A BLACK DAY FOR ROVERS
22 years after becoming Premier League champs, Blackburn drop to third tier of English football
BLACKBURN ROVERS became the first Premier League winners to be relegated to League One, despite a defiant 3-1 win at Brentford.
Tony Mowbray took over in February and picked up 22 points from 15 games – including going unbeaten in the last five, but the 1995 champions still went down on goal difference on a tense final day of the Championship. They will play in the third tier for the first time since 1980.
“We have to take it on the chin,” said Mowbray (right). “It’s disappointing for the club, for the supporters. You can see how passionate they are.”
Former Rovers striker Alan Shearer tweeted: “Devastated for @rovers and for the fans. The owners deserve it.”
SO after trying to sign fantasy footballers Ronaldinho and David Beckham in their first season in charge, the stark reality of Venky’s disastrous Blackburn reign hit home yesterday.
When the Indian owners took charge in November 2010, Rovers had Sam Allardyce as boss of a mid-table Premier
League club. After seven seasons of controversy, costcutting and incompetence, the club built by Jack Walker yesterday became the first Premier League champions to be relegated to League One – and risk losing another manager.
Tony Mowbray, the 10th of the regime, has picked up five wins and 22 points from his 15 games in charge.
But the damage was done before his arrival in February. The 1995 Premier League champions dropped out of the top flight in 2012 and the last two seasons in the Championship has seen their best players – Jordan Rhodes, Rudy Gestede, Grant Hanley, Shane Duffy – sold and only £250,000 invested.
Mowbray, who signed an 18month deal, plans to go to India to meet the owners for the first time and seek assurances he will have the backing to get straight back up. He said: “The facts are quite damning.
“You can’t keep selling your best players and expect to progress. It’s just common sense. I’ve spoken to one of the owners on two occasions. Long distance phone calls from India are not like what we’re having now.
“My first conversations with the owners would be that we need to keep our players and not try to sell them off.
“It depends on the ambition. That’s why managers sit down with owners and executives of football clubs about where we want to go. I’ll have talks in the next week or two with the people who matter at this club.
“Whether the journey for me continues or not, let’s see. If it does, I can only see it being really strong if we can keep the right players.
“I can only recommend and tell them what I’d like to happen. The decisions are made over the coach’s head.”
The great escape was on when Rovers went two up after 16 minutes through a Charlie Mulgrew free-kick and Danny Guthrie’s deflected shot. Lasse Vibe replied for Brentford after the break but