Blackburn Rovers: Ex-West Brom manager & 43-year-old Dutchman in frame to be Eustace successor | OneFootball

Work is ongoing for Blackburn in their hunt for a new boss, with new names added to the mix

Blackburn Rovers could be closing in on their new appointee in the dugout.

Rovers are in search of a new boss after John Eustace departed the club for struggling Derby County earlier this month.

Assistant coach David Lowe has taken charge of the club in the interim, but Rovers are now moving towards appointing a permanent manager.

Key decision-makers at the club are in London on Thursday, according to a report by journalist Alan Nixon, as they enter the final stages of their recruitment process.

Blackburn Rovers in ‘final stages’ of new manager search

Nixon revealed that chief executive Steve Waggott and adviser to the Venky's, club CEO Suhail Pasha, will both meet with potential next managers in the capital.

This forms the second stage of the process, with a handful of candidates already interviewed remotely and the pool of potential appointees trimmed down accordingly.

Nixon did not expand on who the candidates interviewed are, either on the initial Zoom call or this latest round now.

However, formally thought to be a frontrunner, talkSPORT journalist Alex Crook ruled out former Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Gary O’Neil from the race yesterday.

Valerien Ismael & Pep Lijnders added to Blackburn Rovers frame

Even though O'Neil is looking like he is out of the running as things stand, Aitor Karanka's name will not go away, and Nixon has reported that the Spaniard is 'tipped' to be in the final frame for the job.

Karanka, who won promotion to the Premier League with Middlesbrough in 2016, has not been in managerial work since a brief stint with Maccabi Tel-Aviv in 2023, but he did manage current Rovers director of football Rudy Gestede when he was a player.

Two other names have emerged into the frame though in recent days, with one of those being Valerien Ismael.

The Frenchman, who guided Barnsley to the Championship play-offs in 2021, has been with West Brom, Besiktas and Watford since his time at Oakwell, but he could now be set for a return to English football at Ewood Park, and also said to be hovering is Jurgen Klopp's former assistant Pep Lijnders.

The 43-year-old Dutchman lasted just four months of the 2024-25 season before being sacked by Red Bull Salzburg of Austria, but it appears that he's thrown his hat into the ring for an immediate return to work with Blackburn.

London meeting is a positive sign for Blackburn Rovers

Waggott and Pasha heading to London to finalise their primary targets for manager is a positive sign and exactly what the Lancashire club needs.

It is, of course, not their fault that Eustace has decided to up sticks and head for Derby towards the bottom of the Championship, but they nevertheless need a quick resolution to the situation.

Sitting pretty in fifth place in the league, they are a long way from almost battling relegation last season — this is the best position they’ve been in for years to make a real push for promotion, and therefore need to minimise any disruption as much as possible.

This quick turnaround, meeting their top candidates face-to-face after just over a week, shows the decision-makers mean business. The sooner they can provide clarity, the better, so Blackburn can crack on with the considerable task of trying to retain their play-off place without any distracting background noise.