Blackburn Rovers are drawing up a shortlist of candidates following the resignation of Steve Kean last week. The club have reportedly received a plethora of applications for the job with media outlets linking numerous managers to the Lancashire club ever since Kean stepped down. The Next Blackburn Rovers Manager Betting market currently shows that caretaker manager Eric Black, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and former Rovers heroes Alan Shearer and Tim Sherwood are currently the early frontrunners. However, the odds have been fluctuating by the day and will continue to change as the process really starts to hot up.
What is concrete is that Black will definitely be in charge for the club’s next two matches away to Nottingham Forest and at home to Wolves. Rovers are rumoured to be keen to install a new manager at some point during the international break, before they are next in action against Derby on October 20th. Black is one of the hot favourites for the job and will no doubt boost his chances of landing it on a permanent basis if he leads Rovers to victory against Forest and Wolves.
Sherwood and Shearer are being touted as realistic replacements for Kean, with both men popular figures at Ewood Park having led them to the Premier League title in 1995. Sherwood is currently a technical-coordinator at Tottenham, while Shearer is a pundit on Match of the Day. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is also being hotly tipped for the vacancy. The former Man Utd star is manager of Norwegian side Molde and was previously linked with a move to Aston Villa in the summer, but opted to stay at Molde, with whom he guided to the title last season.
Blackburn’s Indian owners, Venky’s, are determined to make the right decision after enduring a tumultuous relationship with the supporters during Kean's ill-fated reign. Rovers are one of the favourites for promotion this season and the club are intent on finding a manager who can orchestrate an instant return to the Premier League. They are currently seventh in the table but a win away to Nottingham Forest tonight (Wednesday) could catapult them up to second.
There are also a number of surprise candidates in the running, including Henrik Larsson. The former Celtic striker has gained numerous plaudits since he was appointed manager of Swedish Second Division side Landskrona back in December 2009, but has recently stated that he does not wish to renew his contract when it expires in November.
Roy Keane is also attracting a lot of attention. The former Sunderland and Ipswich boss has been strongly linked with Turkish side Kasimpasa but is believed to be interested in the Rovers vacancy. Meanwhile Barnsley boss Keith Hill, former Real Madrid boss Bernd Schuster and Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfeld are also in the mix.
