Blackburn Rovers face fight to keep defender Givet (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Blackburn Rovers face fight to keep defender Givet
10:11am Friday 13th April 2012 in Football
By Andy Cryer, Blackburn Rovers reporter
FRENCH INTEREST Gael Givet
BLACKBURN Rovers will face a summer battle to keep hold of fans’ favourite Gael Givet – even if they manage to salvage their Premier League status.
The Frenchman’s former club Monaco are understood to be ready to launch an attempt to lure him back ‘home’, while there is also interest from the top flight in France and the Premier League.
Rovers boss Steve Kean though insists all talks about the future are on hold while the club fight to secure Premier League survival.
Owners Venky’s were in attendance at Ewood Park to see Tuesday’s defeat at home to Liverpool but Kean was adamant survival remains the only focus.
Givet will be hoping for a return to Rovers’ starting line-up in tomorrow’s crucial trip to Swansea City, with midweek results leaving Kean’s men three points adrift of safety.
Sources close to the player, while insisting he is fully focused on the relegation battle ahead, have told the Lancashire Telegraph Givet would consider pursuing a new challenge next season - with a return to France on the radar.
Monaco failed in an attempt to sign their former player last summer but, after a disappointing season in the second tier of French football, are set to move again for Givet - who enjoyed seven years there from 2000.
He is understood to prefer a move to a top flight club either in England or France though, with several suitors believed to be tracking his situation with interest.
Givet has surprisingly been left on Rovers’ substitutes bench over the last couple of games upon his return from injury and suspension, with Kean persevering with Scott Dann and Grant Hanley in the centre of the defence.
The Rovers boss though only last week stressed Givet will have a key role to play in the relegation run-in, with the 30-year-old expected to make a first team return at the Liberty Stadium.
The 2010 player’s player of the season’s versatility is likely to be called upon, with Kean having the option to use him at left back or centre back in Wales tomorrow.
Rovers will fight to keep hold of Givet at Ewood this summer although relegation would inevitably bring his future into even greater doubt.
Should the worst happen, Rovers know a number of their top players - including Junior Hoilett, Steven Nzonzi, Martin Olsson, Yakubu and Paul Robinson - will come under greater scrutiny from rivals.
Kean said about Venky’s visit: “We had a board meeting that had been scheduled for three months.What we've always felt is that it was right to wait and get the points sorted out.
“Then we can decide who's going to be coming in and who's going out. We need to concentrate on the remaining games and getting the points required.
“Then, at the end of the season, we can sit down and have discussions about budgets, who we can bring in and who will be going out.”
Wins for Wigan and QPR on Wednesday night leave Rovers three points adrift of safety with just five games to play, ahead of tomorrow’s trip to the Liberty Stadium.
"We have Chelsea and Tottenham away, but we also feel we can get something from Swansea this weekend, said Kean.
“The two home games, against Norwich and Wigan, as well as away at Swansea, are the ones where we will be looking to pick up most of our points from.
“The other two,Chelsea and Tottenham, will be tough games. The one against Wigan is looking like a really big one. The TV people have already realised that, which is why they have made it a Monday night game. It's going to be huge."
Comments are closed on this article.

Comments (102)
10:18am Fri 13 Apr 12
givet82 says...
10:20am Fri 13 Apr 12
Brfc24138931 says...
10:21am Fri 13 Apr 12
manyarecalled says...
BRFC will not stay up , so Givet will be off anyway , as will a lot of others.
Venkys are only interested in coaching for India.
does that mean selling the training pitch , ground etc , to get a return ?
10:27am Fri 13 Apr 12
Dukes says...
Venkys have trash the club that players are mad about and i bet this player was not paid a bonus or something on time.
10:28am Fri 13 Apr 12
jaysay says...
10:29am Fri 13 Apr 12
onlyonesimongarner says...
The lies are not worth the INK
10:33am Fri 13 Apr 12
dallydally says...
