, Bowyer isn’t the main problem

Bowyer isn’t the main problem

Whilst Gary Bowyer isn’t the main problem at Ewood Park, replacing him is the first step on a long road to solving it.

Apathy. This is ironically the ‘buzz’ word around Ewood at the moment. It is the reason why yesterday hurt – and it did – but not as much as it should have done.

It is the reason why we only had 15,000 home supporters yesterday – admittedly the price structure didn’t help – but before the fans from up the M65 get on their high horse they might want to note the average attendance for their whole stadium is only 800 more than that.

It is the reason why the supporters aren’t vociferously demanding a change in manager, everyone is in agreement. He is a nice guy, he cares about the club, he has done a decent job (a good one initially) but he is not the man to take us forward. Offer the fans a poll, should Bowyer stay? It will be an emphatic, no. So why aren’t they shouting that from the rooftops?

Rovers fans have seen a track record of managerial appointments under Venkys of Kean, Appleton, Berg and Bowyer. They have seen Kean overstay his welcome by far too long and it took himself to remove him. They quite rightly wonder two things – Who would Venkys choose to appoint? Under normal circumstances the likes of Gary Rowett, Nigel Pearson and Tim Sherwood would be first choice, under Venkys it could be Tony Grant (first team coach).

The second concern is that if they demanded Bowyer went, would anyone listen? The owners have done and continue to do their own thing, on their own terms.

Whilst it did sting yesterday the fall under Venkys meant it wasn’t a great surprise. We have gone from lauding it over that lot to going into each derby being happy to settle for a draw. Both Berg and Appleton somehow avoided defeat in their attempt a piece but Bowyer has now presided over two in two. The irony is we haven’t played as well against them as we did yesterday since the days of Souness.

The game itself summed Bowyers whole reign up, the players cared and worked hard, we played some decent stuff but it wasn’t enough. When they scored it was apparent we needed to change it, it took over 10 minutes for Bowyer, McPhillips, Grant and Short to come to that conclusion, the solution – Chris Taylor.

The problem runs deeper than Bowyer, it is impossible for this sense of apathy to run this deep under just one man. The feeling from supporters, that they have no say in what happens at their club, has gone from anger to helplessness.

Yes Venkys have tried to improve and learn, the fact they have made massive strides by simply not being involved in the club, not making public appearances and keeping quiet tells it’s own story.

Yes FFP is doing the opposite of what it was supposed to do. The club is not self sufficient so needs the financial backing of the owners, which is not allowed – ludicrous!

However, replacing Bowyer with a proven manager to excite the fans would be the first step to recovery and is necessary change before the club falls even further.

Venkys must act and show how much they have listened and learned, whether they will or not is anyone’s guess.

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