Blackburn Boss Signs Long-Term Contract

Blackburn owners have awarded caretaker boss Steve Kean a contract extension to keep him in charge at Ewood Park until the summer of 2013, Indian owners decided to sack Allardyce and put Kean in temporary charge in December.

Kean was initially appointed until the end of the season and the owner’s feels he had done enough to be rewarded with an extension.

Kean joined Rovers as first-team coach in 2009 and is relishing the challenge of trying to take the club forward over the next two-and-a-half years.

He told the club's official website: "I am delighted to commit my future to Rovers at the start of what I see as a massively exciting new era for the club.

"The owners have shown great faith in me and I will do all I can to repay them.

"This is a great opportunity for me and I intend to grasp it with both hands."

Venky's chairperson Anuradha Desai fully expects Kean to be successful in the job after being impressed by what she has seen from him so far.

"We have great confidence in Steve, someone who impresses us with his work ethic, enthusiasm, positivity and football philosophy," she said.

"We feel that the playing squad is in very safe and capable hands and we look forward to working with him.

"Stability is very important to us and this contract is further evidence of our desire to achieve such stability at the club."

Roque Santa-Cruz Rejoins Blackburn

Blackburn Rovers have secured the return of Roque Santa Cruz from Manchester City, the Paraguayan will join the club on loan until the end of the season, the striker netted 23 times from 57 games for Blackburn during the 2007/2009 seasons before signing for Manchester City for 17.5 .

However that 29-year-old has struggled to maintain a first team place and City manager Mancini has happy to let the striker go out on loan, Santa-Cruz is Steve Kean’s newest signing since taking over at Blackburn and he would like to make the move permanent if he impresses.

"Roque had a fantastic time when he was first here and he showed his quality," said Kean. "Hopefully he'll do that again until the end of the season.

"It's massive from his point of view because he doesn't have to settle in at a new club. He's coming back to a place that was special to him and I'm sure he's going to deliver just as good or even better.

"We're trying to speak to Manchester City at the moment regarding an option about signing Roque at the end of the season, so we don't know about that yet.

"It's something we'll ask for, but we don't know if they'll commit to it."