New Manager is Mark Hughes

[ABBEY]

hows about george graham with short learning the ropes?

[Quack]

I would be happy to see Hughes back at Ewood - I suppose Strachan does give the best post match interviews. I would be less than happy to see El Tel / Glenda or Monsieur Houllier, just a real shame that Ranieri got a job so quickly - I would have been delighted for him to come to Ewood .

[HaLo]

Hughes or Strachan for me, but please not Mike Newell

[Brownie]

ooops geordies in chatroom not happy when i said they copied us with shearer ,batty,given,king kenny and soey ,i only said kidds next...grumpy gits

Didn't it all start with Gordon Lee? I wonder how many of the "passionate faithful" even remember him? NEWCASTLE UNITED the BLACKBURN ROVERS wannabees.

I only just remember him i was only a yunker back then

Who remembers the white paint daubed near the Boulevard which said

"Gordon Lee is God"

I was very young at the time and found the remark quite amazing.

[greggyk]

Alan Curbishley down to 12-1 from 60-1!!

would be ace if we got him

[Scotty]

This appointment is absolutely vital as it's imperative that we keep our Premiership place. We've seen what can happen to clubs that get relegated and we don't want to go there.

We'll probably struggle to attract a top foreign coach and even if we did, I'm not sure that's what we need right now. We also probably can't afford to poach a manager already in work.

So, we need someone who can coach the players well (or appoint a coach who can), who can wheel and deal in the transfer market - both home and abroad - without spending too much money, and someone who is tactically astute and can eek points out of games where were not at our best. There aren't many managers about who can do all that, but I believe Strachan is one of them. He's shown in the past that he's decent in the transfer market, he's certainly a better coach and tactician than Souness, and he seems keen to continue learning. He'd be my first choice.

After Strachan there isn't really anyone else who's got the necessary experience and fulfills the above criteria - so anyone else would be a gamble. But if we're going to gamble I'd rather do it on a young, up-and-coming, hungry manager rather than anyone who's failed in the past. Newell, Hughes, Dowie, Peter Jackson and Paul Jewell are all worthy of consideration imo.

I'd be devastated if we appointed any of Graham, Reid, Houllier or Venables and throwing untried managers like Shearer or Short into the job is just silly.

Strachan for me please.

[greggyk]

I'd be very happy with Graham. He has done excellent with every club he has managed. Won loads with Arsenal, made Leeds a top 6 team and won a league cup with spuds. He would have done more if he wasnt kicked out because he still loved Arsenal.

Him or Strachan I want. Not Mark Hughes(whats he done for Wales?With the players they have they should be qualifying for major champs) or Mike Newell. He's had 7 games ffs. I doubt luton will be able to stay top or even near it.

[Brownie]

Interesting story, hot off the news wire, troops ... "Martin O'Neill tonight shocked the scottish Football world by tendering his resignation at Celtic. The Irishman, a hero to all Hoops fans after guiding the Glasgow giants to three league titles and a UEFA Cup final in just four years, leaves to take up the reins at English Premiership side Blackburn Rovers.

"Just hours after the news broke that Graeme Souness had left Ewood Park to become manager of Newcastle United, Martin O'Neill has been unveiled as the suprise replacement in the Blackburn Rovers hot seat.

"Celtic fans throughout the world are desperately trying to come to terms with the sudden departure of a man widely believed to be the club's greatest manager since Jock Stein.

"As Rovers Chairman John Williams announced to reporters outside Blackburn's ground that a formal press conference on Souness' replacement would be held tommorow morning, O'Neill was hurried into a car at the other side of the stadium. However, those cameras which did catch sight of the new Rovers boss saw a man clearly upset to be walking out on his beloved SPL Champions.

"In a brief statement, O'Neill admitted he was sad to be leaving Scotland but that the lure of a return to the Premiership had proved irresistable. With the Tottenham and Liverpool jobs going to high-profile foreign coaches in the summer and no sign of Sir Alex Ferguson leaving Manchester United in the near future, the filling of the Newcastle vacancy convinced O'Neill he'd have to take the next available position if he wanted to rejoin the league he tonight described as "the most exciting in the world".

"It's Williams has been keeping tabs on the former Nottingham Forest and Northern Ireland player and ex Leicester City manager ever since O'Neill's Celtic defeated Blackburn home and away in the 2002/2003 UEFA Cup.

"As he was driven through the small throng of journalists, O'Neill admitted to one cheeky hack that he was very much looking forward to working with former Rangers players, Barry Ferguson, Lorenzo Amoruso and Tugay Kerimoglu.

"His first duty at Ewood Park will be to complete the signing of on-loan USA international midfielder Myred Herring."

HMMMM! WONDER WHO THEY'LL GET IN NEXT AT PARK-NED? IS WEE ADVOCAAT STILL LOOKING FUR A JOAB...?

Had me going as well !

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Tango]

That was doing the rounds on the 606 board's earlier today. Got a lot of gullible people very hysterical very quickly.

