There is a hapless quality to Steve Kean, the Blackburn Rovers manager.
The Scot, who succeeded Sam Allardyce at Ewood Park midway through last season, has a unwavering belief in his own abilities that rarely matches the results of his football team. Last month, prior to Blackburn’s Premier League fixture against Arsenal, the Rovers supporters staged a demonstration inside and outside the ground demanding the removal of Kean with immediate effect. Blackburn duly came from 2-0 down to defeat the Londoners 4-3. Arsenal, it must be pointed out, were in the midst of their own mini-crisis at the time but Kean saw public relations capital in the victory. “We’ve been excellent this season and hopefully we’ve shown that to the 1% of people who protested today,” said Kean. The win remains Rovers’ only one this season. This weekend, Arsenal’s north London rivals Tottenham visit Ewood Park and guess what? The supporters are planning another protest.
Kean’s proclamation after the Arsenal win won’t help his case but in his defence he is involved in a permanent PR exercise not helped by demands from owners Venkys suggesting midweek trips to India to promote the Blackburn brand.
And that brings us to Spurs. The key points are these: their away form is improving exponentially, they are much more resilient in midfield than in the past and they have won on their last two visits to Ewood; those results coming against an Allardyce-organised side which had been on long unbeaten runs prior to those Spurs’ defeats – not the feckless collection of garbage that currently occupies bottom spot in the Barclays Premier League.
At 10/11, there is unlikely to be a better bet this weekend than Harry Redknapp’s side – even with injury doubts in central defence – and with a couple of short-priced bankers, it would certainly help offset some of the damage done by successive losing bets.
The problem is banker bets – like Libyan dictators – are in short supply this week. That leaves the match of the weekend in England between Manchester United and City as a speculative pick that, despite the latter’s vast spending, has tended to go the way of United, particularly at Old Trafford.
Last season’s encounter was memorable for Wayne Rooney’s wonder goal and while City have added significant firepower of their own in the shape of Sergio Aguero and the resurgent Edin Dzeko, the suspicion remains that United are much better equipped defensively to deal with whatever City might thrown at them.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s sides are rarely better when they feel a threat to their hegemony and Fergie is the master of turning that kind of situation to his advantage. At a shade over even money, and boasting home advantage, the belief is that the reds will put the Tenner Bet well back into the black. And, then, maybe then we can get back to where the real money is . . . France.
Selection Tottenham Hotspur (10/11, general) Manchester United (11/10, general)
Double 3.01/1
Season’s total £21.97
the tenner betJAMES MORGAN
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