Kean grateful for colleague´s support

Blackburn boss Steve Kean says he is grateful for the support he has received from his fellow Premier League managers.

The under-fire Rovers manager continues to be the focus of supporter anger, with many fans actively campaigning for him to be sacked.

Blackburn are rooted to the bottom of the table having won just one of their last 12 English Premier League matches.

There is no respite for Kean either, with their next two matches away at Liverpool and Manchester United, although the latter’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson has publicly backed his Blackburn counterpart.

“It’s nice of Sir Alex. There’s been many managers, my phone’s been going hot with people phoning all week saying, ‘Hang in there, because once you get your defenders back’, you know,” Kean said.

“I know them very well over the years. I’ve played against some of them this season when we had some of the more established defenders available, we played well and got some results. To get those calls is nice.”

Kean said he sympathised with the fans who were calling for his head, and was confident of turning things around when he had a full squad to choose from.

“I can understand if they’re getting uptight about the position we’re in,” kean said.

“We’re all uptight about it, but we feel as if, with the right ability to select the squad , if five defenders are injured there’s nothing you can do about that.”

“We’ve just got to pray and hope that they get back as quick as possible. Gael Givet’s had a very successful heart operation, we expect him to be back in full training within a week.”

“Martin Olsson’s a little bit slower but his hamstring’s improving. Scott Dann is going to be six weeks. We need to try and clear up Paul Robinson’s calf injury.”

“That’s just where we’re at at the moment, I would hope the fans can see that, and understand that if any of them were fit, any of the ones I’ve mentioned, they would play.”

“We’re playing players out of position and given ourselves a bit of a mountain to climb because, certainly in the second half (against Bolton) I felt the players responded very well, and right at the last header of the game, unfortunately Chris Samba clipped it off the inside of the post.”