Blackburn Rovers are searching for their permanent successor to Valerien Ismael ahead of their clash with Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road at the weekend.
Interim Damien Johnson beat Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 in his first game in charge of the club before overseeing a 2-0 loss to Philippe Clement’s Norwich City at Carrow Road on Saturday.
Rovers are 22nd in the league, in the relegation zone on goal difference, and they need an immediate uplift in form to drag themselves away from the relegation battle in the second half of the season.
It has been reported that the club are set to hold talks with experienced Championship manager Gary Rowett this week to discuss a possible move to Ewood Park.
The 51-year-old head coach has been out of work since he was sacked by fellow second tier side Oxford United in December after a run of one win in ten matches.
Why Blackburn should avoid Gary Rowett
It is easy to understand why the club want to hold talks with Rowett, because he has managed 418 matches in the Championship for Birmingham, Oxford, Derby, Stoke, and Millwall.
The 4-2-3-1 boss knows what the league is about and would bring a lot of experience to the role, but his form with Oxford shows that that experience is not always the only important factor.
Rowett left Birmingham in 22nd in the 2023/24 campaign and left Oxford in 21st this season in the second tier, which shows that he has left his last two teams in or around the relegation zone.
|
25/26 Championship |
Rowett |
|---|---|
|
Games managed |
23 |
|
Wins |
5 |
|
Draws |
7 |
|
Defeats |
11 |
|
Points |
22 |
|
Points per game |
0.96 |
On top of his recent managerial struggles, which suggest that he would not be the silver bullet to Blackburn’s relegation struggles, Rowett is also not the type of manager who can then drive the team forward in the future.
The English boss has never managed at a level above the Championship and only has one play-off finish in his 12 seasons in the second tier to date, which suggests that Rovers should look elsewhere if they want a longer-term appointment.
The manager Blackburn should pursue instead of Rowett
After losing to them at the weekend, Blackburn should take inspiration from Norwich by being ambitious with their managerial appointment, as the Canaries were with Clement.
Despite being in the relegation zone at the time, Norwich attracted a manager who had won four Belgian Pro League titles and won a League Cup trophy with Scottish giants Rangers.
Looking at the list of available free agent managers, former Southampton and RB Leipzig boss Ralph Hasenhuttl could be a similarly ambitious appointment who could drag Blackburn out of trouble, whilst also having the potential to push them higher in the future.
The Austrian has been out of work since he was sacked by Bundesliga side Wolfsburg in May of last year, which means that he has been out of the game for a little while and may be eager to jump back into a new opportunity.
Unlike Rowett, Hasenhuttl has a wealth of experience managing at a higher level in the Championship, both in England and in Germany with several clubs.
|
Hasenhuttl’s managerial league career |
||
|---|---|---|
|
League |
Games |
Points per game |
|
Premier League |
151 |
1.17 |
|
Bundesliga |
142 |
1.49 |
|
3. Liga |
119 |
1.55 |
|
2. Liga |
92 |
1.60 |
He has almost 300 games in the Bundesliga and the Premier League under his belt, for Southampton, Wolfsburg, and Ingolstadt, but he has also managed in the second and third tier in Germany.
Hasenhuttl, who was hailed as “unbelievable” by James Ward-Prowse, even won the 2. Bundesliga, Germany’s equivalent of the Championship, with Ingolstadt in the 2014/15 campaign, then finished 11th in the Bundesliga with the newly-promoted side.
Amazingly, the Austrian tactician has a better points per game rate (1.49) in the Bundesliga, one of Europe’s major leagues, than Rowett has in the Championship (1.46) in his career, which speaks to the gulf in quality between the two coaches.
Hasenhuttl is a manager who could guide Blackburn to safety, given that he kept Southampton in the Premier League for four seasons, whilst fighting at the bottom end of the table, but he also has the experience to suggest that he could push for promotion in the future.
The 4-3-3 former Premier League also finished 12th in the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg before his exit in the summer of 2024, so he would not be coming into the job off the back of a major failure or relegation.
Therefore, Rovers should make an ambitious approach to Hasenhuttl to see if he would be interested in taking the vacant role in the second half of this season.
Norwich made it work with Clement and have moved four points clear of the bottom three with eight wins in 16 games under him. Now, it is Blackburn’s time to make a statement appointment.
Better than Bilic: Blackburn Rovers set to hold talks with 4-2-3-1 manager
Blackburn Rovers would be better placed to go after this manager target than appointing Slaven Bilic.