10:35am Fri 13 Apr 12
Gaz M says...
10:35am Fri 13 Apr 12
Gaz M says...
10:44am Fri 13 Apr 12
RobbyRover says...
I know which version I believe...
10:49am Fri 13 Apr 12
merlinrabbit says...
10:50am Fri 13 Apr 12
dangerous dave says...
Daily Mail Givet wants to leave because he is being frozen out of the club even though he wants to play - just another set of 'fairy tales' from the plank Kean so stop quoting him!!
KEAN OUT VENKYS OUT
11:03am Fri 13 Apr 12
PJA79 says...
Also nice of our so wise manager to suggest we've already decided we're going to lose to Chelsea and Spurs and just go for wins against those around us. It's worked out so well so far. "six winnable games" rings a bell........
Please leave for the good of everyone!
11:04am Fri 13 Apr 12
Road Runner Road Runner says...
As for Robinson, N'zonzi, Hoillet, Rochina, Formica & Yakubu did anyone really believe they would be around come end of May ?
No chuffing chance.
The one & only person who should be gone is Kean !
He has gone in my mind because I will simply never step foot on Ewood again after this seasons end while he in supposedly in charge - what a laugh that is !
11:09am Fri 13 Apr 12
stick to football says...
The first one out of the door come end of season should be Kean.
As for Venkys they dont deserve to be let in the door after what they have done to a once proud club
11:15am Fri 13 Apr 12
YarkshahRover says...
11:20am Fri 13 Apr 12
Sherwoodforest says...
What a shambolic 18 months
Lurching from one disaster to another.
11:21am Fri 13 Apr 12
davemal says...
Will anybody be going to Ewood next season?
11:24am Fri 13 Apr 12
LanghoDAN says...
11:24am Fri 13 Apr 12
formerover says...
11:27am Fri 13 Apr 12
1riversider says...
Don't blame you one bit for leaving the rotten sinking ship that BRFC has become.
The shysters in charge don't care. They are only interested in lining their own pockets. That's why I for one, among many more l suspect, will not be renewing my season ticket until Venkys et al are no more than a distant memory.
One day the truth will come out!
COME ON YOU BLUES
11:28am Fri 13 Apr 12
jezblue says...
11:36am Fri 13 Apr 12
Lancs - pensioner says...
11:39am Fri 13 Apr 12
smellthecoffee says...
12:01pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Road Runner Road Runner says...
We've had our run in's me & you on here but, I agree entirely with what you say.
Hanging on to hope that this situation would never materialize as proved to be pure folly on my B&W heart. Now that the blinkers are off and one that I never ever wished upon me is heartbreaking. That said, I am off the mind that BRFC will be resurrected and our history will be restored in the not to distant future.
I will never forgive this lot for the way they have turned supporter on supporter and more importantly denying me the option to attend and watch my beloved BRFC.
Arte et labore
12:16pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Bazzer says...
I am waiting for Vinjay to remind me of the times he used to celebrate "Liberation Day" and shout for the sacking of Big Sam.
12:17pm Fri 13 Apr 12
nellymatt says...
12:22pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Stone Island. says...
Get these confidence tricksters out of Ewood, before they do any more fcuking damage!
12:24pm Fri 13 Apr 12
nil bye mouth says...
12:26pm Fri 13 Apr 12
givet82 says...
12:28pm Fri 13 Apr 12
nellymatt says...
12:29pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Bazzer says...
As supporters we have got to hit these swine hard and quickly, even at the heartbreak of an empty Ewood Park.
12:33pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Stone Island. says...
STARVE THEM OF CASH!
12:34pm Fri 13 Apr 12
BioBlueNWhite says...
'Well I couldn't believe it, I had just been sacked by my local Cub football team and was in my new career as a lollipop lady when a kind Indian Man stopped in his chicken delivery van and offered me a job as a football club manager. i was obviously delighted and when the owners explained that when people boo and hiss at you that is them showing their upmost support for the things that you do. We brought in one of those machines off the national lottery which we put the player squad numbers in and spin, obviously some of the players were causing the fans to cheer and clap and some showed a bit too much promise in training, so obviously their numbers don't go into the machine.'
