We Rovers fans really are having it tough at the moment.

Saturday's 4-1 home defeat to Coventry was one of the most depressing, and embarrassing scorelines we have had to endure in a long time, and a number of cracks seem to be appearing in the impressive regime that Mark Hughes has built up in his time at Rovers.

Forget the seven points out of nine that we have picked up over the last couple of weeks in the league, you have to go back to just before Mark Hughes won the accursed Manager of the Month Award in October to provide an example of a truly impressive Rovers performance over 90 minutes.

Sparky really must be tearing his already greying hair out, as Rovers have slumped from being possible Champions League outsiders to playing some of the worst football I have seen at Ewood for some time.

Our defence, which not so long ago appeared to be among the most solid in the league, is now the greatest cause for concern.

Thankfully we find ourselves in a transfer window which gives the manager some chance to make some changes to a side in need of a serious kick up the backside.

But whether the board will back him with the cash which seems to be readily available to pretty much every other club in the Premiership remains to be seen.

I firmly believe that good players do not suddenly become bad ones overnight, but a couple of new faces may just give the side the lift it needs and take the pressure off a couple of our stars, most notably in defence, who appear to be suffering an alarming downturn in form.

Only last season players like Ryan Nelsen and Chris Samba were being lauded as two of the finest centre halves to pull on the hallowed Blue and White Halves in recent years.

Now I doubt they would even get a game at Turf Moor, where only Burnley's similarly poor run of form, after initially hailing Owen Coyle as the Second Coming, is preventing me from getting any serious grief at work in recent weeks!

I also get the gut feeling that it isn't just the players on the pitch that are contributing to our slide at the moment, and perhaps the sooner the likes of Robbie Savage and Jason Roberts make their moves the better, allowing Sparky to move forward with the players he wants, without unwanted distractions.

Rovers desperately need a top quality midfielder to provide some spark and leadership during our games, but such quality doesn't come cheap.

I always like to remain as positive as I can when writing this blog, even in such times of adversity, and it is important to point out that going into the second half of the season Rovers find themselves only six points off 4th spot, with only the league to concentrate on, whilst most of the sides above us are still fighting on several fronts.

The form of players such as Penalty-King Brad Friedel, England's Number 7 Elect David Bentley, and Goal-Machine Roque Santa Cruz are all reasons to be optimistic that the second half of the season can be a good one albeit with the right additions to the playing staff.

The question is now; does the Board have the ambition to match Mark Hughes?

  • Paul Salmon writes a Blackburn Rovers fan blog on the Lancashire Telegraph website. If you'd like to write a fan blog - for Burnley, Accrington Stanley, Blackburn Rovers or any other East Lancs sports team - click here to email the sports editor.