WHEN Blackburn Rovers captain Grant Hanley takes to the field in the final game of the Championship campaign he will be making his 200th appearance for the club that has grown to become his own.

Remarkably those appearances have come under six different full-time managers and, providing he starts the 2016-17 season at Ewood Park, his 201st will be granted by boss number seven after Paul Lambert announced his decision to leave after tomorrow’s home showdown with Reading.

MORE TOP STORIES:

“There’s not too much I can say or do about that,” said Hanley when asked for his thoughts on the turnaround of Rovers managers since Sam Allardyce handed the centre-back his debut in a 1-0 win at Aston Villa on the final day of the 2009-10 season.

“In football, and especially being at Blackburn Rovers, you learn pretty quickly to focus on the things you can control. That’s not on who the manager is or who the new manager is going to be; that’s coming in everyday and working hard, and trying to be the best player you can be.

“You need to work hard for whoever is in charge at the time. You have to be professional and focus on your own job.”

But, as an Academy graduate who has risen through the ranks since joining Rovers as a 16-year-old, the Scotland international admits there have been times when it has got to him more.

And Hanley is sad to see Lambert go the same way as his predecessor Gary Bowyer.

“Since day one when he (Lambert) came in I liked the way he did things and I liked his manner and the way he was with the players,” said the 24-year-old.

“It’s disappointing, like every time a manager has left. But you’ve got to be professional, focus on your own job, and when the new manager comes in, keep working hard.

“In football anything can happen at any given time. When Gary left we were just as surprised when the gaffer said he was leaving. That’s football and you learn pretty quickly to deal with things like that.

“You’ve just got to focus on yourself and make sure the lads are together and working hard for each other.”

Hanley has certainly been focused this season. Indeed had his team-mates managed to match his level of consistency they would not be languishing in 15th.

He said: “We are not where we want to be in the league. It’s been disappointing. There’s no point beating about the bush or say we’ve been unlucky. We’ve not been good enough.

“We’ve played well, and really well, at times but we’ve not taken what we really needed. Teams at the top end of the league are there because they deserve it. It’s been a disappointing season.

“Losing players is a factor but I still think we’ve got a strong squad here and I feel we’re every bit as strong if not stronger than what we were in the first half of the season.

“The bottom line is we haven’t performed enough. There have been times when we should have ground out results and we’ve not done it. The lads feel we’ve got enough quality to be in the top half of the table.”