In the final analysis it was not a single game which defined Blackburn Rovers season and prevented a tilt at the Championship Play Offs but rather a curious mixture of form and results interspersed throughout the season, together with the sort of inconsistencies clearly recognisable and familiar in the Championship. In the end, it’s not the losses that kill you, it’s the draws – ask Preston North End.

I thought the events of last season would be difficult to replicate but I was wrong. No sooner had John Eustace given the impression that some sort of normality had been restored both on and off the pitch than it became evident that all was not well and the lingering doubts harboured by supporters were beginning to surface again.

The scenario was not far removed from the concerns expressed, more forcibly, by his predecessor – the lack of transparency, the uncertainty regarding funding and the need to meet the needs of the Rovers squad.

Personalities, in some areas, had changed – for Gregg Broughton, read Rudy Gestede who apparently was pursuing an internship at the club and has since found himself in a key and apparently influential position within the club.

To his credit, Eustace was beginning to fashion a squad of players in his own image and had given the Rovers a hard-edged quality which made them not only difficult to beat but created an aura of a team which no opposition enjoyed playing against. A 7-game unbeaten league start to the season followed by a 7-game spell which rendered just the 1 win set the pattern of inconsistency. The 6 straight wins flattered to deceive, however, and were in sharp focus to Eustace’s final 11 matches in charge which combined 2 wins, 2 draws and 7 defeats.

Speculation surrounding his departure often fell wide of the mark and in the end came down to a decision that only he alone could make. David Lowe kept ticking things over nicely with 2 hard earned wins and a loss, prior to the arrival of Valerién Ismäel a somewhat surprising and left field appointment given his proclivity to jump ship at the earliest opportunity.

Ismael’s arrival didn’t produce the usual new manager bounce, rather the opposite. Yet after a disastrous start, there was a Rovers resurgence,and they rallied and ended the season on a high. His 11-game record reading 4 wins, 2 draws, 5 defeats. 

Both coaches deserve credit given the “noises off” and the continuing supporter distrust manifesting itself against the owners and the Ewood hierarchy. I’ve never been convinced that football or ownership of the Rovers holds any particular interest for the owners which begs the question of why they are still here. 

The pretence that Jack Walker’s legacy would be preserved is total nonsense. Their ownership over the past 15 years has been largely one of mis-selling the product, intransigence, lack of transparency, engineering a disconnect with the fan base and being economical with the truth.

Even the recent interview attempt by the hierarchy to mollify supporters has proved disastrous and has only exacerbated their already tenuous position. Their pretence appears to be if you say something often enough people will eventually begin to believe it to be true. 

Overall, it highlights the notion of the futility of attempting something in the absence of any foundation.

Madame Desai’s much quoted protection of the Jack Walker legacy has been seen as being hollow words since at no point have the owners paid due deference to that legacy or the Rovers’ illustrious history and standing in the game.

Like his predecessors, one suspects that Ismäel’s patience and professionalism will be tested to the full during the close season and beyond. Indeed, that will extend to supporters too.

 Back in the late 1960s, that fine football writer, Brian Glanville wrote “It is hard to say where football is going; at the moment, one feels nowhere very good.” 

I get that in every sense that might just apply to the Rovers, particularly since in addition to the relegated parachute assisted relegated Premier League clubs; Birmingham and Wrexham with their burgeoning resources, together with others including Derby County will far outstrip the Rovers capacity to compete in the marketplace.

 This is not a drill.