Harford admits he considered standing down

Football

Football

GUY HODGSON

Ray Harford admitted yesterday that he had contemplated asking Kenny Dalglish to resume control at Blackburn Rovers before he appointed Derek Fazackerley as first-team coach to halt the slide in form by the champions.

Dalglish has been elevated to a position of director of football to allow Harford, his former assistant, to become manager. The change has not brought success with only one win in the Premiership and a 1-0 defeat by Spartak Moscow in their opening Champions League game.

Explaining that he was to take a more "hands off" role to allow Fazackerley, who was formerly at Newcastle, his head, Harford said: "Maybe I got too close to things after being coach for four years. I needed to step back a bit and observe.

"We needed a change of personnel or else it was going to be too much of the same. A different face was needed, a different voice."