Blackburn Rovers are not going down; not this year. They beat Sheffield United on Wednesday evening to confirm their Championship status with one game remaining. They will finish 20th or 21st, most likely, and that being a cause for celebration is damning.
It also continues the perfect Blackburn Rovers loop: seventh, 19th, seventh, 21st, or near enough. This club’s new existence is so monochrome that it can’t even commit fully to a crisis. And when the good seasons do come along, they end with Rovers in the highest league position that means nothing at all, naturally
You get exactly the same impression in real time. Against Coventry City last Friday, a team that has just confirmed their title, Blackburn were never outclassed. There was effort and quality. They took the lead and absolutely deserved it.
The game ended level, Rovers players unsure of whether to even attempt to score or be happy with their lot despite winning only four home games this season. You never sensed that this team was in trouble, yet it had been in trouble for weeks, months, years.
The spectacular irony – not lost on supporters – is that there is a direct correlation between allowing the club’s infrastructure to drift and the panic towards the end of this season. With the Ewood Park pitch in a terrible state, a match against Ipswich Town that Blackburn were leading was abandoned after 81 minutes They drew the rearranged fixture.
An existential question with no pleasant answer: is this really living? Up a bit and down a bit, nothing meaningful ever really lasting and supporters getting gradually more disillusioned all the time. Blackburn exist in a closed loop system
It is tempting to blame owners Venkys for all this; perhaps it’s even appropriate and necessary. Certainly it oversaw a gross decline in its first decade here. But this is also a tale of English football itself. Apathy and atrophy feel like crimes against hope, but then you look at other clubs in worse positions and wonder. Is staying above the lowest bar really a reason for cheer? More pertinently, is it a reason to keep coming back?
The wider question, and it doesn’t just apply to Blackburn, is how you re-energise the club and re-engage the fanbase. Ewood’s capacity is 31,400 and this season’s average home attendance is 14,800. Even that is assisted by an away end that constitutes an entire stand. Coventry supporters filled it. They know plenty about coming back from their nadir.
Employing a manager who wants to stick around would help. Michael O’Neill has made himself very popular, but this is a part-time, short-term gig. John Dahl Tomasson lasted 90 matches but offered to leave months before because of cuts to the playing budget.
John Eustace left for Derby County. Valerien Ismael left due to underperformance but one arm was tied behind his back for most of the tenure. There must be greater cohesion between the component parts that persuades Blackburn managers that it’s worth committing fully to the project and sticking around to see it through.
Part of that is a necessary improvement in recruitment laid bare by this season. It is not true that Venkys hasn’t spent money: around £10m in transfer fees alone this season, more than it recouped in sales. It was primarily data-led and focused on mainland Europe and Scandinavia. Players were signed from Norway, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Scotland and Germany.
Five of those players were reportedly signed for more than a million pounds and only one of them ranks in Blackburn’s top ten league appearance makers by minutes played. Sidney Tavares, six starts; Dion de Nevez, nine starts; Dapo Afolayan, one start. Championship clubs cannot afford to make many of these expensive mistakes.
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Off the field, there may finally be changes. An almost year-long recruitment process is reportedly likely to end in the appointment of a new chief executive soon. Deep frustrations with director of football operations Rudy Gestede remain and the same is true of chief operating officer Suhail Pasha. Many fans would conclude that nothing will really change until they do.
The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that this covers just about everything. This is indeed a huge task. Too much of this club isn’t working properly and hasn’t for too long. In fact, not working properly is basically the identity. They have spent 13 years in the Championship since relegation and never finished in its top six.
Something has to be allowed to build here. It can be done. If it is, they will come back and this can still all be history one day. But Blackburn Rovers cannot be held in suspension like this any more, waiting for something to bend, break or break out.
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