List of Blackburn Rovers F.C. managers

John Eustace is the current manager of Blackburn Rovers, an English professional association football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire.

Founded on 5 November 1875, the club was one of the first to become professional. The club first played in the FA Cup in 1879 and managed to reach the final of the competition in 1882. Blackburn was one of the twelve founding member of the Football League in 1888.

The club have been champions of England three times, in 1911–12, 1913–14 and 1994–95. They have won the FA Cup six times, in 1884, 1885, 1886, 1890, 1891 and 1927–28. The club has also won one Football League Cup in 2001–02, one FA Charity Shield in 1912,[1] and one Full Members' Cup, in 1986–87.

The club was initially managed by a committee of players whose secretary had the same powers and role as a manager has today. In 1884, Scottish-born Thomas Mitchell became secretary-manager. Under Mitchell, Blackburn won the FA Cup three times in a row; 1884, 1885 and 1886. Mitchell would guide Blackburn to a further two FA Cup wins in 1890 and 1891 before he left the club in 1896. His five FA Cups make him the most successful manager in Blackburn's history.

The longest-serving person to manage Blackburn is Robert Middleton, who was in charge of the club for 22 years and 3 months: from 1 August 1903 to 1 February 1922; a total of 605 competitive matches.[2] During his tenure Middleton won two First Division titles (1912, 1914) and one FA Charity Shield in 1912. The shortest serving manager is Henning Berg who was manager from 31 October 2012 to 27 December 2012, a total of 57 days and 10 competitive matches.[3]

There have been a total of 39 permanent managers at Blackburn and 5 caretakers. Two managers have held the position twice, Bob Crompton (December 1926 – February 1931 and June 1938 – March 1941) and Johnny Carey (June 1953 – October 1958 and October 1970 – June 1971), while Tony Parkes has been caretaker 4 separate times.[4]

Every manager has come from the UK except for Johnny Carey and Owen Coyle who are both Irish, Henning Berg who is Norwegian, and Jon Dahl Tomasson who is Danish.

Jon Dahl Tomasson was manager for 18 months having taken over from Tony Mowbray in June 2022 during the close season.[5] He enjoyed a modicum of success in his first season but his second season proved more difficult due to financial difficulties at the club resulting in budgets cuts.

The club's current manager is John Eustace, who took over from Jon Dahl Tomasson on 9 February 2024.

List of managers

Information correct after match played on 5 January 2025.[6] Only competitive matches are counted, except the abandoned 1939–40 Football League season and matches in Wartime Leagues and Cups.

Names of caretaker managers are supplied where known, and the names of caretaker managers are highlighted in italics and marked with an asterisk (*).

