<strong>Steve Kean</strong> says he is loving his new life in <strong>Brunei</strong> and hopes to stay for a lengthy time after being talked into the unusual move by the oil-rich sultanate's sports-loving crown prince. The former <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/sport/blackburn-rovers">Blackburn Rovers</a> manager joined obscure <strong>DPMM Brunei</strong> in October, 13 months after ending a two-year spell at Blackburn marked by fan protests and relegation from the <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/sport/english-premier-league">English Premier League</a>. He said he had no regrets about swapping northern England for south east Asia’s tiny, tropical Brunei, a footballing backwater, but one of the world’s wealthiest countries per capita. To give you an idea of the kind of football DPMM Brunei plays, check out this video from January 26 (and don't laugh too hard at the sold-out crowd they play in front of): "I'm very happy in here. I would like to be here for the long haul," said Kean, after opening his DPMM account with a 1-0 win over Albirex Niigata in <strong>Singapore's S-League</strong>. “I would like to stay and develop our club, and football is only going to get bigger here in years to come.” His DPMM tenure got off to a winning start on Saturday thanks to a first-half penalty from Brazilian midfielder Rodrigo Tosi, in front of about 1,000 fans at Singapore’s Jurong East stadium. With Brunei’s 400,000 population and domestic football too small for DPMM’s ambitions, they compete in the S-League in Singapore, meaning a two-hour flight for every away game. It is a far cry from the English Premier League, where Kean’s Blackburn would play in front of tens of thousands of fans watching some of the biggest names in football. But the Scot is unlikely to experience the vitriol that marked his time at Blackburn, where he was targeted by demonstrations and greeted by banners demanding “Kean out!” Kean endured sustained fury from fans after he was promoted in place of the sacked Sam Allardyce by the club’s owners, Indian poultry firm Venky’s, and oversaw relegation in 2012. He said he turned down other clubs, including Millwall, after Prince Al Muhtadee Billah, DPMM’s owner and one-time goalkeeper, and first in line to the throne. “I spoke with the crown prince and with the management of the club and they told me the ideas that they had for DPMM,” said Kean, 46. “It wasn’t necessarily the S-League as such that attracted me, but when I spoke with the crown prince and they told me how they want to take the team, how they want to improve the local players, how they want to try and help coach the coaches. “That’s going to be a part of my role as well, helping the coaches that we have in Brunei.” Kean said that backed by the crown prince, he hopes to win the S-League not just this season, but next year, as well as Singapore’s cup competition. <strong>* Agence France-Presse</strong>