Yes supporting this shower of absolute b*llocks has finally driven me insane.
12:36pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Road Runner Road Runner says...
Believe it or not I still hold a glimmer of hope that they have a plan for this situation but, the proof is in the pudding, sort of speak !
I'll never forsake our club pal thus I'll gladly kick heels with you :)
Arte et labore
12:38pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Stone Island. says...
And that **** Kean said Champions League football was a possibility in 3-4 seasons! What an absolute **** he is!
12:40pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Tuo Neak says...
Is every time Kean speaks to the press censored to such an amount that the article is basically written by him. If so what is the point in it being a story?
Has he been asked about his Top 10 finish this week, the guarantee that Rovers will not be relegated, the biggest budget, etc etc
12:45pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Gennoe1 says...
12:50pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Road Runner Road Runner says...
It weighs 1500 tons backed with a multi-million pound industry !
I believe clause(s) have been added into players contracts with what is in essence gagging orders on expressing any negative press.
This situation is a disgusting manipulation of the truth in the name of continued success at BRFC.
One aspect that struck me from the off over Kean was that he did not take criticism well if at all.
Someone once said:
'If Adolf Hitler flew in today they'd send a limousine anyway'
Sums things up for me perfectly !
Arte et labore
12:55pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Stone Island. says...
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN!
Perhaps we need to approach one of the nationals, because the LT doesn't appear to have the gonads to investigate what is really going on behind the scenes of this once proud club.
It is obvious to almost everyone, that something dodgy has been going on down at Ewood for the last 18 months or so.
It needs to be INVESTIGATED! and I think our local paper should be at the forefront of any such investigation!
1:02pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Road Runner Road Runner says...
They may as well be written in snow ! They are fudging around the whole sorry mess in the name of the framework they work in. Isn't it about time they restructured the 'fit & proper' feasibility ?
I despair pal :(
Arte et labore
1:03pm Fri 13 Apr 12
sharkyrover says...
That norwich one could be mine and my 7-yr olds last game at ewood for some time. ST not to be renewed until the bald idiot has gone and the put-puts make some drastic changes or also go themselves.
Will renew whatever the division with a new regime in charge - simple
RTID
1:05pm Fri 13 Apr 12
d146895x says...
Kean is Venky's puppet and is 'managing' the club with financial handcuffs on.
It will be a miracle if we stay up.
I also don't get why all these TV pundits are supporting Kean - any other club, he would have been sacked long ago.
1:15pm Fri 13 Apr 12
burnleyglentoran says...
Another rat jumps the goodship Bol-Ewood!!!!!!
CHIM CHIMANY!
1:51pm Fri 13 Apr 12
alfa111 says...
2:13pm Fri 13 Apr 12
greenscreener says...
The buffoon who talks about defending better should start with keeping & picking his best defenders and organizing a proper midfield in front of them.
2:23pm Fri 13 Apr 12
MORTEN GAMST 84 says...
3:00pm Fri 13 Apr 12
vicn1956 says...
Yes we'll be in Europe next year- versus Cardiff next year and Wrexham to come soon after!
Please Telegraph- come the end of the season/relegation take 2 or more full pages to print Venky's/Kean's/Ander
son's etc pronouncements over the past 18 months alongside a full statistical analysis on how well they have fulfilled their VISION. It will be plain for all to see their REAL agenda!
What time does free speech end for the weekend?
3:51pm Fri 13 Apr 12
garyintandem says...
3:59pm Fri 13 Apr 12
reiko082 says...
Once relegated, I foresee a mass exodus; Robinson, Givet, Dann, Olsson, N'Zonzi, Formica, Rochina, Hoilett and Yak of the players worth a pinch of salt.
