Following what can only be described as a poor 2011 for Blackburn Rovers fans, I take a look back at the year about to pass, 2012.
Blackburn moved into January lying in 19th position in the Premier League having spent Christmas day in the unwanted position of bottom place, well known as being an almost certain indication of relegation come May. Early form in January wasn't good, starting with defeat to Stoke at home and being dumped out of the FA cup by Newcastle. A win against Fulham and a Draw at Everton followed, with signs that there might be an upturn in fortunes to come. January also marked the transfer window, meaning an opportunity to strengthen. In came Markus Olsson and Bradley Orr along with Anthony Modeste on Loan. Notable out-goings were: Jason Roberts, Ryan Nelson and Keith Andrews. The club finished the month lying in 18th, one point from safety.
If January had shown glimpses of hope, February soon dashed this. Three loses and one win, including a demoralising 7-1 thumping at the hands of Arsenal and the loss of lynchpin defender Samba to Russia for in excess of 11 million, left the club stuck in the bottom three, still 18th, though with only goal-difference keeping them from safety, proving that a couple of extra points would have gone a long way.
March was perhaps (at least in the Premiership), the most fruitful one of 2012 for Rovers and should have been one that went on to define and rescue their season. A draw against Aston Villa, followed up by good wins against fellow strugglers Wolves and Sunderland should have set the tone for a team at one point sitting six points clear of the relegation zone but this was followed up by a disappointing defeat to the hands of Bolton, meaning the club were 17th but only just out of the bottom three on Goals scored.
Moving on into April, many fans held the hope of a "Great Escape" but this month can only be described as an unmitigated disaster with defeat to Bolton at the end of March followed by another four defeats on the bounce. There was a late capitulation to Manchester United, a comprehensive defeat to West Brom, a chance of three points thrown away against the 10 men of Liverpool and another resounding defeat to Swansea with frustrations on the pitch showing. A must win game at home to Norwich gave brief hope when the Rovers mustered up a solid 2-0 win but this was following up with a pretty inept performance at Tottenham where it was widely reported that there were no attempts on target or even off target for Blackburn - pretty poor for a team that had to win to even stand a chance of staying up. The team finished April in 19th position, three points from safety and an inferior goal difference with just two games remaining and the team above them with a game in hand.
A dire season in the Premiership was brought to an end in May, relegation to the Championship for the 2012-13 season was confirmed on a rainy evening against Wigan which will probably best be remembered for the Chicken let loose on the pitch which Yakubu and Ali Al Habsi managed to corner in the Wigan goal with Rovers eventually losing 1-0. A final day loss to Chelsea brought down the curtain on eleven consecutive seasons in the Premiership for Rovers. The team finished 19th out of 20 with 31 points, six points from safety and an inferior goal difference.
June is a quiet month in football, though the intent for Blackburn was to try and bounce back at the first time of asking. June saw one in-coming player Danny Murphy, while significant out-goings were: Yakubu, Hoilett, Salgado and Grella.
July saw some mixed results during the usual pre-season friendly games, a couple of wins and a couple of losses but the club also looked to have signalled some ambition with the signings of Leon Best and Nuno Gomes. In addition, in came relative unknowns Fabio Nunes, Paulo Jorge & Edinho Junior.
The remainder of the club's pre-season games were played out in the early part of August, though the first one was cancelled on safety grounds, a behind closed door training game ended 0-0 and the second one yielded a win. Sadly Rovers lost new signing Leon Best to a serious injury during pre-season and he hasn't been able to play any part during 2012. A good start to the Championship campaign saw Blackburn draw one and win two, leaving Rovers 3rd in the league, though this was marred by a defeat to lower league opposition in the league cup, a competition fans would have had hope of doing reasonably well in. Signings during August included Dickson Etuhu and a club record spend on the extremely promising Jordan Rhodes in addition to Diogo Rosado and Nuno Henrique. Outgoings included Petrovic, Bunn and Nzonzi. In addition there were a couple of Loans in: Kazim Richards and the polish goalkeeper Sandomierski.
Onto September and another reasonable set of results saw a draw and two wins, before an abject performance against Middlesborough at Ewood. A trip to Charlton beckoned and on the eve of that match the manager stepped down citing his position as "untenable". Eric Black took temporary charge and the team came away with a draw seeing Rovers end the month in 4th.
Much of October was spent speculating over who the next manager might be and there certainly didn't seem to be any shortage of names being banded about, with a mix of highly experienced people being mentioned and some who could be described as having potential. Black seemed to steady the ship, tighten the team up and dug out some results with two draws, a loss and two wins leaving the team in 5th place at the end of the month.
With the new manager at the helm, Henning Berg (a former Rovers player who had a glittering playing career) November saw a tough start away to flying Crystal Palace, themselves with a new manager after Bolton had persuaded their old one to take on the challenge at the Reebok. Holloway, now manager at Palace after being linked to Blackburn, won the battle of the new boys as Rovers went down 2-0. This was followed up by some promising performances in a couple of draws and an emphatic win at Peterborough 4-1. Sadly, after that it all seems to have gone downhill with performances spiralling downwards the month ended with two more defeats and Rovers having slipped to 10th in the league. The month also saw, Manchester United youngster Josh King coming in on loan and Bradley Orr going out on loan to Ipswich.
December and another new low for Blackburn, a poor run of results with a draw and three losses, along with a game post-poned due to a waterlogged pitch saw Rovers fall to 17th in the league on goals scored and goal difference.* Berg was sacked along with his assistant, 1st team coach and goalkeeping coach on 27th after what was described as a "run of disappointing results". Fans await with baited breath to see who will be appointed next. The only hope is that it is someone who has significant, successful experience of managing in the English leagues (preferably at least at Championship level) and who is a strong character who can stamp his own authority on affairs at Ewood and steer the team back in the right direction.
* League Position up to date as of 28th December 2012.
2012: Games played (not including friendlies): 42, won 12, drawn 10, lost 20, win rate: 29%.
Summary: a pretty dismal year to be a Blackburn fan, with the right decisions 2013 could be a better year but time will tell.
