Former Blackburn boss Kean to coach Singapore league club

Posted Wednesday, October 23, 2013 by YAHOO Sport

SINGAPORE, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Former Blackburn Rovers boss Steve Kean has completed an unlikely deal to coach Brunei DPMM in the lowly Singapore S.League next season, club officials said on Tuesday.

The Scot had been out of work since stepping down from his role with former English champions Blackburn in September last year after overseeing their relegation from the Premier League and suffering a number of angry protests by fans.

The former Fulham, Real Sociedad and Coventry City assistant coach will replace Vjeran Simunic, who led Brunei to the League Cup last season. The club are seventh in the 12-team league which finishes in November.

Brunei DPMM officials confirmed the heavily speculated move as they also signed an agreement to continue participating in the relegation-free S.League for another two more years.

"He will come to Brunei in the middle of November," Brunei DPMM club manager Waslimin Momin told reporters. We want to change our style of play."

Local media said Kean would be the first former English Premier League manager to take charge of a club in the S.League, one of the weakest divisions in Asia with attendances often in the low hundreds.

Brunei DPMM joined the league in 2009, becoming the first team to play their home matches outside of Singapore at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium, and they won the League Cup.

The team returned last year after opting out of the S.League for two seasons and again enjoyed League Cup success.