Who cares what a bunch of disinterested hacks have to say when you can get the skinny direct from those to whom it matters most? Well, good news – Football Burp’s very own Jonny Forumer, lurker extraordinaire, is here to collate choice message board analysis so you can get the lowdown from the people who really know what they’re on about. Take it away, Jonny…

Morning folks, Jonny Forumer signing in. Blackburn Rovers surprised many this week by appointing former player and terrace hero Henning Berg, a Premier League title winner at Ewood Park in 1995, as their new manager following the departure of Steve Kean. Berg’s certainly wasn’t one of the main names being bandied about in the media over the last month or so, and as such I was intrigued to gauge opinion. I hotfooted it on down to online Blackburn joints Roverstalk and BRFCS to hear what folks had to say…

Gaz, Roverstalk…

Not particularly the most inspiring appointment, but he will get my support just like anyone who got the job. I thought he was a top player for us and one of the best defenders I’ve seen play for Rovers. I can only go off wiki in terms of his managerial record and it seems OK, by no means fantastic, but what where we expecting?? We have to be realistic in terms of who we were going to get.

MINIMUM expectation has to be a place in the play offs. Some of you might think that is a bit unrealistic of me, but with the squad at our disposal this should be a realistic target.

All the best Henning, and come on you blues!!!

RockinRover, BRFCS…

As for Berg, I like many others am going to give him a chance. I believe he could be as good for us as Hughes was when he first took over. His record isn’t the worst and look on the bright side, he actually has a record to speak of unlike McKinlay, Shearer and Sherwood. This is the best possible appointment we could have had. McCarthy, Curbishley and the other journey men are journey men for a reason. They’ve been sacked for being mediocre or less than mediocre. Berg will get the players motivated, he had plenty of practice as captain. In this league with our squad, motivation could be all they need. But of course if he has some tactical nous to throw in as well, then we’re in for a nice ride back up to the Premiership.

Hudson, Roverstalk…

Not too disappointed with Berg’s appointment as manager, it could have been much worse. Atleast he has some managerial experience compared to the likes of McKinlay or Sherwood. I personally think it’s a better option than McCarthy or Holloway as with them we’d probably get promoted but then almost certainly be struggling for survival next year.

I’m hopeing Berg can attract some Scandinavian talent, like the next Perdersen (when he was good of course, before his legs went ).

Good like to Bergy, I’m hoping the fans give him a proper chance before booing him or calling for him to go.

darrenermike, BRFCS…

Was never my first choice, but like many, I’m very quickly warming to this appointment. Loved the guy as a player. One of the most organised yet versatile defenders I’ve seen. The mentality of his defending alongside Sir Craig of Short was no-nonsense but sensible, and I loved them high-fiving each other after stopping an attack. Hopefully he can bring that culture into Blackburn. Bring back an organised defence (Black has helped that, tbf) and let the forwards enjoy their game.

I’ll support him like I’ve supported any manager unless they prove themselves to be crap after at least a dozen games.

Rover the Moon, Roverstalk…

Henning Berg in June 2012 wrote:

“To work for a Premier League club would be fun, and even a Championship club as well. However, to work as a manager for a club you need the right owners and to take over as a manager in a club (Blackburn) with owners like that is madness.

“There are no real managers with credibility who would accept a job like that. You might end up shooting yourself in the foot. You might end up being there a few months with nothing really working and being unable to do what you want.

“The owner situation needs resolving and I hope that Jack Walkers’ family, as they still have some money, will buy the club back and start running it again under the same principles as Jack Walker did when he was alive.”

What a difference a big fat cheque can make?

Nothing has fundamentally changed at Ewood park Mr Berg other than we now have an extra level of clueless administration.

I really do hope that Berg can make a success of it despite being hamstrung by two levels of Three stooges above him but I just cannot see any success coming whilst the club is hamstrung by the current owners.

I will be more than welcome to eat my words in the future.

Welcome again to the bigtop Mr Berg

Roverside, BRFCS…

Henning Berg – model professional at Rovers and had a great career with us and also with United, huge array of international appearances and has some management experience under his belt, albeit in Norway. He knows us and we know him and I can’t think of any reasons to have a bad memory of him at Blackburn.

Will he be a great manager at Ewood, I hope so. As fans it is imperative we give him our whole-hearted support to give him the best chance to become that.

I am 100% behind Henning.

James, Roverstalk…

I think it is a promising appointment if anything it gives me confidence that he was quoted slamming the way the club was run. As someone said earlier a critical but constructive appraisal of our performances Will make a nice change from sk ‘s conferences.

It would seem from the way it played out in the press that he was possibly not our first choice but out of those who have been mentioned would much rather him than sherwood who always struck me as a fairly selfish individual and mckinley who though very highly rated by fulham i am not sure has the experience yet.

I am looking forward to seeing how he will set the team up and who of the current playing staff will come good under his management.

I suspect the fans will get behind him as he is a club legend and was a top player. I will be backing him to the hilt, that is until he is found drunk, naked bar a burnley scarf riding his pet moose Brian the wrong way down the m65, yelling obscenities about the Swedes.

