has meant a drop in crowds and a poisonous match day atmosphere.
Laughter aside, if you consider Blackburn Rovers’ history as a founding league member – the first existing club to wind the FA Cup and also a rare unattractive Premier League winner in the 1990s – it is a shame to see the club abused in a manner. This suggests that the owners are unsure of how to run a competent business, let alone the complexities of a football club. I anticipated that it would be interesting to see how this would effect the surroundings and local fans.
Whenever I have visited Manchester or anywhere nearby, it has rained, this August Bank Holiday trip was no exception. When I hit the M60, it began to rain and when leaving the area, it stopped. The North-West upon my appearance adopts a micro-climate of clouds and rain, of which my girlfriend has assured me is completely normal, due to her family originating from Blackpool. Ewood Park is located between Darwen and Blackburn, yet is still largely sounded by residential developments. Therefore, it still carries the traditional feel of a football ground as Ewood Park is substantially bigger than the nearby terraced houses. There was however, a lack of buzz. Two seasons ago, I visited Turf Moor as newly relegated Burnley targetted an immediate return, and after walking around the town, you felt that the Burnley fans were behind their club in their bid. In stark constrast, the feeling in Blackburn was that rather than relish the challenge, they were ready to endure the struggle.
We hunted for food after parking at an industrial unit and found a chip shop after an attempted to walk towards Blackburn’s town centre was aborted. Situated next to the Ewood Park working mens club, the northern delight of pie, chips and gravy was a welcome addition to the pits of my stomach. A highly recommended eaterie which I will put in the same category as the infamous Spotland Chippie in Rochdale. The lack of enthusiasm was showcased in the chip shop, comments such as ‘I didn’t realise there was a game on Wednesday’ was a perfect example of the apathy that has set in. This was however to become far more venomous inside the ground.
Ewood Park is a well proportioned medium sized stadium. It is also modern and this is mainly due to Jack Walker (famous Blackburn chairman of the 1990s) who set about to create a stadium fit for league champions. Three sides are of virtual similarlity but are neither boring or overly impressive. Smart is the best description. It is only the Riverside Stand which is representative of a converted terrace which was roofed post-Taylor Report with pillars galore. It is also a good distance away from the pitch and if you ever see the stadium on the telly, it’s this stand to which the cameras face where you can see for yourself the fans exiting just before half-time and full-time. It was the most occupied stand of the stadium and I suspect it’s the cheapest area.
Within Blackburn Rovers’ starting eleven were a number of random Portuguese players. Whilst Nuno Gomes is recognisable, the rest of the players I’d never heard of and their quality during the game failed to impress. After a little post-match research, this was found to be the most sinister side of the Venky reign at Ewood Park. Steve Kean’s agent is Jerome Anderson. Anderson’s son Myles was signed by Blackburn Rovers shortly after Venky took over. Anderson is one of the biggest football agents in the World; a ‘super-agent’ similar to Pini Zahavi. He also possesses a number of Portuguese clients who unsurprisingly have also joined Rovers. Alex Ferguson once pinpointed that Anderson’s involvement at the club indirectly cost Sam Allardyce his job. However no legal action has taken place.
Media sources have been quick alongside the supporters of other clubs, and have quite happily criticised Blackburn fans for directing their anger towards the board and manager whilst the team played. The constant argument was that the fans should support the team whilst they are on the pitch as the negativity would affect their performance. However, if you want to show the owners to be fools and create the most impact, it is the most appropriate stage. If performed post-match, outside of the ground and away from the cameras, no-one would take notice. I sympathise with them, they want change yet everyone seems benevolent to it all. Leicester fans were quite happy upon the announcement of a 13,000 crowd to point out that this was poor support, yet this is the best form of protest, a financial hit is what really hurts football clubs in the current environment. It may seem harsh that Kean takes the brunt force of the criticism, but he is the only public figure of the Venky regime.
Kean did appear to have a lucky streak (which ended a month or so after writing this blog); the Saturday previous to this game, Blackburn were lucky to gain a point at Ipswich and his luck continued against the Foxes. Leicester – much like their midweek fixture at Charlton – missed a succession of chances, the best of them being an excellent save by Paul Robinson from a point-blank David Nugent header. The chants against Kean were loud and clear until Blackburn scored; Jason Lowe cutting back to Nuno Gomes on the edge of the box who finished well.
Despite the scoreline I was upbeat about a performance which suggested that a come-back was achievable. The midfield of Danny Murphy and Dickson Etuhu – which I predicted to many would see Rovers reach the top six with – were poor as Andy King and Danny Drinkwater won the central midfield battle. The fickleness of football was proven as a neighbouring Leicester fan was spitting feathers at half-time, but once Leicester had their equaliser he was raving at every successful pass. Jamie Vardy scored his first league goal as Scott Dann misjudged the bounce of the ball on a rain-slick pitch; I was delighted for him, I like nothing more than a player making a step up from divisions below and proving successful (typically – it was never to end this way, it was his performance of the season!).
The Kean chants commenced again in a further example of footballing fickleness. This is where I can’t argue for the Blackburn fans; Kean is a villain whether he gets three, one, or zero points. To turn a blind eye because the team leads is poor principle. Vardy scored again for City, albeit offside and it looked controversial at the time. A brilliant flick-on header looped over Robinson but the offside flag was raised. The fickleness flipped back the other way; a charged down shot fell into Morten Gamst Pedersen’s path, he superbly curved the ball into the bottom corner and Blackburn regained the lead. Rovers might not play like a top division team but they still have top division quality players after being relegated. The chants of Kean out subsided whilst my neighbour returned to form in his criticism.
Pedersen’s finish – to use a cliche – was the difference. As Leicester didn’t have a player capable of a neat finish, Blackburn did. It was a familiar feeling of being gutted on the way back home as another traffic-jam delayed us. I can think of better away days; rain, a loss, terrible traffic but I am not the fickle type, there will be better days and Blackburn fans, it would be worth taking note of that. 
3 p.m. on a Saturday 