[zman]

I know Fatih Terim is looking for a job. I wonder if he and Rovers would consider one another. He is know as Emporer in Turkey and the brain behing the success of National as well as Galatsaray Teams.

Good Luck with your search for a new manager. I hope they get a good one.

Cheers from Istanbul

[tchocky]

Whoever it is they have to have experience or be a fans favourite. They have to operate with a limited budget, and they must be advocates of a attractive, attacking football as it is a policy of the club to play entertaining football. So we won't see the likes of George Graham, Neil Warnock or Egil Olsen etc...

We also won't see people who love to splash the cash, I'd imagine. So that should rule out Hoddle, Houllier, Dalglish (he wouldn't come anyway). JW will probably be aware of the need for more competent man-management as well. Can't see us going for a european name. It's likely to be british.

I think the following are the only realistic candidates:

- Mark Hughes or Mike Newell (for the fans, not experience)

- Walter Smith or Peter Reid (recommended by Souness)

- Strachan or an unknown applicant (don't understand what all the hype about the little scot is though. His record is not exactly impressive. Being funny is not enough.)

I'm holding out for the unknown applicant, as none of the names put forward appear to be either a: exciting or b: realistic with the exception of maybe Newell and Hughes who IMO have a lot to prove. Whoever it is, I'm prepared to give a fighting chance before writing him off (unless it's Hoddle of course!).

[super_neill]

- Strachan or an unknown applicant (don't understand what all the hype about the little scot is though. His record is not exactly impressive. Being funny is not enough.)

I would like to see Strachan appointed as manager. He would definately have some sort of idea about tactics and freshen up the team. I don't think we would play boring football under him unlike if Houlier took over so what have we got to lose?

[herbergeehh]

Relegation, financial collapse and Conference football in three years time?

[grizfoot]

Current Odds from Betfair

Hughes - 5/1

Strachan - 9/1

Newell - 11/1

Advocatt, Hoddle - 15/1

Houlier, Jewell - 16/1

Venable - 32/1

Dowie - 38/1

Reid, Adams, Jones - 40/1

Better odds at Betfair so if your gonna bet i suggest you bet there.

[Jan]

OH good- I might get to sing one of my favourite songs again:

He's bald, he's fat,

He is a f***ing T*at

Advocaat, Advocaat!!!

Oh, I'm not supposed to sing derogatory songs about my manager, am I . DAMN.

[Hasta]

I wouldn't start worrying too much yet over getting Dick as manager. There's only £350 been traded on him in total which is hardly enough money nationwide to start us panicking. Compare that to Mark Hughes where there's over £10,000 on him with single bets of over £300 regularly occuring and it puts Mr Advocat into the shade a bit.

However don't get too bothered about Betfair. I remember about a year ago John Williams denying a London Evening Standard report that Souey was off to Tottenham as absolute nonsense. Souness' price still contracted to about 1.8 where I layed him for a nice sum. he was back out to 5's the day after.

[herbergeehh]

Fascinating.. I wish I was a psychiatrist, if I become one I'll make sure someone calls you Jan - you'll be my favourite patient I'm sure.

[Craigman]

http://www.skybet.com/skybet?action=Redire...&actid=10181791

Paul Jewell has been suspended any reason for this ?

[S15]

Again, unless 14/1 is code for suspended, I cannot see where this has come from.

Also if it is true it's probably cos Rodders has just been bigging him up on Sky.

[Cheeky Sidders]

Well, apart from the outsatnding candidate (me, obviously - unfortunately I'm too busy with other projects) I think we can safely say that the Rovers board will be looking at a shortlist from the candidates discussed thus far. The emphasis will be on staying in the Premiership, remaining financially stable and building for the future. As such a tried and tested hand will be the favourite to succeed.

If so, that would rule out the likes of Shearer, Newell and Hughes, which is a major shame in my opinion. Then again, it also rules out Saunders so it's not all bad.

The need for financially stability appears to have been the zeitgeist of recent seasons such that rules out shady crooks like Graham and Venables.

We also have to discount all the exotic no-chance candidates such as Hitzfeld and any other foreigners who couldn't find Blackburn on a map even with an atlas and an innumerable number of pins.

I think we can also rule out London managers in safe positions such as Curbishley and Coleman as they're not going to risk a step into the unknown.

Ever since the advent of Dalglish, all subsequent managerial appointments have been generally predicted weeks in advance and with the exception of Hodgson (and the abortive attempt to sign the dishonourable Ericsson), they've always been "safe appointments" of grey men, so I can't see a return of Dalglish or any dream combination featuring Shearer. We also need someone who can work with no cash, so Dalglish is definitely out. A pity as I'd love to see a Dalglish/Shearer partnership in charge. Oh well, we can dream.

What about dear old Glenda. Try as I have, I can't find a proper reason to rule him out of the running and I only hope and pray he is installed at Southampton without further delay. His appointment would seriously make me question renewing my season ticket.

