Kean finds no escape from Rovers relegation fears

Steve Kean admits there is no escape from Blackburn’s worrying nosedive – because he takes his work home.

The studious Scot is so switched on to football, he goes through Rovers’ games time and again on the sofa in an effort to find the answers.

Kean is desperate to do well in his first top-flight job and that means the TV remote control is in his hands when he goes through the good and – too often – bad days at the office.

Other bosses may find different means of relaxing, but Kean revealed: “I go home and watch the game again. You go back and watch Football First, then wait for your 30 seconds on Match of the Day... and go through it all again.

“You make some notes, I have always been a big ­note-taker, and see what was effective and what wasn’t.”

Mrs Kean has to put up with it too, and he grinned: “I’ve always taken it home with me to discuss with my wife. It puts you in a bad mood when you lose and in a good mood when you win.

“But I have had no problems sleeping. I sleep like a baby.”

Kean, 43, is managing to stay upbeat about the plight that has seen Rovers on their worst run without a victory for 25 years – but there is anger about him too as he feels he and his club are easy targets for stick.

His main consolation is that his squad are still on his side and the senior pros like Real Madrid old boy Michel Salgado and Chris Samba are standing beside him. Kean said: “I get on really well with the players. You try and help them in a mental way. Each one is different. Each one has to motivated differently.

“Someone like Michel has been there and done it.

“You have to get him to express his desire to win at everything. You wouldn’t want to play Michel at cards – he just wants to win.

“I want him to harness that and get our younger players to raise his level a couple of notches. It’s about calling on the experienced characters to bring everyone together.”

Blackburn’s big problem has been the lack of a goal-scorer all season. The unavailability of on-loan Roque Santa Cruz tonight may be more of a help than a handicap.

But Kean has to decide between out-of-touch Nikola Kalinic, Manchester United loanee Mame Biram Diouf, Benjani or Jason Roberts – and none of them have been firing.

Kalinic’s confidence is so low that Kean has been giving him extra shooting sessions – sometimes facing an empty goal – just to give him the scoring feeling again.

Kean said: “We are getting him to hit the back of the net again. He’s looking sharp. Hopefully, Niko is in a mental place where he can put it all together.

“He must not feel like he is on trial.

“Niko must not think he has one game to score a hat-trick or he’ll never play for the club again.”