AS he stood on the sidelines at Molineux soaking up the ecstasy of the vocal travelling army, Steve Kean could have been forgiven a moment of self satisfaction.

After months of criticism, speculation about his own future, and ridicule from the game’s so-called experts, the Blackburn Rovers boss had just guided his charges to Premier League safety to prove the hordes of doubters wrong.

If you listened to the majority, Kean’s shock replacement of Sam Allardyce was only going to end one way, relegation to the Championship.

Here was a managerial novice thrown into the one of the most pressurised jobs in football at a club seemingly in chaos as Venky’s tried to get their heads round their first attempt at running a club.

Lesser people would have cracked. The constant snide remarks would have been too much and an 11-match winless streak would have made it easy for him to just walk away, back into the low profile world of coaching he was used to.

Just a minute in his company though during one of the most difficult times in the club’s history told the whole story. He may have been being doubted, but he never had any doubts.

Kean is not out of the woods yet. In the eyes of most Rovers fans he still has it all to prove next season - his first full campaign as a manager - but you get the feeling he can’t wait for the challenge.

Even now he refuses to condemn the criticisms he faces and instead focuses on what he insists is a positive platform for an exciting future.

“With change comes uncertainty,” he said. “Fans then look at where you are in the table and they become a bit nervous and I can understand that.

“Hopefully they will see we are out of the end of that and the better for it. I think the press we are getting is much more positive and that comes with good results and good performances.

“It has been a great experience. To finish the season in such a strong manner and play our best hour of football was brilliant. It has been a great learning curve and we have all come out of it better for the experience, even though at times it was a little bit nerve wracking.

“I don’t know if we have to win the fans over because I feel as though the fans are already with us. There was a period of time when they were anxious, but we were as well.

“I think the fans will see the way we are trying to play and the style we are trying to adopt. They will see the young lads, the loan signings and they will see we will be bringing in exciting ones as well to give us a different dimension.

“The owners have made the decision to give them Premier League football at good value and I think we have already won them over because of the way we finished the season.”

So how did life change for the 43-year-old who was thrown into the pressure pot of management back in December? The well respected coach had suddenly become the main man.

Gone are the days when he could slip home after a day of coaching and switch off as he was thrust into the world of transfers, media and scrutiny.

He said: “The days aren’t any longer than they are as first team coach, an academy director or anything really. You are always working long hours and if you have that work ethic in you then the hours at the training ground don’t get any longer.

“I probably spend more hours on the phone in the evenings.

“I love it though. It was the right time for me and of course there were never any thoughts about walking away.

“I think you look back and there was certainly a lean spell of games where we never got any results and that was the bit when you learn the most about the team and yourself.

“The way we finished was excellent but the way we are trying to play now is encouraging. We have a solid defensive base, we always try and exploit teams with pace and power and now we just need to make sure we get the goals at the other end of the pitch.”

Kean’s first foray into management wasn’t helped by Venky’s’ vocal, if applaudable, vision of taking the club into the top 10 and beyond. Blackburn expected, not the relegation scrap that followed.

Kean said: “Tenth proved difficult because we went through a period of four home draws. If we had managed to turn a couple of them into victories then we would have been very, very close to 10th.

“We want a top half finish and we want to do well in the cup next season. We will take the cups very, very seriously, both of them.

“So we will be trying to strengthen the squad and make sure we are able to make both of those things happen.

“This season will differ because for the first time I am able to bring the players that I want to the club. It is the first time I have experienced this and I think it is very important to bring in the right players for our philosophy and the way we want to play.

“We want to be dynamic, we want pace in the wide areas and we want to play as much as we can with two strikers. We want to play fast flowing football and if we can do that and keep the back door shut then I think we will have the fans on their feet.”