Back in mid-December, Blackburn boss Steve Kean looked a cast-iron certainty to become the second managerial casualty of the Premier League season. Following back-to-back home defeats to West Brom and fellow strugglers Bolton, the seemingly inevitable appeared a matter of days away. An impressive draw at Anfield and an outstanding victory at Old Trafford later however, and supporter pressure began to ease as the Scot led a resurgent Rovers side into the New Year.

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It's difficult to know where to start this week's column. On the face of it, a compelling comeback from two goals down to keep our FA Cup hopes alive, followed by a point and a clean sheet away from home should constitute a reasonably good week. Yet it doesn't feel like that at all. For a start, we've put ourselves in a position now where, effectively, any draw represents two points dropped.

Still warm and cuddly after Sunday but a midweek trip to a freezing Lancashire is not what was wanted, particularly to a Lancashire team who are in the process of turning their season around.

The recent beatings of both Liverpool teams is evidence of Bolton's turnaround. Add in the Cup win over Swansea and we can see tonight's game will be a challenge.

Still warm and cuddly after Sunday but a midweek trip to a freezing Lancashire is not what was wanted, particularly to a Lancashire team who are in the process of turning their season around.

The recent beatings of both Liverpool teams is evidence of Bolton's turnaround. Add in the Cup win over Swansea and we can see tonight's game will be a challenge.

The breaking news from the Daily Mail is that Adrian Mariappa has turned down a move to Wigan Athletic. Adrian Mariappa - has turned down move to Wigan The rumor was that a fee had been agreed between Wigan Athletic and Watford, and that the Lancashire club had outbid Newcastle for the player, and could have been closer to the [.

Graham Westley is beginning to discover that the grass isn't always greener at Deepdale. The papers reported this morning that GW has got off on the wrong foot with the Preston players with text messages at 2am telling players have been dropped and giving motivational messages.

It's fair to say that it hasn't gone down too well in Lancashire.

Newcastle United have apparently shown an interest in Burnley striker Jay Rodriguez, according to local reports in Lancashire. Jay Rodriquez Newcastle may go after him this summer Newcastle are said to have made tentative inquiries about the 22 year-old, who has scored 14 goals in 32 appearances for Burnley this season.

By Gareth McKnight

As Blackburn Rovers languish towards the bottom of the Premier League, manager Steve Kean continues to be backed by the club's Indian owners: The Venkys Group. Despite the current trend in the game of sacking underperforming managers prematurely, fan protests outside Ewood Park and the total inexperience of Scottish coach Steve Kean at this level, Kean still remains on the Lancashire side's bench.

West London giants Chelsea have finally completed the signing of England centre back Gary Cahill from fellow Premier League side Bolton Wanderers after a protracted transfer negotiation with the player over personal terms. Having completed a medical examination at the weekend, Cahill now joins Chelsea's star studded squad as they look to get their title challenge back on track - and at just 26 may be viewed by the club as a long term replacement for fellow England defender John Terry at Stamford Bridge.

Anfield Rd: The magic of the FA Cup

Friday night football at Anfield two weeks running with Oldham Athletic the visitors tomorrow night a week after the Reds beat Newcastle 3-1 in the league. Tomorrow night's match is in the FA Cup and it's certainly seen as a big game for the side from what used to be Lancashire.

Next a terrific guest contribution from Nick Johnson, who you'll remember from his articles in the Fulham Review.

For most Premier League clubs mere survival is the name of the game. While all but a select few know that sooner or later the axe will fall, the risk is generally higher for newly promoted teams.

For the second part of our Non-League Videos Of The Week, we have two matches from the Blue Square Bet Premier Division. At the top of the table, Wrexham are continuing to hold Fleetwood Town at bay and, while Fleetwood had a Lancashire derby match at home against third placed Southport on Boxing Day, Wrexham, who are now owned by their supporters, made the relatively short trip to Shropshire to play another supporter-owned team, AFC Telford United, and over four thousand people turned out at New Bucks Head for the match.

It's back to Anfield for Liverpool as they host Blackburn in the penultimate match of 2011. Home victories have been hard to come by for Kenny Dalglish's squad, with only three wins in their eight matches at Anfield. There's no better opposition for remedying that problem than tomorrow's, though, as they'll face a Rovers side that's winless in eight away fixtures and stapled to the bottom of the Premier League table.

