What you saw, what we saw...
This is for certain members of the Soccer Saturday panel and for that matter anyone else who has verbally bashed the fans of Blackburn Rovers during the reign of Steve Kean which thankfully ended last Friday night...
What you saw in Steve Kean was a man who had been a victim, who was bullied without provocation. What we saw was a man that dug his own grave with a trail of lies, false promises and antagonistic behaviour during the last two years.
What you saw is a man who had remained dignified against a backlash that he didn't warrant, a man who in the face of incredible adversity kept his cool and didn't rise to the bait of a crowd who never backed him. What we saw is a man so arrogant that he knew he'd be backed by naive owners and didn't feel the need to fight against the criticism that came his way. He was untouchable and he knew it.
What you saw was a manager who needed to be given time and a chance. What we saw was a manager who patently wasn't up to it and to make matters worse blamed everyone but himself, rightly or wrongly.
What you saw was Steve Kean, a positive thinker with a mentality to look on the bright side. What we saw was Steve Kean, a man with delusions beyond rational thinking and with a very loose grasp on reality.
What you saw was an unknown making the best of a bad situation. What we saw was a sneaky operator and unknown footballing politician who created that very situation.
What you saw was a guy being harassed based purely on the results he achieved. What we saw was a guy being shouted at for much more than results alone.
What you saw was a promising leader who had his side sat in third in the Championship and had only lost one game out of seven so far this season. What we saw was a tactically inept disaster who had lost thirty seven times in seventy four games and oversaw a relegation.
What you saw was a maligned boss who had gained sympathy and friends in the media through his epic struggle against all the odds. What we saw was a confident talker who was verbally calm and who used the media to create the "victim" story that the outside world chose to believe, the friends in high places came along when it became popular to support the story along with the opportunity to play this victim story to his employers.
What you saw was a first team coach who was unexpectedly thrown in at the deep end against his will after the sudden sacking of Sam Allardyce. What we saw was a man who planned the whole thing long before it became a reality, a man who wanted to become a manager and went behind a colleagues back to make it happen.
What you saw was a manager who had no support from his superiors. What we saw was a manager who was a dictator, he didn't want help from elsewhere, he wanted the power and the control and he went a long way to making it happen against all better judgement.
What you saw was a group of fans who are of the lowest form of life, ones who lack the brain cells to see that they are contributing to their own downfall. What we saw (and lived) was a group of fans who knew that their club was being used as a play thing, something that had been shamelessly mistreated and who would't go down without a fight. Fans who wanted change, knew something was very wrong and weren't fickle enough to drop the complaining because we won one game - there was a bigger picture at stake.
What you saw was a footballing supporting faithful who relegated their own team. What we saw was cost cutting football ownership and a complicit manager who went a long way to sinking that ship well before the people in the stands kicked up a fuss.
But most importantly of all, it's what you HAVEN'T seen that has developed this idea that Rovers fans are the enemy, when in fact quite the opposite is the case. What you haven't seen in the last two years at Ewood Park is relentless provocation from a manager who has played you all like a fiddle.
The Sky Sports Soccer Saturday team won't tell you differently because the likes of Paul Merson and Charlie Nicholas have the same agent as Steve Kean. The rest of the media won't tell you differently because they don't care enough about Blackburn Rovers to dig a little deeper and see what's really going on.
When Rovers fans protested they were disgusting, vile creatures who should be condemned. When the fans of Aston Villa, Manchester United and Liverpool did it they were heroes fighting against an evil establishment.
The people and the fans of Blackburn Rovers acted no differently to how anyone else would have if they were in that exact same situation. Others would call that delusional, but then they haven't bothered to read the real version of the same story.
There is an old saying I'll use to wrap this up - "walk a mile in my shoes..."