Topman, BRFCS…

There’s still a cloud over this whole affair. Like the fact it’s taken over a month to appoint an unemployed manager who was a mixed bag in his native Norway. I think that had Venky’s hired Berg post-haste, eyebrows would be raised, but there’d be some momentum built on the back of Kean’s resignation. The whole recruiting process has been as amateur as it gets but I guess we’ve come to expect that from this lot, haven’t we?

All the best to Henning. As with any new manager, he’ll get a fair crack from me. He was a model pro at the club and hopefully that professionalism will whip our current crop into a squad worthy of promotion. That won’t be forthcoming unless Venky’s and their poodle let him get on with the job at hand.

At the very least, this saga is finally over.

Ethiaa, Roverstalk…

We’ve just spent 12 months watching a chunk of our fans conduct a hate campaign against the incumbent manager – getting a new one was always going to be made harder because that, combined with the media representation of the club and an unusual managerial structure away from the playing side. As long as it’s the right appointment, the club can only be congratulated in going through a sensible process under difficult circumstances. Not that our fans are likely to see it that way regardless. It’s easier to just say it’s because the club is shit. I suppose it takes less effort to think like that.

Lathund, BRFCS…

Everything I’ve heard about the way HB goes about things, his approach to the game and his attitude, makes me feel he’s exactly the type of character we need. Now, does that mean he will be able to turn that into results for Rovers? That remains to be seen, but I’m feeling optimistic.

It’s going to be nice to finally have a manager who the fans are behind. Doesn’t have the icon status of Shearer or Tugay, but I can’t recall ever hearing a fan say a bad thing about him. Part of our championship winning side, part of our last promotion winning side, and part of the cup winning team a year later. He knows the club and the fans, and knows what needs changing under Venky’s. Model pro who I don’t expect will put up with any crap. I can only think he has taken the job after being given assurances that things will be different; or at least I desperately hope so!

Welcome aboard Henning!

stonybloke, Roverstalk…

Let me begin by saying I have nothing against the Berg appointment. I think he’ll be very good for the Rovers. What I am very intrigued to know and I’ve yet to see the answer, is just how many candidates were interviewed. You say the ‘interviews’ (note the plural) finished on Tuesday. Was that a slip of the pen or do you actually know there was more than one interview? In Shebby’s previous interview he made a point of saying that he held great store in seeing an applicant face to face rather then just relying on a CV. On that basis there must have been a number of interviews. But who were they? Ian Holloway was supposed to be a front runner so why wasn’t he interviewed? Crystal Palace haven’t wasted any time in making an approach for him so why did we not bother making an approach? My instinct tells me that Shebby made the approach for Berg purely on him ticking the boxes ‘ex-player’, ‘young and ambitious’ and ‘managerial experience’ and that’s it. As I say, nothing against Berg, but I don’t feel that Shebby cast his net wide enough.

Puffsan, BRFCS…

Of all pundits or ex players or managers (both norwegian or international) i have not heard anyone that knows as much as Henning Berg about rovers current situation, what really the problems are and what needs to be fixed. He knows alot about what happened over the last two years. He also has very good tactical and organizational skills. that alone is a very good reason why this is a good appointment.

Allegedly there is rumored that Shaw and Shebby has interviewed about 20 candidates. We can assume someone didnt want to come, someone where maybe too expensive and someone impressed them. It seems like he has really impressed shaw. I know very little about shaw, i have read alot of negative comments on this board about him because he was not popular at PNE and he is friend with agnew, but i don’t know anything about his skills on manager appointments etc. the only thing i know is that he hired David Moyes at some point, and he’s not to shabby (see what i did there) is he?

Maybe Berg is a good compromize. Shaw allegedly wantet holloway, shebby didnt want him. shebby wanted some ex player legend like sherwood or shearer. Berg is a ex player who ticks shebbys preferences and he impressed shaw so both are happy and are pulling in the same direction. Just what rovers needs now, everyone working together for the better good.

I don’t really understand why people are so upset on appointing Berg after 5 weeks. Yes i agree 5 weeks is way too long, we should have had a manager in by 2-3 weeks tops. But people like Berg would never have gotten an opportunity to present his ideas and plans if it was a very quick appointment. A quick appointment would probably have led to hiring someone solely based on their former track record, maybe we had ended up with someone like McCarthy, curbishley, holloway or some big foreign name. I’m not saying a name like that would have been a wrong appointment but at least it looks like they have done a thorough research.

Lastly i want to point out that there are mixed opinions On Berg among norwegian football fans. Someone just looks at the table and makes up their opinion, while others are able to see that the job he took at lillestrøm was really a difficult one.

The norwegian tippeliga has been very competetive the recent years. every team beats eachother. In his two full seasons in charge 2009 and 2010 there was not many points that separeted the different teams.
in 2009 when lillestrøm finished at 11th place only 3 points separated 11th place and 6th place. in 2010 6 points separated 10th place and 5th place. Not a huge cap from zero to hero there.

Are you pleased with Henning Berg’s appointment as manager, Rovers fans? Have your say in the comments section below…