Blackburn Rovers Pile The Pressure On Steve Kean

Blackburn Rovers have very openly set manager Steve Kean an ultimatum ahead of the upcoming season: lose three consecutive games and you are out. The club's owners, Venky's Limited, are determined to avoid the controversy surrounding the torrid 2011/12 campaign, which was plagued by supporter protests. Kean spent the majority of last season as one of the favourites for the chop but, despite Rovers' consistently poor performances and subsequent relegation, he managed to cling onto his job. The Indian owners have now targeted an instant return to the Premier League and if Kean stutters at any point then he will be sent packing.

The extremely public announcement instantly piles the pressure on the Scot who is currently the hot favourite in the Next Championship Manager To Leave His Post betting market. Rovers begin life back in the Championship with a tricky away match away to Ipswich on Saturday, followed by home games against Steve Bruce’s Hull City and promotion favourites Leicester.

Paddy Power have priced Kean’s men as one of the favourites to win the Championship, with odds of 10/1, while they can be backed at 4/1 to get promoted. In order to boost his side's chances of going up Kean has added to his squad this summer, bringing in Leon Best, Danny Murphy and Dickson Etuhu.
 
If Rovers were to lose two games on the spin early on then the pressure on Kean to avoid defeat would be excruciating and you get the feeling that he isn’t going to last too long. BetVictor have Alan Shearer as the 4/1 favourite in the Next Blackburn Rovers Odds, with former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez and ex-Rovers goalkeeper Brad Friedel also in the mix.