PFA rallies to side of ‘pensioner’ Morten Gamst Pedersen

Singh referred to Rovers’ 30-year-old long-serving Norwegian as “a pensioner” at an open meeting with fans last weekend and stated under-fire manager Steve Kean would be dismissed if he lost three consecutive npower Championship games early in the season. He has since apologised but that has failed to satisfy the PFA, who claim his comments upset a number of the club’s players.

“The PFA have been in discussions with the players at Blackburn Rovers in relation to the recent comments made by Shebby Singh,” read the statement. “We share their considerable disappointment that anyone connected to Blackburn Rovers would make such disrespectful comments about a player like Morten Gamst Pedersen.”

The statement continued: “Personal criticism of this nature is never acceptable and the players are shocked that someone from within their club has seen fit to make such comments. Whilst accepting that anyone can have an opinion on football, someone in such a position of responsibility should be more mindful of the comments he makes, particularly when you consider what a valuable member of the team Morten is.

“Any comments that are made should be based on fact, and it is our understanding that the club’s statistics on Prozone over the last season completely disproves any such uninformed views.

“He [Singh] should be mindful of bringing the game and the club into disrepute and being completely disrespectful to a player who has served Blackburn Rovers with distinction during his eight-year career.

“The situation has not been helped by the subsequent apology which didn’t seem to retract the comments, rather Mr Singh simply implied he was ‘too honest for his own good’.

“The PFA are very concerned about this situation and naturally we are fully supportive of Morten and the other players at Blackburn Rovers.”