New Manager is Mark Hughes

[den]

Dalglish and Shearer, sounds fantastic.

But I don't think Kenny would apply, and I don't think Rovers would approach him. Too much history, too much going back.

Shearer? I think his heart is at Newcastle, too much water under the bridge since his time at ewood.

But I'd love it to happen. Just think of the players we could attract.

[LeChuck]

Shearer seems like a complete none starter for me, if he came he wouldn't be able to play until January and I can't see him wanting to do that in his final season.

I'd love it if Dalglish came back...he could bring back the excitement to the club that seems to have disappeared somewhat...he also had an eye for a bargain which often gets overlooked because of the big money buys he made.

[John]

Kenny Sansom said tonight we will approach Mark Hughes because he thinks he commands respect and players will listen to what he says.

I tend to agree with this, he seems to have a temper when things dont go well too which you need.

[promoted2001]

I'm not convinced that Hughes will take the job. I'm at a loss to think of who will take it. It could be anyone! Theres already been over 50 people linked to the job on this message board!

[den]

I'm not convinced that Hughes will take the job. I'm at a loss to think of who will take it. It could be anyone! Theres already been over 50 people linked to the job on this message board!

Well how the heck are we supposed to pick 15 names to start a poll?

[Brownie]

Mike Newell is now 34-1, the same odds as Walter Smith and Dalglish !

[modes98]

I'm not convinced that Hughes will take the job. I'm at a loss to think of who will take it. It could be anyone! Theres already been over 50 people linked to the job on this message board!

He wants to get into club management, theres nothing to stop him still being wales manager aswell. Hughes realises that club management is harder than international and probally wants to get the hang of things before he is targetted when sir alex dies!

If offered the post which he himself said he doesn't expect, but seemed to give the impression he would like! He said the club is great and will be brilliant for someone to manage (or similar words) hardly the words of someone hwo would turn down an offer. A bigger question is if he didn't apply then why didn't he?

[Nate]

. Of course all this late night twisted logic suggests that Hoddle will be our new manager by lunch time tomorrow .

If Hoddle is handed the job I will never go to Ewood Park again.

And I mean it.

Neither will I!

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

This appointment is absolutely vital as it's imperative that we keep our Premiership place. 

Absolutely right.

It's obviously crucial that JW and the board get the right man here.

Get it right, and we can be a solid Premiership team in the top half of the table over the next few seasons.

Get it wrong, and we could be looking at relegation and total catastrophe.

The two names which appeal most to me are:

Alan Curbishley

It might of course be the case that he won't want to leave the Valley for Rovers.

No harm in trying though is there?

Any compensation we might have to fork out to Charlton for Curbishley would in my view be money well spent. Relegation from the Premiership would cost us £20m. Curbishley has an excellent record with Charlton - operating on a shoestring budget for much of his time there.

After being at the Valley for over a decade (the 3rd longest serving manager in Britain after Dario Gradi and RFW) - he may well fancy a fresh challenge. You never know. It's worth asking IMO.

He commands respect and has authority in the dressing room, without being a screaming tea cup thrower.

Excellent achievement to finish 9th with Charlton in their first season back in the top flight.

My 2nd choice would be:

Gordon Strachan

The wee ginger one did well with the Saints - finishing 8th in the Premiership with Southampton - the club's highest league position for 13 years. Reached the FA Cup final as well.

Although he likes a laugh at times, he can still command respect in the dressing room, as a boss with experience of managing a side in the top half of the table.

He was a successful player too - Footballer of the Year in 1992 - and after taking a break from the game five months ago, he might relish the challenge of managing Blackburn.

I gather that John Williams occasionally reads this M/B.

If you do happen to be reading this Mr Williams: Please Please don't appoint Monsieur Houllier.

The shame and embarrassment of having him as our boss would haunt me. I'd have to lie in a darkened room and wouldn't be able to leave the front door of the house for a week. My ultimate nightmare would be Houllier alongside Phil Thompson. Can you imagine it?

Please don't let it happen, John. This is the duo who blew over £100m quid at Liverpool, with neagative sterile football and ending up 30 points behind Arsenal after promising Anfield fans the title inside 5 years.

I'd be more unhappy than Lucas Neill if he was appointed.

May I also urge you Mr Williams to Please not appoint any of the following:

George Graham

A thief, a liar and a crook. We'd be guaranteed the most appalling negative football. Crowds would dwindle further.

Glenn Hoddle

As a player, I admired him greatly. He was one of the best passers of the ball over the last 25 years and exceptionally gifted on the pitch. As a coach though, it's fair to say that his man-management skills are clearly lacking.

He has already applied for the job and is clearly keen. I can only hope the board have put his application into the nearest waste paper bin.