We can only hope the likes of Goodwillie, Vukcevic, Goulon, Ribeiro, Petrovic and Dunn will be shown the door along with Grella and Salgado - though i fear they won't.
I just hope that at least one of those players has the bottle vindicate Rovers fans by shedding light to the footballing community what has been going on at this club.
4:25pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Dukes says...
4:45pm Fri 13 Apr 12
bluebella says...
No. They never was given the option to buy the football pitch...thankfully that at least is still in Walker trust's hands for concerts etc.
I can't believe its come down to three games for Kean to save the club.
Tottenham and Chelsea I can't see us winning. Swansea this week will not be a walk over.
If we lose this week I must ask why he is still here?
5:07pm Fri 13 Apr 12
guiderover says...
5:14pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Morst The 88th Min Heartbreaker of Dingles! says...
.
12 months ago noone would have blinked an eyelid if he was on the bench.
.
Kean Out!
Hoofy Luvvies Out!
Venkys Out!
5:14pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Stone Island. says...
http://www.thesun.co
.uk/sol/homepage/spo
rt/football/4253862/
Boss-Steve-Kean-tips
-struggling-Blackbur
n-as-Euro-challenger
s.html
5:27pm Fri 13 Apr 12
johnny rover says...
And as for all those fair weather supporters threatening not to come back next season - shame on you. "Where were you when we were s...? When you've followed the team from Division 1 down to Division 3 and back again and thought the Full Members Cup was as good as it would ever get I might just listen to you.
5:46pm Fri 13 Apr 12
guiderover says...
5:50pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Stone Island. says...
5:57pm Fri 13 Apr 12
pepperpot2296 says...
6:04pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Only1Garner says...
6:04pm Fri 13 Apr 12
pepperpot2296 says...
6:21pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Stone Island. says...
I cannot believe the lies and bullsh*t they have come out with over the last eighteen months, and people have already bought season tickets for next season. They must have a screw loose.
If people really want shut of these DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDREL'S, there is only one way to do it: STARVE THEM OF CASH!
6:22pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Sherwoodforest says...
Recently asked him why didnt he take me to the camp nou first lol.
RTID
6:46pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Norman the Wangler says...
RTID FJA
6:51pm Fri 13 Apr 12
HilariousClinton says...
RIGHT, okay i see.
I also notice Kean speaking as if hell keep the job regardless of what happens the next games.
I guess that makes sense too.
7:27pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Rover Pete says...
If we stay up it will be hand to mouth all next season with Kean full rubbish and the quality of the staff contiually dropping untiul we are in League One.
7:51pm Fri 13 Apr 12
carlmc says...
8:42pm Fri 13 Apr 12
burnleyfan4life says...
8:49pm Fri 13 Apr 12
burnleyfan4life says...
9:55pm Fri 13 Apr 12
A Darener says...
10:26pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Bazzer says...
Shysters run club and Kean is the face of them.
10:42pm Fri 13 Apr 12
bring back the good old days says...
I think calling them simpletons is much too strong.
My view is super optomists.
What I cannot get is week by week ever since Venkys came its been a fiasco.
The matchdays are not a pleasureable experience and its not just down to protestors.
There has been cloak and dagger right from the off.
The squad ha sbeen stripped bare.
Yet there are still a number that can ignore all this and continue.
For what reason I am unable to comprehend.
Maybe Venkys are aware that blind loyalty coupled with cheap tickets is the key to keep the circus rumbling on.!!!
10:48pm Fri 13 Apr 12
bring back the good old days says...
My view is anyone with any self respect and a modicum of intelligence would not turn up to watch VFC (aka BRFC).
10:55pm Fri 13 Apr 12
bring back the good old days says...
No rovers fan has an issue with the relegation we've been there before and worse.
BUT....the way it is being conceived is stomach churning and how anyone can pay to sit and watch it unfold is beyond my comprehension.
11:15pm Fri 13 Apr 12
French Rover says...
