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Kean shrugs off protest and claims 99 per cent of fans behind him

Steve Tongue
Sunday 18 September 2011 01:49 BST
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Blackburn's manager, Steve Kean, claimed that yesterday's victory was a vindication of the support shown for him by the club's Indian owners, writes Steve Tongue. In a television interview on Friday, the co-owner Venkatesh Rao had said the manager's job was "very safe".

Driving rain before the game kept the number of supporters demanding Kean's head down to about 250 and he was able to hold his up high after possibly the best victory of his period in charge; it was only the sixth in 26 matches.

"A couple of hundred turned up, which is one per cent," he said later. "So that tells me the other 99 per cent are happy. I was disappointed with it but even those who took part were fully behind the team when they came in. I hope they will see what we're trying to do and how the lads are fighting for each other."

Kean also claimed to have the support of his players as well as the board. "I can only reiterate the backing I've had from the owners," he said. "And you don't play like that if you've got any division in the dressing-room."

He felt the turning point was the introduction of Martin Olsson, who backed up left-back Gaël Givet and made some excellent attacking runs against Arsenal's Johan Djourou.

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