Paul Jewell

I'd be deeply unhappy to say the least if he was appointed. He was a disaster at Sheffield Wednesday. Not the right man.

Mike Newell

Now is not the time for being sentimental over an old Ewood playing favourite.

He has no experience as a Premiership manager. He is totally untried at the top level. Appointing him would be a reckless gamble IMO.

Left Hartlepool under a cloud.

He arrogantly wanted to sue supporters who had dared to criticise him on the internet.

I'd like to see him try and sue me...

Peter Reid/Bryan Robson/Howard Wilkinson

Surely the board have too much sense don't they?

I mean they couldn't possibly contemplate either of these three, could they.

We would be a laughing stock.

As I said, the most important thing is we try to establish ourselves over the coming seasons as a solid Premiership club competing in the top half of the table.

Crucially, both Alan Curbishley and Gordon Strachan have the necessary experience of both being managers in the top half - which is exactly where we want to be.

[USABlue]

have not had time to read all posts so if its been been posted..ooops do i look bothered lol.....

parkes on sky saying we are going for a big name but not in management at the mo......please not the sourfrog

That should narrow it down a bit.

[USABlue]

. Of course all this late night twisted logic suggests that Hoddle will be our new manager by lunch time tomorrow .

If Hoddle is handed the job I will never go to Ewood Park again.

And I mean it.

Will you stay off here too jim, if so, Hoddle for me.

I maintain I would not mind Hoddle, not a bad manager.

I maintain I am not keen on Hughes or Strachan. I can not beleive people can be so blinded by emotion on this, neither are really anything special. That said I would welcome either with open arms. No Advocaat's, No Robsons, No ex players, no former heroes a la Dalglish. New fresh approach. Curbs, is not that ridiculous, he may have not recovered from Parker being sold and could be looking for a fresh challenge.

Martin O' Neill

Still like Dowie or Worthington(1)

Who is this Hitz???wotsit. I have never heard of him.

I just hope whoever it is has ambition, is frugal, knows tactics and will pay very close attetion to our young uns. Good attractive football is also a must. On top of all that we must win games. Should be pretty easy huh?

[salothsar]

Advocaat's name seems to be getting mentioned more and more. In one or two papers this morning. Odds are getting shorter as well. He has actually applied for the job rather than just being linked with it

[salothsar]

Strachan's odds drifting a bit as well. Presumbley (and hopefully) only because he has kept very quiet. Again, hopefully, because he is negotiating the fine print on his contract.

[philipl]

At the end of the day, this appointment is about what sort of a club we are. Obviously, the Directors are best placed to know but they have a fair few considerations to balance:

1) The Blackburn public need inspiring to get along to Ewood or at least to stop abandonning the place. Unfortunately, given the insularity of Blackburn, appointing a world class manager who is not British will pass over most people's heads. Would there be a popular uprising to appoint someone like Ottmar Hitzfeld the way there was in Newcastle? Seems unlikely. I fear there is probably only one name that qualifies on this count and that's Mark Hughes. Houllier, Hoddle would suffer from an immediate backlash and Dowie, Jewell, Newell would underwhelm the Blackburn public (wrongly in my opinion).

2) After the initial buzz of a new appointment, we need the Rovers to play competent attractive football which the crowd will enjoy and pay good money for. Charlton now do that for Curbishley, even Hoddle produced attractive football. I think the jury is out on all the other contenders.

3) If we still have a transfer budget, we need to be sure we get our targets. This was one area Souness excelled in (aided by John Williams). Assuming big names attract good players, Hughes again scores heavilly but remember being Manager of Wales means he has ZERO managerial transfer experience. Hoddle, Curbishley or Advocaat probably next best thing of the names we have heard about so far. Whether Houllier or Graham would still carry any sway is open to doubt.

4) We know we will have a battle to hang onto our existing players. So we need a strong Souness antidote- perhaps Advocaat (or was there a double agenda when Souness recommended him to Rovers?), perhaps Strachan but Mark Hughes might be too nice and Curbishley has lost some players at Charlton he would rather have kept.

5) If we have a zero transfer budget, we need a manager who gets the most out of his players and has a great eye for young talent in his club and emerging elsewhere. Jewell, Dowie and Curbishley have all excelled in this respect. Strachan's record is poor to patchy and Hughes has no record. I suspect Allardyce would be superb working at a club with more clout than Bolton.

6) We have an empty backroom. We have a sensational opportunity for the new man to appoint a world class back=up team to compliment the world class facilities Jack has left us. Curbishley, Allardyce, Advocaat presumably would know what they are doing in this regard as would Houllier. I shudder at the thought of a Hoddle-chosen backroom!