Liverpool Blackburn Preview: Kenny Dalglish faces club he took to Premier League glory as they look to move away from foot of table

The Scot once managed the Lancashire outfit to the title but now, under unsteady ownership and after a recent loss to rivals Bolton, they are real relegation candidates

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-24 09:25:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Liverpool Blackburn Preview: Kenny Dalglish faces club he took to Premier League glory as they look to move away from foot of table

The Scot once managed the Lancashire outfit to the title but now, under unsteady ownership and after a recent loss to rivals Bolton, they are real relegation candidates

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-12-24 09:25:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish admits he is saddened by his former club Blackburn's lowly position in the Premier League.
The Reds host Rovers on Boxing Day, with the Lancashire outfit rooted to the foot of the table and supporters calling for manager Steve Kean to leave the club.
It is in stark contrast from Dalglish's time at Ewood Park, when the Scot managed to win the Premier League in 1995.

1. We were desperately hoping that Steve Kean was going to sit down on the grass during the Stand Up If You Want Kean Out chants. 2. It took seeing how good a hereto hopeless Bolton side to realise precisely how bad Blackburn are at the minute. 3. On a night when the two Lancashire [...]

Blackburn vs Bolton 2011 Highlights 1-2 Goals Video Davies Reo-Coker Yakubu is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Blackburn vs Bolton 2011 Highlights 1-2 Goals Video Davies Reo-Coker Yakubu is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Blackburn v Bolton 2011 ( Blackburn Bolton video below) Final score and result:- Blackburn vs Bolton 1-2 ( Yakubu/ Davies, Reo-Coker) Ewood Park, Lancashire- 20 December, 2011- Tuesday- 20.

The demand to see the back of Steve Kean grew on Tuesday night as Blackburn Rovers lost 2-1 to Bolton at Ewood Park with furious Rovers fans demanding that Kean be sacked Goals by Mark Davies and Nigel Reo-Coker proved decisive as Bolton Wanderers grabbed a priceless 2-1 win over Lancashire rivals Blackburn Rovers at [.

Blackburn vs West Brom 1-2 Highlights Video 2011 Goals Dann Morrison Odemwingie is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Blackburn vs West Brom 1-2 Highlights Video 2011 Goals Dann Morrison Odemwingie is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Blackburn vs West Brom 2011 ( Blackburn vs WBA 2011 video below) Final score and result:- Blackburn vs West Brom 1-2 ( Dann/ Morrison, Odemwingie) Ewood Park, Lancashire- 15 December, 2011- 15.

Why does Steve Kean get so much grief when rock bottom Owen Coyle gets away with murder?

Throw a stone anywhere in the areas of Greater Manchester and Lancashire and chances are you'll break a window at a professional football club. The North West is the undisputed home of the domestic game, with 12 teams spread over the four professional leagues.

Preston chairman has wasted no time in stamping his authority in club, sacking the club's manager Phil Brown barely a week in the job.
Brown took over the Lancashire club last January and was immediately plunged into a relegation battle.
Those who bet on the Championship certainly fancied Brown's men to lose their fight against the drop, which they duly did, given the desperate nature of the situation it did not reflect poorly on Brown.

Scheming for support and ticket sales is one of sport's greatest traditions. Most of them take a more traditional route, such as standard marketing. None of those methods likely involve bringing Akon to Blackburn.

But give those chicken men some credit, because they tried to try. And clearly failed.

Norwich and Republic of Ireland U21 winger Anthony Pilkington has been linked with a shock move to Liverpool.
According to reports, Kenny Dalglish is monitoring him closely following some impressive displays for newly promoted Norwich this season thus far. The 23 year old has been tipped with being an outside inclusion for Giovanni Trappatoni's Euro 2012 squad despite not having played for Ireland.

Blackburn vs Chelsea 0-1 Highlights Lampard Goal Video 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Blackburn vs Chelsea 0-1 Highlights Lampard Goal Video 2011 is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Blackburn vs Chelsea 2011 ( Blackburn Rovers v Chelsea 2011) Final score and result:- Blackburn vs Chelsea 0-1 ( Frank Lampard) Ewood Park, Lancashire- 5 November, 2011- 15.

