Steve Kean to remain Blackburn Manager!

Great News for Charlton fans!

I fancy Blackburn to do well next season. The bookies however do not fancy them at all

Really depends who they keep and buy. The Yak has gone, Samba and Nelsen left in Jan, Hoilett sure to go and if they lose Robinson and Dann then there needs to be serious investment imho for them to be challenging.

Feel sorry for their fans, not their fault they have joke owners.

Good news indeed

Personally think all the talk of how Kean has handled the situation with dignity is bull, if he had any dignity he would surely cut his losses and try to rebuild his previously respected coaching reputation elsewhere. The fact is, he has failed badly at Blackburn, anywhere else he would have been sacked and there is very little chance he will be able to change the fans minds and salavage the situation.

Also as mentioned above, his family must have gone through a pretty bad time in the last 18months which is not likely to improve.

Ludicrous destruction of an establish prem club by a very strange bunch of owners...

Or a return to a league position which is more commensurate with the supporter base of a club of its size and in a similar geographical location

Blackburn (& Darwen) 108,000 or (140,000)
Preston 132,000
Bury (metropolitan borough) 180,000
Blackpool 140,000
Rochdale (metropolitan borough) 206,500
Oldham (metropolitan borough) 217,000

Compare with Charlton's metropolitan population for example

Greenwich - 214,000
Bexley - 218,000

Let alone Bromley, and parts of Kent

(2001 figures)

My point is that Blackburn Rovers, despite its long history does not have a large enough base of potential fans to secure its position in the top flight and has only done so as @CoveredEnd says, due to the wealth of Jack Walker and his legacy which kept it in the Premier League much longer than you would otherwise expect.

Ludicrous destruction of an establish prem club by a very strange bunch of owners...

Or a return to a league position which is more commensurate with the supporter base of a club of its size and in a similar geographical location

Blackburn (& Darwen) 108,000 or (140,000)
Preston 132,000
Bury (metropolitan borough) 180,000
Blackpool 140,000
Rochdale (metropolitan borough) 206,500
Oldham (metropolitan borough) 217,000

Compare with Charlton's metropolitan population for example

Greenwich - 214,000
Bexley - 218,000

Let alone Bromley, and parts of Kent

(2001 figures)

My point is that Blackburn Rovers, despite its long history does not have a large enough base of potential fans to secure its position in the top flight and has only done so as @CoveredEnd says, due to the wealth of Jack Walker and his legacy which kept it in the Premier League much longer than you would otherwise expect.

Are you really comparing apples with apples there though ? You've given Charlton the combined populations of the boroughs of Bexley and Greenwich yet only accorded Blackburn thenpopulation of the town of that name, there are probably other outlying towns where Blackburn are the "local" te. I would say though that we stayed in Blackpool for the Preston game and got the train from Balckpool to Preston, a tiny local rail line, and on that one stretch of track there was something like five professional teams, it's incredible the amount of clubs for a relatively small population up in that part of the country.

Oh, and Blackburn are screwed with their current ownership structure.

Ludicrous destruction of an establish prem club by a very strange bunch of owners...

Or a return to a league position which is more commensurate with the supporter base of a club of its size and in a similar geographical location

Blackburn (& Darwen) 108,000 or (140,000)
Preston 132,000
Bury (metropolitan borough) 180,000
Blackpool 140,000
Rochdale (metropolitan borough) 206,500
Oldham (metropolitan borough) 217,000

Compare with Charlton's metropolitan population for example

Greenwich - 214,000
Bexley - 218,000

Let alone Bromley, and parts of Kent

(2001 figures)

My point is that Blackburn Rovers, despite its long history does not have a large enough base of potential fans to secure its position in the top flight and has only done so as @CoveredEnd says, due to the wealth of Jack Walker and his legacy which kept it in the Premier League much longer than you would otherwise expect.

Are you really comparing apples with apples there though ? You've given Charlton the combined populations of the boroughs of Bexley and Greenwich yet only accorded Blackburn thenpopulation of the town of that name, there are probably other outlying towns where Blackburn are the "local" team.

I think you answered your own question but actually I didn't do that because you can see, I included Darwen which is part of the urban area which includes Blackburn.

I included a bit of greater London just to compare the respective numbers chimney pots and to show how Charlton is/should be a much bigger potential player than Blackburn. I realise that is a little simplistic, especially in the modern era but we are the largest professional club close to a much larger population than any of the other teams I mentioned.

The substantive point is that Blackburn is a relatively small city, even if you include the surrounding areas (which I did). There are as you say, a large number of pro teams in that area where the towns they represent are quite small and close together. The reason for this goes back to the origins of association football.

He is there until those pesky Scottish gangsters who really own and run the club say so!!!!

Apart from losing all the better players, Yak, Robinson, toilet etc, I can see a struggle for them replacing them. If i was a player i wouldn't want to go anywhere near a club with so much uncertaincy.