Blackburn Rovers legend Brad Friedel has admitted ‘it breaks my heart’ to see the club struggle in the Championship.
Friedel enjoyed a brilliant spell with Blackburn between 2000 and 2008, making more than 300 appearances for the club during their most successful period of the 21st century in the Premier League.
The Ewood Park outfit earned promotion to the Premier League during his spell and consolidated their position in the top flight, becoming known for punching above their weight.
But since their relegation back to the Championship in 2012, it has been a tough ride for the club – having even been demoted to League One in 2017 for one season.
Forever fighting against it
And Friedel admits his former club are now ‘forever fighting against it’ following the sale of the club to the Venky’s.
Speaking to Jackpot City Casino, Friedel said: “It breaks my heart to see Blackburn Rovers struggling.
“During my eight and a half years there, under the Walker Trust and great executives like John Williams, we qualified for Europe six times and had incredible players like Andy Cole, Dwight York, Matt Jansen, Damian Duff, David Dunn, Roke Santa Cruz, Benny McCarthy, Craig Bellamy, Tudgay, Ryan Nelsen, Chris Samba, Morten Gamst Pedersen.
“We had really good teams, André Ooijer, Lucas Neill, tons of players that did a great job there.
“And it was a real shame that after the sale of the club it just didn’t seem to click and right now they’re forever fighting against it.
Detached from top teams
“The more years that go on, the more detached they become from the top clubs when it comes to finances.
“So then it all becomes about recruitment and you have to get that just absolutely categorically spot on and have everything go right for you in the season to be able to fight to try to get in the play-offs.
“I think a couple of times they’ve been knocking on that door, but they’ve been doing it just without having the top budgets, which is fine.
“Coventry got promoted, having the 20th largest budget.
“It’s not all about that, but recruiting into Blackburn is a lot more difficult than recruiting into Birmingham and London.
“I hope Tony Mowbray can pull some magic out of his hat.”
It has been another tough start to the season for Blackburn in the Championship, as they sit 15th in the table after seven matches with eight points.
However, their spirits would have risen after beating Millwall 3-1 at home on Saturday.
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