Blackburn Rovers boss excited by the World Cup

Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray has admitted that he cannot wait for the World Cup to get into gear following the opening game on Thursday. The Rovers boss is currently putting the final touches on the Rovers’ pre-season plans but amidst this, he is also looking forward to the exciting feast of football in Russia.

Speaking to reporters, he said: “Anybody who loves football is looking forward to the World Cup. It’s in Russia and that’s not an easy place to get to but I will be glued to the TV sets. I’m not sure on all the kick-off times but I’m looking forward to it and looking forward to watching it with the kids and filling in the wall charts. We do every four years as a family trying to guess who will come out on top and predicting the scores!”
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Blackburn Rovers agree new deal with manager Tony Mowbray

Manager Tony Mowbray has put pen to paper on a fresh two year deal with Blackburn Rovers, who will be plying their trade in the League One for the first time in 37 years.


The 53-year-old initially succeeded Owen Coyle in February where he joined on an 18-month contract.

The Rovers manage to show decent form under Mowbray with five wins and seven draws in 15 outings, but this was not sufficient to keep them in the Championship as their fellow rivals Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City kept their nerve in the final stages of the season.

Mowbray held crunch discussions with the Venky’s in Pune last month, and he has now agreed upon a new contract which could be further extended by 12 months. Speaking after his renewal, the former West Brom boss insisted that the promotion to the second tier remains his first agenda.

He told the club’s official website: “The job is to bounce back straight away. I needed some reassurances that we wouldn’t be selling all of our players and that we had some budget to try to strengthen the team if we could, having lost 12 players through either loans going back or people out of contract.” Continue reading Blackburn Rovers agree new deal with manager Tony Mowbray

BLACKBURN ROVERS RELEASE EIGHT PLAYERS

Blackburn Rovers have release eight players from the team, according to the updated retained list of players on the club’s official website.


Upon the relegation to the League One, this was expected. The skipper of the side Jason Lowe is the obvious missing name on the retained list.

The 25-year old joined the club academy far back in 2003. The versatile player who plays at the right back and central midfield leaves Ewood Park with his 200 senior appearances.

Other first team regular that were cut off from the Lancashire based side are Hope Akpan, Wes Brown, Gordon Greer and Danny Guthrie. Others whose contracts expired but would not be renewed are Joshua Askew, Adam Henley, and Ramirez Howarth. The club preferred to keep youngster Connor Mahoney and defender Lewis Travis with the hope that they would help them in the League One. Continue reading BLACKBURN ROVERS RELEASE EIGHT PLAYERS

COYLE – AMBROSE DESPERATE TO JOIN ROVERS

Owen Coyle has revealed that Nigerian Efe Ambrose is desperate to join Blackburn Rovers but that a work permit issue has stopped him from doing so.


Ambrose has been in training with his prospective club after he agreed to join on the winter deadline day. He agreed to move on a loan deal but it still awaiting a decision on his work permit application.

The 28-year old defender wants to move away from Celtic Park but the permit is not close to arriving, according to comments from Coyle. Coyle added that when the permit goes through and he impresses at Lancashire, a permanent move in the summer is a possibility.

“The group really like him, he doesn’t hold anything back in terms of the way he trains, and he shows that he wants to be part of it. The lad is desperate to be at Blackburn Rovers and kick start his career.

“We are really awaiting the final word from the FA, ultimately it will be their decision, but hopefully we get good news,” Coyle said. Continue reading COYLE – AMBROSE DESPERATE TO JOIN ROVERS

Owen Coyle Wants New Players in Order to Help Fight off Relegation

Blackburn manager Owen Coyle is under no illusion that the club is under desperate need of new faces in the squad in order to improve results.


The club are in the relegation zone even after bringing in the former Burnley boss in the summer. Even though the club has brought in names like Danny Graham and Anthony Stokes this season, they are yet to spend any money on transfers. Lack of interest from owners, Venky’s Group, has led to the manager biding his time with free transfers and loan deal. However, it has not helped the club in any regard.

A 1-1 draw with Birmingham City meant that the club stayed in the relegation zone. After going winless since November, Blackburn finally managed to get some positivity under the build after a 1-0 surprise win over highflying Newcastle United at home. Yet, they have not been able to build on this success after a loss against Ipswich Town and this latest draw against Birmingham. Continue reading Owen Coyle Wants New Players in Order to Help Fight off Relegation

Owen Coyle Says Blackburn Deserved to Win against Burton Albion

Owen Coyle says that Blackburn deserved more than just a point from the game against Burton Albion.


The two teams were involved in a 2-2 draw which did not improve the fortunes of the home team. After three successive defeats at the start of the campaign, Blackburn are under serious pressure to get a quick win under their belts. They came closest to do so after getting a 2-1 advantage with 30 minutes left of the game against Burton Albion. However, three points were not to come after the away team secured a late equaliser with two minutes left.

