Blackburn give Henning Berg the boot after just 57 days
Lacklustre defeat at Middlebrough proves final straw for Venky’s
Thursday 27 December 2012
Printable
EmailFootball: Blackburn sacked manager Henning Berg and his coaching staff today, after less than eight weeks at the club.
Former Rovers defender Berg, who signed a three-year contract on October 31, oversaw his 10th match of the season on Boxing Day — a 1-0 defeat at Middlesbrough.
The result marked their fifth loss in six outings and the 43-year-old, who guided the Ewood Park outfit to just one victory during his 57 days at the helm, was given his marching orders.
His time at Ewood Park has hardly been a happy one, with a statement released earlier this month playing down claims that he had stormed out of the club’s Christmas party after an alleged bust-up.
And yesterday's defeat proved the last straw for the club’s owners Venky’s in India, who were swift to wield the axe.
An official statement on the club’s website read: “Blackburn Rovers FC has announced the departure of manager Henning Berg, assistant manager Eric Black, first team coach Iain Brunskill and goalkeeping coach Bobby Mimms with immediate effect.
“This decision has been taken following a very disappointing sequence of results.
“The club thanks the four men for their efforts and wishes them every success for the future.”
Meanwhile, Rovers Action Group secretary Mark Fish admitted his “great delight” at the decision to let Berg go.
He said: “He was a fantastic player for the club, but for whatever reason it just didn’t work out for him here.
“It’s difficult to say what. Perhaps the expectations from the fans, outside influences maybe. Henning Berg just didn’t have the nous to get the job done? I don’t know.
“He just couldn’t get the team playing, he couldn’t get them fighting. But someone needs to come out now and hold their hands up.”
Fish added: “There were a lot of people involved in the process. A lot of good, better candidates were overlooked for this position.
“But they (Venkys) seemed determined to bring in an ex (Blackburn) player and it just hasn’t worked out the way they had hoped.
“Why didn’t Berg bring in his own coaching staff? It was my understanding that he would bring his own people in with him.
“But as it ended up he was left with Steve Kean’s men to help out.
“Someone has to come out and explain why this has happened.”
If you appreciated this article then please consider donating to the Morning Star's Fighting Fund to ensure we can keep developing your paper.
