Blackburn In No Rush To Appoint New Manager

Blackburn's owners Balaji Rao (left) and brother Venkatesh

Blackburn say “it could be a couple of months” before they appoint a manager to replace Sam Allardyce.

Allardyce was sacked by the club on Monday and Steve Kean was placed in temporary charge of the first team.

Anuradha Desai, chairwoman of the club's Venky Group owners, said: “It could now be a couple of months before a new manager is put in place.

“Right now we are going to have a study and put a lot of thought into who the next manager will be.”

Speaking to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, Desai added: “We don't want to make a hasty decision and we are in a good position to take our time because Steve is quite capable.”

The club, who are now without a manager with the January transfer window approaching, appear to prefer a British manager to succeed Allardyce but are also keeping their options open.

“Our thinking now is that it will be a British manager, but we are open if there is an outstanding candidate who would be really, really good for the club,” said Desai.

“Right now Steve Kean will take over while we are looking for someone to take over on a permanent basis.

“Steve is a hard worker and he is doing a very good job as a coach.

“We have been studying him and have been very impressed. He works long hours and is talented at his job.”

Blackburn became the first Indian-owned Premier League club when they were taken over by the Rao family, who own the Venky's group, in a £43m deal in November.

Their decision to part company with Allardyce came as a shock, with the club 13th in the Premier League following a defeat by Bolton on Sunday.

But, even though a difference of opinion in the way forward for the Ewood Park outfit appears to have sealed Allardyce's exit, Desai has asked Rovers fans to trust the new owners.

“We do not mean anything bad for Sam Allardyce but we feel that we need to take the club up in the league and grow,” she added.

“We want Blackburn to be fourth or fifth in the league or even better. It is not about the Bolton match. It has been a long time in our minds.

“It is nothing against Sam but we have a different vision looking forward and we want the club to grow.

“We had been talking to Sam for the past few weeks and he did not fit in with our vision for the club's future.

“We wanted good football, wanted the games to be interesting and, of course, wanted to win and to have good players.

“We needed to make some changes and Sam going is of course the main change. This is a major step – but we thought 'why delay?'.

“The fans should trust us and have belief because this is in the best interests of the club.”