I hate whats gone on with our beloved club since the slimy Walkers Trust sold us to the India Fakirs.
But even for me (living away from Blackburn for quite a while now) it is still a terrible feeling watching the club I love implode and fall apart and kill everything that was built before.
I really envy the Rovers fans who can get to matches and support the club every week...and I also respect the fans that choose not to go as a way of protesting at the rotten set-up.
But I must admit that I was back home then I would be one of those who would be still watching the Rovers - even despite who owned the club or who managed it.
Yes I would vent my feelings at their ineptitude and ignorance and systematic looting of our club and I would protest as loudly as anyone - but I would still be there if I could be.
Even if we end up playing sunday league football down at Pleasington, then I would be there still. As it would still be my club, the club I supported all my life, the club that has been part of mine and my families life for over 50 years. The club will live-on and still be around (in some form) long after the Kean and Venky Fakirs have crawled away back down the drainhole that they emerged from and belong in.
11:58pm Fri 13 Apr 12
baldie says...
This is why i have a season ticket.
I don't have Sky because i can only seem to be able to digest short highlights like those on Match of the Day,my brain just can't absorb all the information.
I did though manage to read an article which seemed to suggest that Rovers would get some thing like £40 million this season from Sky tv,with season ticket sales paying for a pair of Colleen Rooney's shoes.
12:02am Sat 14 Apr 12
whittaker0 says...
12:10am Sat 14 Apr 12
Darwenred68 says...
1:57am Sat 14 Apr 12
riversidefan says...
6:39am Sat 14 Apr 12
LanghoDAN says...
7:53am Sat 14 Apr 12
bring back the good old days says...
Once it is again BRFC in Div 1 or wherever I will return.
I would hope most see it as this in order to 'clear their concience' in thinking they are abandoning 'their?' team.
It stopped being our team when Venkys arrived.
8:32am Sat 14 Apr 12
Bazzer says...
8:48am Sat 14 Apr 12
Justjes says...
8:50am Sat 14 Apr 12
A Darener says...
Harry Leyland etc etc. I was devastated when they left or retired.
But now! It is just a merry go round players come and go, just for the money.
But as for today's match.
GET IN TO 'EM!!!!
Rory
9:12am Sat 14 Apr 12
French Rover says...
11:03am Sat 14 Apr 12
bring back the good old days says...
In that time we have seen good and bad times (in terms of position in the leagues.
BUT, at no point did I feel detached from the club and its ambitions.
I also felt appreciated as a supporter.
Under Venkys you are just a paying punter being allowed to watch Venkys Football Club.
I have walked away form this 'new' club.
My allegiance is to BRFC and I await their 'resurrection'.
11:38am Sat 14 Apr 12
bring back the good old days says...
Thats only a joke (banter) as I watched all the great sides in 70's at t'Turf on our away game Saturdays.
Cheers BFC.
1:11pm Sat 14 Apr 12
A Darener says...
3:58pm Sat 14 Apr 12
Bazzer says...
Knowing my luck, I will recall the Palace play off match!
5:50pm Sat 14 Apr 12
Morst The 88th Min Heartbreaker of Dingles! says...
.
Its the 3 "R's" now...
.
Relegation
Recrimination
Remorse.
.
Lets make sure the fans are together and it is aimed where it should be - 100% Kean and Venkys. Anything elase would be pathetic.
.
Just heard Kean on Radio Lancs saying all shoulders should be behind the wheel. What about all the ones who are not like Samba and Givet for example he was asked and the press officer pulled him out of the interview. Sad or what?
.
Kean Out!
Venkys - Where is the money?
.
34th Year And Still Counting
6:00pm Sat 14 Apr 12
Bazzer says...
You got your wish, remember.
Up Rovers!!!
6:26pm Sat 14 Apr 12
Morst The 88th Min Heartbreaker of Dingles! says...
.
To be fair Baz if you go back 18 months then Rovers fans just like Newcastle fans before them and West Ham fans now are less than excited by Big Sams style of football.
