Soccer Central

After a terrible start to the season which has seen Blackburn Rovers achieve just 13 points from 17 games; manager Paul Ince has now been given the sack. Some will argue that he’s not been given enough time to really establish himself at Ewood Park; football management is a tough game though, and if the results don’t come then job losses are always going to be likely.

Graeme Souness has been suggested as a possible replacement for Ince, it’s too early to really say who will replace him yet though, and a number of others are also likely to be linked with the job in the coming days and weeks.

Niall Quinn reported the other week that there had been “over 30 sensible applications” when speaking with Setanta Sports about the vacant Sunderland position, so that just tells you how many top level managers there are out of work at current. There are the English options such as Alan Curbishley, Kevin Keegan, and Terry Venables, but plenty of overseas options also should the club wish to take that route.

Choosing a new manager can be incredibly tough for a team; results don’t always come instantly when a new manager is appointed, but you need someone there that can really get the best out of the players. It’s obviously been decided by Blackburn that Paul Ince isn’t the man to get the best out of his players, but they now need to find someone that will, someone that can move the team up the league and see about avoiding relegation this season.

It’s not going to be an easy job for whoever takes over at Blackburn, there’s a lot of work to be done to really turn things around, and with Manchester City reportedly keen to sign star player Roque Santa Cruz in January; things are likely to become even more difficult for Blackburn before long. £18 million is apparently the fee that City will have to shell out to sign Santa Cruz due to a clause in his contract, and that will therefore give the new manager quite a bit of money to play with; signing quality players when you’re second bottom in the league though is never going to be an easy task.

So who will replace Paul Ince at Blackburn? Graeme Souness is unlikely to be a popular choice amongst fans, there are plenty of other managers out there that could potentially achieve great things at the club though, and the Blackburn board will need to think the decision through carefully before announcing the next permanent manager of Blackburn Rovers.