[Archived] Favourite Blackburn Manager?

[Amo]

Who is your favourite Blackburn manager of all-time, and why?

Mine would have to be Souness. I know his last season was a bit of a debacle, but before that we enjoyed some great seasons and he brought in some great footballers to the club - Tugay, Berkovic, Cole, Sukur, Friedel, and he also got the best out of Dunn, Duff, and Jansen. Those are the years I really remember enjoying as a Blackburn fan. But aside from that, I always found Souness to be a very honest and authoritative individual who was good to have representing us.

[dinglebasher]

There really isn't any need for a debate, has to be King Kenny.

[3rdpillar]

what he said ^^^^

[Amo]

There really isn't any need for a debate, has to be King Kenny.

Which is probably why it's called favourite and not best Blackburn manager, eh?

[DingleBaiter]

I hate picking favourites, it's unfair given the transience of a situation, especially in football given the amount of emotion, and how quickly things change. For instance, Kenny would be most people's obvious choice given he was the figurehead for a surreal time at the club where we achieved beyond our wildest expectations.

To me, a manager is just that - someone that can manage players and achieve results with what he has at a base level; for instance, I like to see managers than can achieve consistently, sometimes in different teams, without recourse to simply buying loads of players and hoping it works. Plus, we tend to judge managers & players on reflection, rather than at the time - and history can be twisted.

I never really had a liking for Souness, Ince, or Hughes based on obvious factors before they came to us. However, once they were managers it's different isn't it? I cringed when we appointed Souness, had to accept I was wrong once he won us a cup, the players he brought in, promoted, etc. only to feel sourfaced when he decided to either chase our best players away or try to break their legs at Brockhall. Likewise Hughes, I actually feel he brought our club on more across every level season-on-season than anyone in more realistic enviroment than what Kenny had, arguably therefore could he be viewed as a better manager? Dalglish achieved so much only to risk it all by what I perceive as 'doing a Keegan' and turning his back on us, then milking us. Hindsight hey?

I'd rather say my favourite manager is whoever is the current one, as he's the one we've got our hopes in and we can all dream he's going turn us into Champions League winners. At least we don't have history against us to cloud our judgement; after all we've been fortunate in recent times in having some good managers, but some turned to the dark side and it tinged us.

[yoda]

Gordon Lee, before he got his Newcastle head on

[andrew92]

as i cant remember mch before king kenny!!! i dont have many to choose from, but it has to be souness for me, The promotion, AT NORTH END!! getting into europe a and going to the millenium stadium, and the main reason that he brought tugay to the club for pence!!

[Hughesy]

Its tough, its either King Kenny or Souness.

King Kenny for the league, Shearer, being one of the best teams in the league for 3 seasons. Bad point - not sticking at it and securing us a 2nd league title.

Souness for Tugay/ Friedel, Promotion & League Cup. Bad point being the last 6 months of his time.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Souness.....

The club was a complete shambles when he took over and was heading for Div 2 oblivion....yes, we had fallen so far so quickly that even the Dingles were above us in the league for a while,it was shameful

The promotion winning game at Nob End and that wonderful day out in Cardiff will always stay with me and many I'm sure.

The game at Celtic park were Souness saluted the travelling Rovers fans with a raised fist infront of the baying Celts was a classic moment.

Made mistakes towards the end of his tenure but nobody is perfect,his time had come to an end.It would appear even a dry Scotsman like Souey has x10 the charisma and persona that Ince has....has to my knowledge never bad mouthed the club or made snide remarks.

Won more than Dalglish,Harford,Hodgson and the disaster Kidd put together.

[Blue n White Rover]

Mark Hughes for me. Yes he has bad mouthed the club in recent weeks since his departure to Middle Eastlands. However, with Sparky you always knew the team would go out there and put up a fight. You looked forward to the games against United, Arsenal etc. His tactics were usually spot on (i.e United) and he had a fighting spirit about him. Usually going a goal down at HT would mean Rovers going on to lose a game, however, he must have a bloody good team talk because in the second half it would be a complete different Rovers.

One game I will always remember is the game against Charlton in the cup. 2-0 down and looked like we were down and out. However, a remarkable comeback saw us win 3-2. 2 cup semis, Arsenal was a bit of a disaster but the Chelsea game was a cracker. Great atmosphere and will always be a game remembered by many Rovers fans. Gave us a good run in Europe in his first season, however, towards the end we were woeful, but still left us with a lot of good memories and for that I will always be thankful to SParky. Best of luck Hughesy (your gonna need it)

[Ninjathunder]

King Kenny

[1864roverite]

How can noone mention Howard Kendall ? We played some seriously good football under his leadership.

[Presty On Tour]

Tony Parkes, the best caretaker manager in the universe

[Bobby G]

Souness for me. He had a no nonsense approach and I thought we played some of our best football during his first couple of years, especially the 6th place season.

I grew tired of ladyluck and the shambles of the last few months but I liked him and still do.

[Jan]

Dalglish followed by Hughes.

Least favourite is becoming more of a toss-up than I ever thought possible.

[M-K]

Souness for me. He always seemed as though he just plain liked Blackburn Rovers more than any of the others except maybe Don Mackay. Also it was great to know that our manager could probably beat the living crap out of the opposition manager and half their team at once if things kicked off in the tunnel.

[Grabbi Graeme]

I would have to go for Souness as well, bringing us back into the Prem, the Worthy cup win and getting into europe, ok the last months of his management went downhill and as someone has metioned he has never bad mouthed the club.

[hawaii501]

Got to be Sparky. I'd say he's the best Rovers manager of all time. He didnt have the money King Kenny did but if he did we'd have been Premier League title contenders.

1. Hughes

2. King Kenny

3. Souness

[dave birch]

John Carey, the first version, by a country mile.

[Bobby G]

Got to be Sparky. I'd say he's the best Rovers manager of all time. He didnt have the money King Kenny did but if he did we'd have been Premier League title contenders.

1. Hughes

2. King Kenny

3. Souness

Thats nonsense about him being the greatest manager of all time. Lets not forget that we have won two trophies in the past 15 years, and you seem to consider Hughes ahead of them. No way. Souness' reign was more a success in my opinion. Souness kept on knocking close to 4th place, I thought, at least relatively. Sparky stabilized a sinking ship and made us a good top half side.

[Billy Castell]

Dalglish followed by Hughes.

Least favourite is becoming more of a toss-up than I ever thought possible.

You actually like any of our managers? Crikey.

[Jan]

You actually like any of our managers? Crikey.

There's only 2 I haven't liked. But I couldn't expect someone of your limitations to notice that.

[Amo]

There's only 2 I haven't liked. But I couldn't expect someone of your limitations to notice that.

Whooooo?

[Billy Castell]

There's only 2 I haven't liked. But I couldn't expect someone of your limitations to notice that.

I was being cheeky. You really are a charmer aren't you?

[Fife Rover]

John Carey, the first version, by a country mile.

You beat me to it Dave; I was just about to say exactly what you said. My reasons for saying it are that Carey was not just a good manager in terms of spotting, buying, and selling players, but was the best I have ever seen (at any club) in calm leadership, ability to handle players, tactics (as they were at that time) etc. He was simply the complete package, and IMO the perfect football club manager. We have had a number of good managers since most of which have been mentioned above by various posters, but none of them were the complete package that Johnny Carey was.