.
When Venkys came in they promised Big investment and we all expected a Mark Hughes, Martin O'Neil or Benitez etc quality manager with a budget. None of us wanted Kean and it was the start of the lies and broken promises from Kean and Venkys?
.
Lets not get at each other - lets get them out together and build again -the spirit of "now in 3 but it don't worry me"
.
Loads of Rovers fans on Radio Lancs to night -none renewing ST's if Kean stays - Action Group - this week is your time!
.
Have a stiff drink or 3 pal -I am!
.
34th..........
6:26pm Sat 14 Apr 12
Morst The 88th Min Heartbreaker of Dingles! says...
.
To be fair Baz if you go back 18 months then Rovers fans just like Newcastle fans before them and West Ham fans now are less than excited by Big Sams style of football.
.
When Venkys came in they promised Big investment and we all expected a Mark Hughes, Martin O'Neil or Benitez etc quality manager with a budget. None of us wanted Kean and it was the start of the lies and broken promises from Kean and Venkys?
.
Lets not get at each other - lets get them out together and build again -the spirit of "now in 3 but it don't worry me"
.
Loads of Rovers fans on Radio Lancs to night -none renewing ST's if Kean stays - Action Group - this week is your time!
.
Have a stiff drink or 3 pal -I am!
.
34th..........
6:28pm Sat 14 Apr 12
Stone Island. says...
etelegraph.co.uk/spo
rt/football/blackbur
n_rovers/news/964964
6.Kean___Givet_not_i
n_right_frame_of_min
d_/
YOU LYING B'STARD!
6:40pm Sat 14 Apr 12
Morst The 88th Min Heartbreaker of Dingles! says...
.
34th Year And Counting!
6:50pm Sat 14 Apr 12
A Darener says...
7:02pm Sat 14 Apr 12
Stone Island. says...
I'm afraid there is. Because anyone that has renewed their season ticket, IS supporting the current, corrupt regime.
Kean OUT! Venky's OUT! Anderson OUT! Hunt OUT! Corruption OUT! Censorship OUT! Investigative journalism IN!
10:47pm Sat 14 Apr 12
Marky mark says...
6:52am Sun 15 Apr 12
smellthecoffee says...
http://www1.skysport
s.com/football/news/
12383/7672917/
.
A glance at Kean's wikipedia page will reveal the truth about this man. He is nothing more than a charlatan. He spent 3 years at Celtic, didn't score and never even got a single first team game....he then went on to play for Swansea (Division 4) played 4 times....then on to the mighty Alloa Athletic where he managed to play once....before ending his illustrious career at the likes of Bath City and Newbury Town in the Isthmian League Division Two.
.
There you have it.....Kean (in his 'professional' career) played a total of 5 times in 5 years. How this qualifies him to manage and coach a Premier League team (and collect a multi-million pound salary) is surely beyond anybody's comprehension. He was a pathetically failed player and now he's a pathetically failed manager. He must have the worst cv in football history...yet gets rewarded with lucrative contracts and calls for him to be manager of the season!!!! I feel like I've woken up in a world full of morons.
8:36am Sun 15 Apr 12
Morst The 88th Min Heartbreaker of Dingles! says...
So that figure is pretty damming?
.
Massive Kean Out chant next week if he is not sacked beforehand. We are already down so it can't affect the team who gave up yesterday anyway. I would try anything for the next 4 games ..... Souness? Or Faz and Big Col with TP as advisor?
.
Kean Out!
2:44pm Sun 15 Apr 12
stick to football says...
If Kean is such a good Manager maybe his friend at OT will let him manage Man U next season and he will be able to prove himself
A clearout starting at the top and building fro the future with young players like Henley, Lowe Morris but I would be surprised if there was a rush to Ewood for our players - one or two may make a squad player at best
Wonder what the odds are on Kean going within the next 6 weeks ?
10:36pm Sun 15 Apr 12
globetrot says...