Blackburn has got it right

JAN 1 — The short and busy Christmas league schedule has just finished and it looks like a few managers who only recently took on the top job in their club may be under some pressure to look into the transfer market in January.

Tony Adams (Portsmouth), Joe Kinnear (Newcastle United) and Harry Redknapp (Tottenham Hotspur) must all be feeling a bit more heat from their respective fans after gaining zero or just one out of the six points up for grabs.

With top-flight survival so essential, considering all the riches that come with it, all of these managers will have to deliver the goods to get their sides well clear of the relegation zone in the second half of the season. But they knew what they were getting into the moment the signed on the dotted line.

Years of reputation and also potential years (in the case of Adams) is at stake and I wish them well, for it would be sad to see a Premiership without the likes of Newcastle and Spurs, both of which have so much tradition linking them to the top flight of football in England.

One club which recently got back on a good footing after a disastrous run of six consecutive defeats is Blackburn Rovers. They are not out of the relegation zone, but will surely count on new manager Sam Allardyce turning the club’s fortunes around.

Rovers had reluctantly sacked Paul Ince after just six months in charge. Anyway, that’s the official word. But I am sure the writing was on the wall weeks, if not months, ago.

Ince could claim he was not given a fair chance to continue the good work done by his predecessor Mark Hughes but let’s face it, the Guvnor (as he used to be called since his Manchester United days) never got Ewood Park going.

Having said that, Blackburn’s slump this season is not entirely his fault. He had a raw deal to begin with, losing some of the best players from Hughes’ reign, even before the season started in August.

David Bentley left for Tottenham Hotspur in the mistaken belief he was joining a club poised to challenge for a top four place, while Brad Friedel actually went to a club who could pull off that feat, that is, Aston Villa.

Ince also lost the influential David Dunn and ball-winner Steven Reid to injury. Take out all these players and I think even Hughes wouldn’t have got Blackburn’s season going! Ultimately, however, it is the board of directors who need to take the blame for introducing Ince — incidentally he was the first black manager of a top flight club in England — to a side which had been chugging along ably in the Premiership for many years.

Getting back to Allardyce, it is obvious that his appointment is meant to boost the image of the Blackburn Rovers board, as he brings with him the credentials to set the club on the right path again. He brings experience that Ince never had.

It also appears that Blackburn had to move in fast to get their man as managerless Sunderland were looking at the former Bolton supremo too as a replacement for Roy Keane.

Allardyce is not short of detractors, having failed at Newcastle United. He always claimed that he had ambition to take on a big club which was financially-strong and with a strong fan base. He got that wish in May 2007. But after a string of bad results, he was sacked in early January 2008.

So maybe he is not cut out for the “big boys” of the Premiership one could say. It doesn’t mean he is a bad manager. Some people just don’t do well with the added pressure.

Blackburn is more his cup of tea. He needs Blackburn as much as Blackburn needs the Bolton version of Allardyce. Like Hughes, he is someone who could get more out of average players. After all, he proved it time and again, making Bolton a bogey team for a Big 4 team like Arsenal. The Gunners had more talent on the bench a few seasons ago than Bolton had on the pitch. But somehow Big Sam’s magic worked to prevent Arsenal from registering easy victories, let alone any victory for the most part.

Based on the first three games in charge, it looks like the board’s faith in him has paid off. Winning his first match 3-0 against fellow strugglers Stoke City, Allardyce has also since picked up a point each in his next two matches during the tight Christmas season. Not losing is certainly a good way to end the year with.

Big Sam also has a knack for making some good bargain basement buys of former stars from the continent and I would put my money on him doing just that during the January transfer window. With the right mix of players and tactics, I can see Blackburn pulling away from the relegation zone to get to a respectable mid-table position by the end of the season.