So, boys and girls, that largely leaves us with Strachan and Houllier. While neither fires my imagination, I think I'd probably settle for Strachan.

[USABlue]

Dick Advocaat, no, I would not want any manager named after the reason he was born. One Dick and too much advocaat. Now, what I was going to say is let's try to keep this serious with realistic rumours. The O'Neill one wound me up too much (thanks Brownie) Gonna be one heck of a ride.

I have found it very interesting that some of Souness' strongest critics are now nowhere to be found, could it be that when called on the mat they crap themselves or are they staying out of it because they have ALREADY made up their minds that whoever the new boss is he's crap?

For some strange reason I think that is the case. The tossers are all too quick to criticize but when asked to put their omniscient reputations on the line they hide. Prefering not to share with us their choices but wait till the man is in place then WHAM let 'em have it.

BTW, Jewell is a good bet, thinking about it. He's done well, with a small critical crowd, nice ground, stable finances etc. Let's not forget this too... there is a Rovers connection. Mr Whelan is still an avid Rovers fan, perhaps Jewell comes with his recommendation, sort of shooting yourself in the fooot, but never the less a possibility? Not a bad choice either.

[LeChuck]

I'm quite suprised by the amount of people who want Strachan. He did a poor job at Coventry and a half decent one at Southampton...if it wasn't for his high media profile because of his good interviews I doubt many people would be picking him.

His league finishes range from average to poor (don't forget it was Hoddle who started Southampton's rise from relegation strugglers to a safe mid-table team) and whilst reaching the FA Cup was a decent achievement, would you be happy if Dennis Wise was appointed? At Southampton he left behind a very average team and hasn't, as far as I can see, made any really good signings for them.

He has been known to make the odd weird decision himself...I was quite suprised in the World Cup coverage when he claimed Scholes playing left midfield for England was ideal because then Ashley Cole could have the entire left side to himself.

As much as I love the man for comedy value...I don't think he is the man for us and I can't think of a good reason why he should be given the job.

[speeeeeeedie]

Please no Peter Reid. He shouts and screams players up the league for a season, then it all goes south. See Leeds, City, and Sunderland. He had a hand in all their demises in recent history. He may have not been the major cause (Leeds) but he didn't do anyone any favours. Fans have been moaning about Souness' treatment of players, he's a saint compared to Reidy. However he is a mate of Terry Darracott our chief scout. Players have too much ego these days to be bothered to listen to ranting, they need a boss with charisma, much like Eriksson has (I'm not debating his tactics but all the players really like him so they play for him). We need a coach to do the training and a motivator to do the managing a la Harford - Dalglish.

[Shevchenko]

Relegation, financial collapse and Conference football in three years time?

What are you on about, we're not talking about Newcastle here...?

[Tris]

Well what a start to the week.

Souness is lured from Blackburn by the chance to prove himself against the very best clubs ... on the nearest thing in the English premier league to a level playing field. Let's face it - Arsenal, Man Utd or Chelsea weren't about to come calling for Souey. Liverpool is history, and Newcastle - on paper at least - is the next best thing.

This is the club that was waving £24 million hard cash at Everton last week for Rooney. Only Man Utd get bigger crowds. You really cannot fault the man for wanting to take this challenge on.

Rovers have lost a born winner, a competitor, and a manager who far too many on this site have been too quick to diss and now discard.

The vibes at games - home and away - have been very different from what is portrayed on these pages. A few individuals have made this forum into an anti-Souness collective and anyone who uses this as their sole window onto the Rovers world is not getting the real picture. He may not be as popular now as he was after promotion, Cardiff and 6th in the league, but the vast majority of Rovers fans remained solidly behind Souness.

And when the dust has settled, his record at Rovers will read as above - promotion, League Cup win, Europe via 6th in the league. End of story. The records won't register touchline bans, falling out with jumped up has been strikers, or criticism on the internet from saddos trying to get noticed.

The records will show that Souness, in his time in the Prem at Rovers, had more success than any other Prem manager bar Ferguson Wenger and Houllier.

That said, I don't wish him well at Newcastle. I wish him the best of good health and no more. Rovers will move on, and I'll trust John Williams and the decision makers to make the best appointment for the club. I have a preference, but what's the point in saying ? I won't be staring into the eyes of the candidates and staking the future of our club on the resultant choice.

I've no doubt that the knives will be out from some supporters as soon as the new man is appointed, just as they were for Souness 4 1/2 years ago. If we get 4 1/2 years with as much enjoyment it'll be a miracle.

My biggest hopes are that the entertainment carries on, and that the idiot nay-saying fans get behind whoever it is. I think the latter is probably too much to ask.

Only 12 months ago we were revelling in the publicity from the fans games against Gencler. 23 months ago we played Arsenal and Celtic in the same week and were firmly in the football spotlight.

As fans, we have to thank Souness for those moments in the sun. Whoever comes in next has one hell of a job to bring us more magic moments like those. And an even harder job to bring miserable of Blackburn back into football reality.