Dowie is the lower risk option all round. Virtually no compensation as he hasn't got a contract. For those who don't remember, he kept Oldham going up the table whilst the club was going bust and players were being sold all around him. That for me was the most impressive piece of football managing in terrible circumstances. No way should alace be in the Prem. They were battlng wth the dngles for the drop from Div 1 when Dowie took them on before last Christmas, yet he took them to the play-offs and through a win at Cardiff to the Prem. Again outstanding management. The Rovers are a club full of talented players who are not currently producing their best. If Friedel, Amoruso, Gray, Neill, Ferguson, Tugay, Emerton, de Pedro, Jansen, Pedersen, Gallagher, Stead, Bothroyd to name some of the more gifted can be motivated and guided to do what they are capable of, WE DON'T NEED ANY TRANSFERS. We have players good enough to finish top six and win cups already at Ewood. Everything points to the Rovers' transfer kitty being as low as our attendances. I do not believe Souness was denied access to transfer funds for any other reason than they were not there. Since then, the receipt of £500K compensation from the barcodes and £250K for Yorke don't exactly equip Mr Big Name to go and bend the ear of his galactico drinking buddies. Getting a big name who can bring in expensive new signings is the equivalent of taking Joan Collins to a photo shoot and leaving the slap behind. I'll be delighted with Dowie and so will everybody on this board when we are in the top half by Christmas and playing great football.

Very little in the Press about the Rovers position so far this morning. The Guardian report as a fact that the shortlist has five names on it having reduced the initial field of thirty applicants. Five is the number I would have beeen aiming at by this stage with perhaps one or two reserves in case of changes in circumstances or the initial list disappoints when they are interviewed. Another paper says the Rovers are going to approach the Welsh FA formally for permission to talk to Mark Hughes. The Daily Mirror have written that Gary Megson is about to be sacked following a complete breakdown in relations with his Chairman at WBA. One thought- the Southampton vacancy has gone very quiet hasn't it? Hey ho, about to leave for the airport.

LET Mark Hughes the players' preference and the overwhelming favourite of the fans who eexpressed a preference to the Telegraph. It says that Strachan has applied.

Sturrock is reported by Skysports as having applied for both the Preston and Blckburn jobs. Rover 6 heart beats a little faster.

The news coming out of Villa indicates that relations between O'Leary and Ellis are not exactly good at the moment. Toshack lambasts Wales with a few barbs for Hughes. Reading that puts a very different perspective on the Welsh "revival". Should make us all a bit more nervous about the betting folks' favourite.

On a website? Shouldn't that be read rather than heard a rumour? Hughesey, you are great entertainment. Definitely fiction not fact.

The Mirror are reporting that Flitcroft and Ferguson will start in midfield. If Flitcroft is the midfield aggressor with Ferguson more free it could work but not if Flitty does his usual disappearing trick.

Can you back up Allrdyce being unhappy at Bolton with hard evidence? He didn't exactly go skipping to St James's Park did he? The rest of your assertions can be backed up by quotes and snippets though.

It was interesting reading the panel discussion with John Williams from last summer seeing he was expecting the club would push on towards 30,000 average gates. The short fall of 5,000 against what was hoped for (budgetteed?) must have hit the Rovers very hard. Then reading that in the context of the Chairman of the Walker Trust talking about new external funding to further develop Ewood Park and there must have been a palpable feeling of enormous let down around Ewood twelve months ago. Perhaps not surprising we went on to have the third worst season at home in the club's history. In this case, the blame has to go on the general public not responding to a remarkable achievement in Rovers finishing sixth in the League aided and abetted by the press campaign to transfer Duff. Back to our new manager- looks like self-destruct buttons are being pressed at Villa Park and Goodison if today's press stories are to be believed. If the Rovers want to consider them, it could be that both O'Leary and Moyes would be serious candidates. Elsewhere, interesting to read that neither Hughes nor Strachan have actually sent in applications for the Ewood vacancy.

As it's a PA article it'll be most of them, all slightly reworded. However, whilst Jim's always bob-on about the artciles, the articles themself are often bobbins. No doubt Coventry and Rovers will deny the story tomorrow and as there are no quotes it's definitely a "flyer" by the paper concerned. Yesterday they had McCarthy in the frame. As I said, its all a betting scam. The reporters make this rubbish up then lay bets against the suckers who believe it.

Its all a betting fix involving the Mirror reporter so jim is on the wind up. Lets face it, there is stupidly easy money to be made from the suckers who believe the Daily Mirror and place betts on Peter Reid as a result. The Board don't even meet until tomorrow to consider the initial analysis of applications. Calm down everybody and bet against Reid becoming manager to make yourself a bob or two.

As I wrote this morning, the choice of Manager is going to indicate how the Board and Jersey Trustees see the immediate future for the Rovers. A "big name" manager and presumably the funds are being made available to attract the sort of players a "big name" is intended to attract. However, if those funds are not available, give us a Dowie or a Jewell who seem to have the management skills and ability to pick players to do the job of keeping us in the Prem.