7) Player respect and discipline. Tricky one after the Souness reign of terror= a relaxatioon to more normal mangerial standards could lead to liberty-taking by the more wayward spirits amongst the players so some superb man management skills are needed. Dowie, Allardyce, Curbishley, Jewell all fit the bill presumably. We don't want any more cliques and people not being spoken to and on that basis, Strachan and Hoddle's track records are not good.

SURVIVAL!

All the above is secondary to getting results to secure long term Premiership existance. I would be very very confident that with the quality of John Williams behind them, Jewell, Dowie, Curbishley, Allardyce would do the job well.. Newell seems to be a winner as well.

One other thought, the Rovers should be looking for stability. Therefore a tandem of old man with Shearer or Newell etc. will inevitably fail as it would be an arrangement everyone would know would be due to change sooner or later. So please forget fanciful notions of having Dalglish or Sir Bobby looking after young proteges- just doesn't work in my opinion.

Edited September 8, 2004 by philipl

[wicklowrover]

According to the Irish Times there have been Twenty Applicants for the role... including Mike Newell, Walter Smith, Dick Advocaat, Glen Hoddle.

I want Gordon Strachan personally, he manages people well, and doesn't need money to do a good job, which is a good thing because we ain't got any.

[Living On The Ceiling]

The powers that be must have chucked MIKE NEWELL's application in the bin! MASSIVE drifter out to 23 from around 8.5.

Hughes is still solid (ooh er) at around 5 but the market still reads in my book that DICK ADVOCAT will be the NEXT MANAGER.

Backed in from 16/1 yesterday to just 3/1 in places with the major layers.

Hughes says no. Dick says yes, end of story - or it is just the beginning!

LOTC

Edited September 8, 2004 by Living On The Ceiling

[greggyk]

The Times has JW quoted saying that if our first target already has a job, it will take longer to get him

So theres still hope for Curbishley

link

[samtheozzy]

Has anyone mentioned Harry Redknapp yet? Of all the managers in the premiership he had the most controversial off-season. He very nearly quit Portsmouth after his assistant was (almost?) fired and he would appear a much easier target than Alan Curbishley. Obviously I would much prefer Curbishley (don't rate Redknapp at all) but it may be a case of taking who we can get rathet than who we want.

[moerpho]

Lots of good suggestions one the board so I wont bother to start listing up the same names everyone else does except one: Hoddle. If this guy is hired I'm seriously considering killing myself (or him) and suspect I will have a hard time following the club from the Afterlife. On the other hand I get the feeling we could be up for "newcastle-twist" - ie. we'll hire a new manager next monday that hasn't been mentioned on this board or been listed by the bookies. I hope this doesn't happen since I would love for some of the suggestions on this thread to get the job. As long as it's not Hoddle (or Semb!) I will get behind the new manager with every molecule in my body.

P.s.: I remember not being very happy the day Souness was appointed but did he prove me wrong? Good luck to you, Mr. Souness (but not to Newcastle!)!

[RevidgeBlue]

A name that has cropped up in a couple of this morning's papers is Mick McCarthy.

Much as I like him as a personality, hope he isn't a serious contender as this would be a backwards step IMO.

[broadsword]

What's all this rubbish about Dalglish?

The man threw a strop because Jack wouldn't give him any more money to indulge himself, why would he be happy to manage within our current constraints?

Both his jobs since he left Rovers have been unmitigated failures.

It's all this emotive "homecoming" crap again isn't it?

Let's get someone in who won't quit just because things are difficult. Leave Kenny in the studio and stop all this prodigal son twaddle with Newell, Shearer and KD.

[Gav]

Really don't understand the hysteria around Curbishley. The guys currently at a club that’s bigger in both fan base and finance, why would he give that up? Also he's constantly being linked as the next England manager so that would leave us in more strife if it happened.

Advocat isn't a bad shout as far as I’m concerned. The guys certainly got the pedigree having managed at both club level and national level extensively. I'm not saying he'd be my first choice but I’d much rather have Advocat than Jewell, McCarthy or IAN BLOODY DOWIE??? How anyone can see Dowie in charge of our club is beyond me!

Bring back Kenny.

[Hughesy]

How does anyone on this message board actually know who has actually appied? Or is it just paper talk?

[Ricky]

Hughesy, Unless you are actually John Williams I think its fairly safe to say its all speculation and paper talk.

A lot of the names are just common sense, the likes of Hoddle apply for every job going. Some others are being mentioned because they are certain members preferred choice (Strachan) and some are mentioned because the press have been linking them (Advocat, Hughes)

Until the club actually come out and confirm it I think we will just have to continue to speculate.

[Brownie]

Advocaat drifting out this morning, now 6-1.

Dalglish into 28-1