Rovers put Gary Bowyer in charge for the important final game of 2012 at Oakwell, and his team delivered! Just days after parting company with Henning Berg, the reserve team coach took over for the trip to Barnsley, and was rewarded with a decisive 3-1 win against the Tykes. As a result, former Rover Keith Hill lost his job as Barnsley manager in another crazy day in the Championship. Bowyer selected a side who looked united and 'up for it' and they were 1-0 up within the first half hour. Josh King scoring his second Blackburn goal assisted by Jordan Rhodes. Just before the break Ruben Rochina - who'd looked dangerous throughout - made it 2-0 when he scored a cracking goal at the near post - all his own work! So far so good, and perhaps a clean sheet? Sadly not, when Stephen Dawson grabbed one back for the home side just 15 minutes from time. Suddenly things looked less certain. Having made their 3 subs, Barnsley had to finish the game with ten men after Marcus Tudgay went off on a stretcher. Nine minutes of injury time was added, and with just one left Jordan Rhodes scored his 12th of the season for Rovers to guarantee all the points and a happy late Christmas present for the stand in boss and all Blackburn fans.
Post match he told the clubs official website: "It is brilliant for the lads to get the three points, I can't praise them enough. They were magnificent yesterday in training and they've done the same again this afternoon. The level of the performance from everybody was first class. From the way we defended, through to the pace that we showed in the goals that we scored. I'm truly proud of the way we have gone about it, they really worked hard, I know it is a cliche but I can't praise them enough. The players spoke yesterday of how they wanted to do it for the club and for the fans, they've ended the year on a high by coming here and winning three points, now they have to try and reproduce that on New Years Day."
The win lifted Rovers up to 15th place with 32 points, 8 away from the playoffs with a game in hand. The New Year starts at Ewood with Nottingham Forest as the visitors. They had a 2-2 draw today under their new manager Alex McLeish at home to Crystal Palace. (29th December 2012)

After less than 60 days in charge at Ewood park - Rovers former player turned manager has been sacked today after a very poor run of results. Part of the title winning team in the 90's and then back again for more success as the club won the League Cup - his third time in Blackburn was not a success. Following yesterdays defeat at Middlesbrough, the club issues a brief statement on their website this morning saying: "Blackburn Rovers FC has announced the departure of manager Henning Berg, assistant manager Eric Black, first team coach Iain Brunskill and goalkeeping coach Bobby Mimms with immediate effect. This decision has been taken following a very disappointing sequence of results.The club thanks the four men for their efforts and wishes them every success for the future."
It's not know yet who will take charge on Saturday for the trip to Barnsley. Twitter has been full of speculation, with many fans hoping for the return of Mark Hughes as the next boss. Whoever takes charge will have little time to put thing right if the owners wishes for an immediate return to the Premier League is to be achieved. The new boss will also need a new backroom staff - but it loooks like Colin Hendry may have been retained for now in the big shake up. (27th December 2012)

UPDATE:
Henning Berg has issued the following statement via the League Managers Association:"It goes without saying that I am bitterly disappointed to have been relieved of my managerial duties at Ewood Park after just 57 days since my appointment. At this stage I would just like to release a short statement thanking  the Blackburn Rovers fans for their incredible support during my time in charge. I have always enjoyed a fantastic relationship with them dating back to my playing days where we shared some great memories. It was an honour for me to manage a club that is so close to my heart and I now wish all of them every success for the rest of the season and beyond. I would also like to thank the players and staff for their support and commitment in this short period. They have all done their best and unfortunately the results in these ten games have not reflected their performances. I wish the club all the best in the future, and are sure that with a few additions in the January Transfer Window, they will have a good chance of getting a play-off place." (27th December 2012)

No Chritsmas Cheer - and still only one win for Berg

After the disappointment of the rained off game at Ewood - Rovers traveled to the North East with hope for a Boxing Day present. But despite what looked like a change in system - the result was still the same - no points and another defeat for Henning Berg's men. A much better first half started well when Kazim Richards hit the woodwork in the opening minutes. The half ended with more of the upright rather than the net - but no goals. Sadly for the traveling fans and those listening at home, the second half was not as good, and just after the hour mark Lucas Jutkiewicz managed to make it 3 goals against Rovers this season. He scored both on Boro's visit to Ewood in September. Jake Kean was again the choice as keeper - Paul Robinson not on the bench. Blackburn created few more chances and travel to Barnsley on Saturday with just the win at Peterborough in November to celebrate since the Manager took over. Blackburn are now 17th, and stuck on 29 points, since they picked up a draw at Turf Moore back at the start of December. Berg must be worried by the results, and with the January transfer window about to open has the possible option to strengthen his squad. (26th December 2012)

