The pressure and scrutiny that a football manager faces seems to become more and more intense with each passing season. But the attention placed on Blackburn Rovers manager Steve Kean has been ferocious even by football management standards.
And just to compound their misery, he and the Blackburn fans had to spend Christmas at the foot of the Premier League table. So what does this mean for Rovers? How have other teams who have been bottom of the league over the festive period faired in the end?
At Christmas in the inaugural Premier League season (1993/94) Nottingham Forest were bottom (and Norwich City were top!). Weakened by the selling of key players like Teddy Sheringham they were still there at the end of the season, and were relegated. This prompted then Forest manager Brian Clough to retire from management. Even Cloughy couldn’t fight what’s been dubbed ‘The Curse of Christmas’.
Forest suffered exactly the same fate again in the 1998/99 season, despite the best efforts of Ron Atkinson. Bradford City were in their second season in the top flight when they found themselves bottom at Christmas in 2000/01. Bradford gambled on controversial yet talented forward Stan Collymore to get them out of trouble, signing him on a free transfer in October 2000.
However the gamble did not pay off and Collymore was allowed to leave for Spanish side Real Oviedo in January 2001. He scored twice for Bradford in his 8 appearances. Due to their high wages (and the financial restrictions facing the club) star players Benito Carbone and Dan Petrescu were also transfer listed and the Bantams finished bottom.
Bradford City were hit hard by their relegation and just 6 years later could be found plying their trade in League 2. Where they can still be found today.
In the 2003/04 season Wolverhampton Wanderers had the misfortune of being bottom come Christmas Day. Despite a squad boasting full internationals such as Dennis Irwin, Paul Ince and Kenny Miller Wolves were still bottom in May, 7 points from safety. Another victim of the ‘Curse of Christmas’.
Derby County were relegated after one season in the top flight in 2007/08. They were sent back to the Championship with the dubious record of having just one win in the entire league season (a 1-0 win in the September against Newcastle United).
They are still the only team in Premier League history to win just one game. So it shouldn’t come as any surprise to you that they were also bottom of the league at Christmas. Replacing Billy Davies with Paul Jewell half way through the season did little to halt their slide and they ended the campaign with just 11 points.
Avram Grant had been applauded for his efforts with Portsmouth in the 2009/10 season (who themselves were bottom at Christmas and later relegated) and took charge of West Ham United for the 2010/2011 season. However Grant could not move the club forward and they were relegated, of course after being bottom of the league at Christmas.
The Hammers were relegated in May, after going 2-0 up away to Wigan only to lose 3-2 and seal their fate. But you could argue that their fate had been sealed on December 25th.
West Ham entered the Championship with a host of Premier League talent, a squad boasting the likes of Scott Parker, Demba Ba, Matthew Upson, Carlton Cole, Robert Green, Wayne Bridge, Robbie Keane. The list goes on and on. No team is too good to go down it seems.
In the 1990/91 season, before the inception of the Premier League, Sheffield United were bottom of Division 1 at Christmas and survived. Obviously quite an achievement. Since then in fact only one other team have actually done this, West Brom in 2004/05.
This feat has since been known as ‘The Great Escape’ due to its improbability. Especially when you consider that West Brom were still bottom of the league going into the last game of the season. Barely escaping the curse of Christmas…by the skin of their teeth.
So, not happy reading for Blackburn Rovers fans. But, it’s a game of two halves, there is still a lot of football to be played and various other clichés. Blackburn would have gone away from their recent 3-2 victory at Old Trafford with the knowledge that they can get a result anywhere on their day. Maybe a ‘Great Escape’ mark 2 is on the cards? Only time will tell. But, based on the overwhelming evidence above, it doesn’t look good does it?