BLACKBURN Rovers’ lack of experience has been high-lighted in most quarters as one of the major reasons why the club is knee deep in the relegation mire.

Over the past 10 months Rovers have waved goodbye to Ryan Nelsen, Jason Roberts, Keith Andrews, El-Hadji Diouf, Brett Emerton and Chris Samba, leaving them fighting the drop with one of the youngest teams in Premier League history.

Rovers travel to Swansea this afternoon three points adrift of safety after a disastrous run of four straight defeats, while their relegation rivals have shown signs of a revival.

Senior players Gael Givet and Morten Gamst Pedersen are expected to return for the encounter, having been surprisingly left out in recent weeks, with Kean admitting the experience they have lost has not been ideal.

The Rovers boss said: “We’ve got a lot of young lads and they give you a high intensity, lots of enthusiasm and high-end physical output.

“But I do agree that we have lost a lot of experienced players over the last five transfer windows.

“They had something like 950 Premier League games for us.

“That’s where we are at the moment. We can’t replace them outside the window and we just have to try and get through, make sure we get the points required.

“That’s going to be a factor in the lads we will recruit for next season.

“I certainly think next season we have to look at the age.

“We have the youngest team in the league and we have to look at strengthening with more Premier League experience.

“We can’t give Grant Hanley 500 games.

“The only way you get 500 games is by playing them.”

The obvious response to that is why have Rovers let so many of their senior stars leave the club since owners Venky’s bought the club?

The club’s critics would suggest financial motives played a large part in their exits, especially with both Roberts and Michel Salgado confirming they were not played due to ‘contractual reasons’, and that the regime only has itself to blame for such an exodus.

Kean though is adamant that is not the case and, when asked if he regretted the manner of the departures, was quick to insists he didn’t.

“No. You have to go through them one by one,” said Kean.

“Chris Samba wanted to leave, he didn’t want to play for the club any longer and put in a transfer request. Keith Andrews wanted to move on, Jason Roberts wanted to play more regularly. If you go through each case, it is like that.

“Ryan Nelsen wanted to take up an opportunity to play abroad in America but at the last minute got an offer to go to Tottenham.

“Brett Emerton wanted to go back and finish his career at his home club. It is not a case where we have actively said anyone who has played 300 games for us we will move on. It is the opposite.”