Well, maybe not the fans favourite but he’s currently at the top of bookmakers’ lists. While Blackburn might talk of not rushing to appoint a replacement for Mark Hughes, the truth is that they can’t leave it very long at all, especially with player contracts to sort out and potential new signings to be lined up. The Guardian report that a shortlist is being drawn up at Ewood Park and, if the odds are anything to go by, this includes Shearer, Allardyce, Ince and Henk Ten Cate.

The Blackburn chairman, John Williams, hopes to conclude the search within the next 10 days, a timescale that would promote the prospects of the club-less Shearer, Allardyce and McClaren, given that Ten Cate is close to joining Panathinaikos. “We have received expressions of interest from a broad spectrum of interesting candidates; English and foreign, experienced and less experienced, and we are delighted with the calibre and the range,” Williams said yesterday. “I said at the outset, I’d like to get the new man in place within a fortnight and that is what we are aiming towards. Hopefully we’ll have made an appointment by the end of the week, or certainly early next week.”

Whoever takes over will have a tough act to follow, with Hughes dragging the club away from the relegation zone since he took over and making them into a top-half Premier League club. If his successor achieves a top ten finish next season, he’ll have done very well.

 

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