You'd never have thought their would be any links between struggling EPL side Wigan and the great Dutch midfielder Johan Cruyff but there is, Johan's Grandson Jessua Angoy plays with their reserves team and scored a screamer in his teams 1-0 win against Preston in the Lancashire FA Cup. Can't see him in a Dutch Shirt however despite his tender age of 18.

It's raining defeats in Lancashire

Linked by geography, separated by success: so read a Manchester United banner mocking their City neighbours early last season. It may have been folded up but the message applies elsewhere on United's doorstep.

View the full story here: The Mail

A news article on 2011-11-04 00:15:52 from: The Mail

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

By Chris Wright

In which Jessua Angoy, who just so happens to be the 18-year old grandson of Johan Cruyff that was cut adrift from the Barcelona youth ranks last summer, scores an absolute peach (and the only goal of the game) for Wigan reserves against Preston in the Lancashire FA Cup on what appears to be the park outside my house.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has won the Norwegian league title in his first year of management at the club he used to play for. Molde FK are a 100 year old Norwegian club that most of you probably hadn't heard of until they sold us a 23-year-old Solskjaer in 1996. He had scored 31 goals in 38 games and had attracted interest from a few clubs across Europe.

A mid-season tour of India was supposed to provide SteveKean with a bit of relief from the storm brewing among the terraces at EwoodPark.
Instead it has merely fuelled the fires, with a ‘Kean out'banner somehow making the journey to Asia with him and unfurled during afriendly and a third supporter protest planned upon his return.

John Carver was in charge of the Newcastle Reserves side last night in Lancashire, as a strong second string Newcastle side easily beat Bolton 3-0. Alan Pardew - great credit to this man but can it last? And as we reported earlier today Newcastle fielded a very strong side, and they ended up very easy winners on the night.

I've never been a great fan of Boardroom directors and owners at soccer clubs that pretend to know the game and how to run a football club, and probably more so since the advent of the "Super Owners" who bring colossal amounts of money into a club to radically transform the playing staff almost overnight, so it is with a certain level of enjoyment that I'm watching developments at Ewood Park, Blackburn, as the club struggles to get themselves off the bottom of the English Premier League.

Molde FK are a 100 year old Norwegian club that most of you probably hadn't heard of until they sold us a 23-year-old striker in 1996. He had scored 31 goals in 38 games and had attracted interest from a few clubs across Europe. Åge Hareide was the manager at the time and offered the Norwegian striker to his former club, Manchester City, we well as Everton, for £1.

Molde FK are a 100 year old Norwegian club that most of you probably hadn't heard of until they sold us a 23-year-old striker in 1996. He had scored 31 goals in 38 games and had attracted interest from a few clubs across Europe. Åge Hareide was the manager at the time and offered the Norwegian striker to his former club, Manchester City, we well as Everton, for £1.

For the second time this season, the heavens opened on a Saturday lunchtime for Arsenal in more senses than one today, and this time around they contrived to be more defensively profligate than on the previous occasion, last month against Liverpool. For all the hysteria in the immediate aftermath of that match, it was plausible to chalk down that loss as having had a element of the freak about it.

[Trying something new here with this piece below, not sure it works. Let us know.]

John, headed that-a-way... (you may have to adjust your computer for the pointing to work)

FC Dallas prized centerback George John will soon be playing (red) Rover in Lancashire under the ownership of Blackburn FC of the English Premier League.

The third in our series of moves that will benefit the England national team is Phil Jones' move to league-champions Manchester United for £16 million... Centre half Phil Jones burst onto the scene with Blackburn Rovers in the past two seasons, with many commanding performances. Making his debut in 2009, the Lancashire born centre-half made [.

Liverpool has joined Swansea and Fulham in the race to sign Mariano Pavone with the striker's move to Blackburn on the verge of collapsing, SkySports has reported.
The Argentine has already agreed a three-year contract with Rovers but the Lancashire club are currently struggling to finalize the deal.

Newcastle United's Nile Ranger is allegedly set to complete a transfer to Blackpool today. Although I can not yet find any official confirmation of any deal, the news comes from Click Lancashire who, as far as I can gather, aren't usually in the business of rumour-mongering like some of the national press.