This was an extremely disappointing result for Blackburn and Coyle felt that his team decided to take all three points. This game was the few positives for the team that has suffered from numerous injuries. Even though they allowed the away team to have slightly more possession, Blackburn created more opportunities. The club were coming into the game after having lost the opening games against Norwich, Wigan, and Cardiff. Continue reading Owen Coyle Says Blackburn Deserved to Win against Burton Albion

NEWCASTLE UNITED GET GRANT HANLEY FROM ROVERS

English Championship side Newcastle United have confirmed the signature of the former skipper of Blackburn Rovers ahead of the new season.


United signed the defender Hanley for a five year deal for an undisclosed transfer fee. Hanley had been with Rovers since he was 16 years but decided it was time to move elsewhere. The player now aged 24 made his debut for Blackburn Rovers when he was 18 and has gone to score nine goals in 201 games.

On the international scene, he has 23 caps to his belt since getting his debut against Wales back in 2011. On the deal, coach Rafa Benitez said: “I am very pleased to bring rant Hanley to our project to add his hard work and potential to our squad. “Grant is a young player with a lot of ambition to improve and keep growing with us.”
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Paul Lambert sees Tough Life in Championship next season

Blackburn Rovers manager Paul Lambert says that his former club Aston Villa can expect a very tough life in the Championship next season.


Villa have been relegated to the second tier of English football for the first time since 1987. The club have had a rich history of doing well during this period, but they have consistently been struggling against the threat of relegation in the last four seasons. Lambert did his best to narrowly avoided relegation but two managerial changes in the 2015-16 season seems to have done its job. Villa have not only been relegated, but they surrendered meekly in the process.

The club face an uncertain future in almost every department. Several players have already turned into rebels and have expressed their desire to leave the club at the end of the campaign. Villa have struggled to attract a permanent manager due to concerns about lack of funds to make any significant impact next season. Owner Randy Lerner has already put up the club for sale but he has struggled to find any buyers for his asking price of £ 200 million. The American is unwilling to invest any more of his personal fortune into the dwindling club. For these reasons and the possibility of more than 50 games (league and cup competitions combined), Lambert says that next season will be very tough for Villa. Continue reading Paul Lambert sees Tough Life in Championship next season

Friedel is certain that Tottenham can challenge in every competition

Tottenham Hotspur is making an impressive charge for the top spot of the Premier League as the team of Mauricio Pochettino has secured their 6th successive league victory after having defeated Swansea City with a scoreboard of 2-1.

 

Brad Friedel used to perform for Tottenham Hotspur during 4 years of his playing career and the retired player believes that his former club is able to compete and have a realistic chance of winning in all of the competitions that they are currently performing in.

“They have the mentality where their bodies and minds don’t get tired. They have a fit enough and big enough squad to compete on three fronts. Mauricio worked hard last year to figure out which players were going to have the mentality for his style of football.” Former player of Tottenham Hotspur, Brad Friedel said.

Friedel released this statement only a few hours ago before Tottenham Hotspur faced off with Crystal Palace in the FA Cup and sustained a surprisingly 0-1 defeat which was enough for them to be knocked out of the English tournament.

Mauricio Pochettino and his players are still battling in the Europa League and of course the Premier League which they have a realistic chance on winning. Taking into consideration that the Europa League and the Premier League are the biggest competitions that Tottenham Hotspur are participating in, it might not have been such a bad result for them to get knocked out of the FA Cup as Pochettino can now organize his resources on the titles that are higher in his list of priorities. Continue reading Friedel is certain that Tottenham can challenge in every competition

After 1 year of transfer ban, Blackburn Rovers can now buy players

Blackburn Rovers is able to sign players after having been banned from doing so for around 1 year. The reason of why the English League Championship club was prohibited from securing the services of new players was due to a breach in the Financial Fair Play which was discovered that Blackburn Rovers along with Leeds United and Nottingham Forest had all been doing.

It was unveiled that all of those clubs mentioned previously had breached FFP rules and they were consequently sanctioned.

Now that the finances of Blackburn Rovers have been arranged in a way that it complies with the rules of FFP, the transfer embargo has been lifted and now Paul Lambert are able to sign new players into the team.

“It is a building block and one little stage in trying to rebuild this club. Everybody behind the scenes, the board, staff and especially the owners, deserve a lot of credit’’ The coach of Blackburn Rovers, Paul Lambert said as he gave credit to everyone in his club about this achievement.

In order for any club of the Championship League to satisfy all the rules and requirements of the Financial Fair play, they can’t register financial losses of more than £5m while only have a maximum of £3m which is funded by their respective shareholders. Continue reading After 1 year of transfer ban, Blackburn Rovers can now buy players