After 9 months working as Blackburn Rovers assistant manager , John Jenen is to leave the club. In a brief statement on the clubs official website, it's been confirmed that he will leave Steve Kean's staff. They said: "The club would like to thank John for his efforts over the past nine months and wish him all the best for the future." The former Arsenal and Denmark midfielder joined Rovers at the start of the year after Kean took over from Sam Allardyce. He initially came in on a six-month deal. There is no news yet of any replacement. (29th September 2011)

LINKS: bbc.co.uk (full story)

Away record ends at St. James's Park

Perhaps it was too much to hope, that Rovers could make it three wins on the bounce, but history was on their side in the North East. The five previous visits to Newcastle all saw success for Blackburn, but not this time! Instead summer signing Demba Ba scored a hat-trick (his first in English football) and Rovers dropped back into the bottom three.
Ba scored twice in the first half hour (just four minutes apart), but Blackburn had great hopes when 'Junior Hoilett' pulled one back for the visitors ten minutes before the break. At 2-1 the game looked interesting, but less than ten minutes after the interval Ba made it 3-1 scoring a controversial goal that seemed to include fouls on both Scott Dann and Paul Robinson. It stood and that was also the final shoreline. The stats show dominance from the Geordie boys, with 8 attempts on goal compared to just the one for Rovers. The Newcastle manager celebrating a top 4 place in the league and he told reporters "We were magnificent all day". Blackburn Manager Steve Kean was angered by the decision to allow Ba's 3rd goal to stand. "... I think the game hinged on a big refereeing decision. I've looked at it a number of times and I think Scott Dann is fouled by Leon Best when he is going to clear the ball off the line. So that is a tough one because I felt that if we'd been on the right decision for that then we could have got ourselves back in the game ... So we feel that is a massive decision and one that the game hinged on."
To make thinks worse Martin Olsson was sent off for a second bookable offense for an unfair challenge on Leon Best, and will now miss next weeks home tie with Manchester City - now level on points with Manchester United in second place in the league. It won't get any easier! (24th September 2011)

LINKS: bbc.co.uk (full report) ALSO rovers.co.uk (reaction) PLUS goals1112 AND T&T1112

Back to back wins - and into the final 16!

After all the pressure at the weekend for a first Premier League win - the League cup provided Rovers with back to back wins and progress into the final 16 of this years competition. And despite a host of changes from the team who beat Arsenal, the game against bottom of League One side Leyton Orient came close to needing extra time! The Orient keeper was under pressure for much of the first half, pulling off some impressive saves, but when Terrell Forbes brought down Martin Olsson, Jason Roberts converted from the spot to make it 1-0. It seemed to be all Rovers, but the visitors brought things back to all square when David Mooney made it 1-1 after an hour. Ten minutes later Ruben Rochina added to his last Carling cup tie goal tally to make it 2-1, and then Simon Vukcevic claimed his first goal for Rovers five minutes later to make it 3-1 and it looked all over. Lee Butcher made some more fine saves, but the visitors also game Mark Bunn some problems, and with less than five minutes left Dean Cox pulled the score back to a difficult 3-2. After making 8 changes, Steve Kean was delighted to progress in the competition and collect another win at Ewood Park. The draw for the next round is on Saturday, when Rovers also travel to St. George Park to try and keep the winning habit going in the Premier League (20th September 2011)

LINKS: bbc.co.uk (full report) ALSO carling1112 and goal1112

First win and debut double at Ewood - Rovers up to 14th!

LINKS: bbc.co.uk (full report) PLUS bbc.co.uk (reaction) ALSO rovers.co.uk (report) AND goals1112 PLUS t&t1112

Blackburn Rovers collected their first point of the season after 3 league defeats - but suffered injuries to some key players and Junior Hoilett was stretchered off in injury time when he collided with the Fulham keeper as he bravely hoped to head home a winner. After a nervous start from both sides it was Ruben Rochina who broke the deadlock with an excellent goal with just over half an hour on the clock. Junior Hoilett providing the assist. Blackburn looked to have settled into the game and were certainly creating most of the chances - but just 6 minutes later a defensive error let Bobby Zamora get in a shot that beat Paul Robinson to level the scores. 1-1 at the break and a game waiting to be won - but it was the home side who came out the more determined, and continued to test the Blackburn defense. Any idea of tactical substitutions from Steve Kean were ruled out as Martin Olsson replaced Chris Samba, Petrovic came on for David Dunn (who started the afternoon wearing the captains armband.) Ruben Rochina was also subbed with Jason Lowe coming on. David Goodwille seemed to struggle throughout the match and then of course the serious injury to Junior Hoilett. Mark Schwarzer received a yellow card, but fans will be concerned about the seriousness of the injury. Steve Kean told reoporters that the young striker was back on his feet, but had 4 stitches to his head and was likely to miss the Arsenal game. However he believed he'd be fine.
So at last a point on he board - but a win is still needed to take some of the pressure of the Manager who knows that an open letter from fans had asked the owners to consider his position. The early kick off next Saturday brings Arsenal to Ewood - so it won't get any easier. He's at least managed to see more of his new boys getting an outing and Scott Dann certainly impressed at the back. Yakubu had to watch from the bench - will he get a chance next weekend? (11th September 2011)

LINKS: bbc.co.uk (full report) ALSO goals1112 PLUS t&t1112

Rovers bring in two key signings as the window closes (at last)

As the Summer window closes (23:00 BST) Blackburn Rovers Manager Steve Kean will be delighted that he's managed to bring in a quality defender in Scott Dann from Birmingham City, and (CONFIRMED) Yakubu from Everton. Dann will be coming back to the North West, the 24 year old was born on Merseyside, and moved to Birmingham City from Coventry in 2009. He has cost £6 million rising to a possible £8 million - making the player the most expensive of the Venkys era. He told the clubs official website that he's glad to get the deal done, and he's worked with Steve Kean (at Coventry) and he was instrumental in bringing him to Ewood Park. "He's shown what he sees in me and I'm delighted to get the deal done". Yakubu was out on loan at Leicester City last term. The Nigerian International joined Everton in 2007, and at 28 would bring some valuable fire power to Kean's team. Yakubu told Sky Sports news that he'd met up with Steve Kean and described him as a 'great manager' who he was looking forward to playing for. The striker pictured signing autographs for Rovers fans at Ewood Park. The usual deadline day rumours linked the club with a host of potential signings. BBC Sport have also announced that Rovers have added teenage striker Jordan Slew from Sheffield United. The 18-year-old will cost Rovers an initial £1m, and certainly looks like one for the future.(CONFIRMED)

LINKS: skysports.com (Diouf) ALSO wikipedia (Scott Dann) AND Wikipedia (Yakubu) PLUS rovers.co.uk (Dann) ALSO rovers.co.uk (round up)