Blackburn Make Their Mark

The general consensus is that Mark Hughes has done a very good job as manager of Blackburn Rovers. He took over a struggling club and he has produced a team which, far from being relegation fodder, has surged into the top half of the Premiership and is challenging for a place in Europe. What’s more, he has achieved all this with a group of players which, not to put too fine a point on it, is (with the exception of Craig Bellamy and possibly Pedersen) far from being the most talented technical outfit in the division.

There is, however, another view, one which seems to be gaining support beyond the confines of Rovers’ fan base, and it goes like this. Blackburn’s game is based almost entirely upon cynical aggression and intimidation and many lovers of good football find their approach contemptible. They do not just hustle and pressurise – they play the man a lot and they foul a lot. When they attack, their approach play is tedious, pedestrian and unimaginative unless Pedersen and Bellamy happen to be involved and beyond these two, they have no style and no class. The kindest thing that can be said about their version of football is that it is pragmatic in the extreme. It is not pretty and it is not entertaining – except, perhaps for those who are very, very easily pleased. And it is doubtful whether top level football has a more miserable looking figure in the entire country than the grim-faced Mark Hughes as he prowls the technical area, seemingly at odds with every decision given against his side.

Those who witnessed the home game against Liverpool, which Blackburn lost 1-0, will have ample evidence to decide for themselves whether Mark Hughes’ team are ‘more sinned against than sinning’ and whether they might be regarded as a welcome addition to European competition.