Game called off - watterlogged pitch

Blackburn Rovers Manager Henning Berg was left frustrated and disappointed by the decision to call off today's game at Ewood Park. A pitch inspection by referee Bob Madley at 12:15 resulted in the pitch being deemed unplayable - and for safety and football reasons, the match was postponed. The Ground staff had already spent time trying to get the water to drain away - but days of rain - and the forecast of more to come convinced the Ref that the match could not go ahead. He told RADIO ROVERS that he'd also called the met office on his way over from Yorkshire, and been assured that a further band of heavy rain was expected during the afternoon. Henning told the clubs station that he'd wished a decision could have been left 'till later as he felt it might have then be playable. With no match to play - Berg took his squad back to Brockhall to get in some extra training ahead of the Boxing Day fixture at Middlesbrough. WIth all the other Championship games being played - Rovers dropped to 17th - with a game in hand. The next home game will be on New Years Day, when Nottingham Forest are the first game of 2013. (22nd December 2012)

Rovers only managed to collect 1 point from their three Lancashire derby's - with defeat at home to Bolton a draw at Burnley and today a 2-0 loss at Bloomfield Road. An average first half saw Wes Thomas score the opener with a header for Blackpoo, giving them the lead after 22 minutes. Improvements were needed from Bergs men - but the second half was described by commentators as 'lack luster' and the hoped for improvement after the disappointment at home to Cardiff was nowhere to be seen. Kirk Broadfoot gave the new Blackpool Manager his first win (since September) when he made it 2-0 with ten minutes left to play. The surprise for many fans was the change between the sticks with Jake Kean preferred as keeper. Paul Robinson waved to the away supporters at the end of the game - could that have been a goodbye? Jordan Rhodes had almost no time on the ball and Rovers failed to create many chances - just 3 shots on target. Henning Berg has a problem that needs immediate attention - with just one win since he took over at Ewood - and a gap opening up above Blackburn's 15th place to the play off's and the clubs declared intent of an immediate return to the Premier League.
Berg told BBC SPORT: "We were desperate to win and play well and I think we showed that in the opening half. I don't know how much the players heard of what was being shouted at them by the fans but I don't think too much about my own position. All our players tried their best but when you are lacking in confidence you become indecisive. I am focussed on doing the best I can to improve the team but if our early chances had gone in it could have been a different game." Brighton come to Ewood next Saturday - for a MUST win game for Rovers. (15th December 2012)

Bad night for Blackburn and Berg

Young loan signing Joshua King claimed his first Blackburn goal - but that was the only highlight on a dismal day at Ewood Park. A poor first half ended with Rovers trailing to a first half goal scored by Mark Hudson in the 30th minute. Things had to improve, and with Colin Kazim-Richard replacing Markus Olsson they did. Josh King brought things level, but only for five minutes before former Rover Craig Bellamy made it 1-2. He'd already hit the cross bar in the first half. Blackburn should have had another but Formica missed from close range. The last ten minutes saw the visitors rub salt in an open wound with subs Joe Mason and then Kim Bo-Kyung claiming Cardiff's 3rd and 4th goals. There were few Rovers fans left by the final whistle, as the 600 in the Welsh party celebrated taking a 4 point lead at the top of the Championship. Henning Berg told RADIO ROVERS 'we have to do better' - "This is a results business and we are not getting the results at the moment. We are disappointed with that, I'm not here to sugar coat anything, we didn't defend as well as we should have done on all four occasions. It is not like it was fantastic play by Cardiff, they were strong, they were solid and they did what they needed to do and their finishing was better than ours. It doesn't matter if you have more shots on target, the most important thing is to score goals. Maybe it is a lack of confidence with the two losses against Millwall and Bolton. I had hoped that the draw at Burnley would help but today we were not as sharp, not as good on the ball as we would like to. We just have to make sure that in the next game that we have the quality and the courage to play and to pass the ball as we are capable of as we didn't do that today."
On the night Blackburn stayed in 9th place - but after Saturday afternoons fixtures dropped to 13th. Pressure mounts on the new Blackburn Boss - with automatic promotion now looking a long way off. (8th December 2012)

Jordan Rhodes join the illustrious list of Rovers who've scored at Turf Moore, but his 67th minute goal wasn't enough to secure all the points as Blackburn failed to hold on to the bitter end, and Sam Vokes claimed an equaliser for the Clarets with less that 2 minutes left to play. The home side dominated the first half, and Paul Robinson had to pull off some world class saves to keep his team in hte contest. But a much improved Rovers dominated much of the second half, and the result was probably fair to both sides. Rovers remain unbeateb in this derby of ALL derby games - and to concead so late must have been a disapointment for Henning Berg. Former Rover, now Radio pundi Kevin Gallagher told BBC Radio Lancashire "Burnley were better in first half but, in the second half, a piece of striking genius from Jordan Rhodes put Blackburn in front before the home side equalised. There's not a lot of positives for Rovers manager Henning Berg to take out of that but there are more for Burnley boss Sean Dyche." ( 1st December 2012)