Our good friend Jason.

Isn't he the new coach at Roma? Arrgh Jordan- I'm not advocating them, just speculating who the three Premiership managers rumoured to have applied might be. The straight answer to your question is Curbishley, obviously. Personally, I would be absolutely delighted if either Dowie or Curbishley were appointed- very little downside risk and a huge upside potential from both of them.

How do you calculate that. Two from four plus a third. Just joining in the fun speculating who the three current Prem managers are who have applied- assuming LDRover's inside information is correct.

Very interesting point Jim Royle. I would say yes. Seeing as they own the club, I suppose in theory, they could make the appointment entirely on their own. I reckon though, that they will only need to ratify any new managerial appointment. I stand to be corrected though. Philipl? As far as I know, the relationship between the Walker Trust Fund and the club is rightly kept very private. We don't even know for sure the terms under which the club benefits but it seems that the Rovers get the interest income from a £20m or £25m capital sum, an opportunity to participate in distributable profits earned by the Walker companies and the ability to borrow cash on favourable terms. With regards to the involvement of the Trust in the Managerial appointment, Richard Matthewman (Vice-Chairman who is Jack's son-in-law) and Mr Root (I believe) are Walker connections on the Board which of course will be making the appointment. I would expect that as a matter of course, the package including associated recommendations for backroom staff and transfer recommendations, will go to Jersey before any appointment is confirmed. Incidentally, Lee seems to be behind the times here. One vacancy is missing.

Interesting. Well, they're not going to be Ferguson, Wenger, Mourinho, Bruce, Souness, O'Leary, McLaren, Wigley, Keegan, SteBenetiz or Santini. So that leaves 3 from Allardyce, Moyes, Worthington, Curbishley, Megson, Dowie, Coleman or Redknapp. Most of those would be ok by me. Of the will not have applied list, Wigley is highly likely to have applied given his limited knowledge of rugby whilst things might well be bad enough at Villa after O'Leary had been so publicly keen on the Newcastle job that his hat could be in the ring. Keegan might want out of City before he gets fired. Of the possible list, I would expect that Allardyce would have to be approached and Coleman is probably earning more at Fulham than he would at Ewood. Moyes is facing less turmoil at Goodison than he has for at least twelve months and has every prospect of having a bumper transfer fund come January by when the financial restructuring at Everton should be complete. Would Redknapp come north and Megson leave the Baggies after being the fouth highest spender in the Prem? Realistically, two from Dowie, Curbishley, Worthington, Wigley and a third who is a bit of a surprise.

I am nowhere near Ewood at the moment but I think the following are pretty incontrovertible facts about Paul Gallagher this season: - the one Rovers forward on fire during the close season scoring goals for fun was Paul - Paul seems to have been some distance from getting a chance to play for the first eleven so far this season - his injury has been treated very quietly. Does anyone know what it is, when it was incurred, what the likely prognosis is? - Souness talked about every forward except Paul over the past three weeks. Not surprising there are whispers and theories... At least now he gets a chance to impress TP and then to impress the new manager. Incidentally, for anyone else posting a link to The Times, everyone outside the UK cannot access it because The Times demands payment. So please do copy and paste.

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.

The two or three games before Newcastle last year saw Ferguson emerging as a sensationally gifted midfielder for Rovers and it is fair to say he had the Newcastle game by the scruff of the neck until he got injured. I believe there is a very decent chance he will be seen as a complete superstar over the coming weeks provided he keeps clear of injury and disciplinary problems. We have got to get a Manager who is big and successful enough to keep him when the inevitable offers come in from Tyneside and wherever.

Unfortunately, Hughesey, Charlton have all that and a much bigger fanbase. They have had 70,000+ crowds within my lifetime. With the Valley going up to 35,000 capacity soon and space for more, Charlton are one of the very few clubs with the potential to break into the Champions League. However, we do not know what is going on behind the scenes at the Valley and if Rovers were to offer Souness's reported £2m salary, Curbishley would double what he is earning now.

Remember, the more names on the list to bet against, the more money the betting companies make. So if Skybet think putting Curbishley on the list is remotely credible, then people will bet for him. I know this should be a period of high anxiety but I am feeling pretty relaxed. As always, the more I see of John Williams in action for the Rovers, the more impressed I am. I think we are in safe hands.

Perhaps Megson should come into the running? He wouldn't be expensive. What Jewell has actually said does not add up to him ruling himself out. In fact, a bit like Mark Hughes in his guarded statement of the obvious. As for JW saying he is only looking at those who apply, he is hardly going to say he is willing to raid every managerial office in the land is he? There is the little matter of compensation to be considered. No doubt a trusted third party is making discrete enquiries in the directions the Rovers board deem fit.

Souness- an accident waiting to happen! Fun article about Souey and Newcastle with more than hint of truth no doubt.

Is it any worse than the list Newcastle worked with? None of whom were available anyway At least we don't have to interview Venables!