List of Blackburn Rovers F.C. managers
Name Nationality From To Matches Won Drawn[a] Lost Win%[b] Honours Refs.
Thomas Mitchell  Scotland 1 August 1884 31 May 1896 263 127 53 83 048.29 FA Cup winners: 1884, 1885, 1886, 1890, 1891 [7]
Joseph Warmsley  England 1 August 1896 31 May 1903 248 89 48 111 035.89 [8]
Robert Middleton  England 1 August 1903 1 February 1922 605 238 155 212 039.34 First Division champions: 1911-12, 1913-14
FA Charity Shield winners: 1912 		[2]
Jack Carr  England 1 February 1922 1 December 1926 217 76 60 81 035.02 [9]
Bob Crompton  England 1 December 1926 1 February 1931 198 84 41 73 042.42 FA Cup winners: 1927-28 [10]
Arthur Barritt  England 1 February 1931 30 April 1936 238 86 47 105 036.13 [11]
Reg Taylor  England 1 October 1936 1 April 1938 72 23 18 31 031.94 [12]
Bob Crompton  England 1 June 1938 31 March 1941 57 32 9 16 056.14 Second Division champions: 1938-39 [10]
Eddie Hapgood  England 1 June 1944 28 February 1947 34 10 8 16 029.41 [13]
Will Scott  England 1 April 1947 1 December 1947 28 8 4 16 028.57 [14]
Jack Bruton  England 1 December 1947 31 May 1949 70 22 16 32 031.43 [15]
Jackie Bestall  England 1 June 1949 31 May 1953 179 72 35 72 040.22 [16]
Johnny Carey  Ireland 1 June 1953 1 October 1958 235 119 49 67 050.64 [17]
Dally Duncan  Scotland 1 October 1958 1 June 1960 85 36 15 34 042.35 [18]
Jack Marshall  England 1 June 1960 1 February 1967 329 122 79 128 037.08 [19]
Eddie Quigley  England 1 February 1967 21 October 1970 168 65 41 62 038.69 [20]
Johnny Carey  Ireland 21 October 1970 8 June 1971 31 5 9 17 016.13 [17]
Ken Furphy  England 4 August 1971 5 December 1973 119 50 30 39 042.02 [21]
Richard Dinnis*  England 5 December 1973 14 January 1974 9 4 1 4 044.44 [22][23]
Gordon Lee  England 14 January 1974 12 June 1975 82 34 27 21 041.46 Third Division champions: 1974–75 [24]
Jim Smith  England 20 June 1975 12 March 1978 128 46 35 47 035.94 [25]
Norman Bodell*  England 13 March 1978 14 April 1978 8 2 2 4 025.00 [26]
Jim Iley  England 14 April 1978 1 November 1978 16 2 6 8 012.50 [27]
John Pickering  England 1 November 1978 15 May 1979 61 15 15 31 024.59 [28]
Howard Kendall  England 1 June 1979 1 June 1981 105 48 33 24 045.71 Third Division runners-up/promoted: 1979–80 [29]
Bobby Saxton  England 31 May 1981 30 December 1986 257 93 73 91 036.19 [30]
Tony Parkes*  England 30 December 1986 3 February 1987 6 3 2 1 050.00 [31]
Don Mackay  Scotland 3 February 1987 2 September 1991 232 91 64 77 039.22 Full Members' Cup winners: 1986-87 [32]
Tony Parkes*  England 2 September 1991 12 October 1991 9 5 2 2 055.56 [31]
Kenny Dalglish  Scotland 12 October 1991 25 June 1995 196 103 46 47 052.55 Second Division promoted: 1991-92
Premier League champions: 1994-95 		[33]
Ray Harford  England 25 June 1995 25 October 1996 64 24 13 27 037.50 [34]
Tony Parkes*  England 25 October 1996 1 June 1997 30 10 11 9 033.33 [4]
Roy Hodgson  England 1 June 1997 21 November 1998 63 22 18 23 034.92 [35][36][37]
Tony Parkes*  England 21 November 1998 4 December 1998 2 0 0 2 000.00 [4]
Brian Kidd  England 4 December 1998 3 November 1999 44 12 18 14 027.27 [38][39]
Tony Parkes*  England 2 October 1999 14 March 2000 26 11 8 7 042.31 [4]
Graeme Souness  Scotland 14 March 2000 6 September 2004 212 86 61 65 040.57 First Division runners-up/promoted: 2000-01
Football League Cup winners: 2001-02 		[40][41]
Tony Parkes*  England 6 September 2004 15 September 2004 1 0 0 1 000.00 [4]
Mark Hughes  Wales 15 September 2004 4 June 2008 188 82 47 59 043.62 [42][43][44]
Paul Ince  England 22 June 2008 16 December 2008 21 6 4 11 028.57 [45][46][47]
Sam Allardyce  England 17 December 2008 13 December 2010 90 32 24 34 035.56 [48][49][50]
Steve Kean  Scotland 13 December 2010 28 September 2012 74 21 16 37 028.38 [51][52][53]
Eric Black*  Scotland 28 September 2012 31 October 2012 6 2 3 1 033.33 [54][55][56]
Henning Berg  Norway 31 October 2012 27 December 2012 10 1 3 6 010.00 [57][58][3]
Gary Bowyer*  England 27 December 2012 11 January 2013 4 3 1 0 075.00 [55][59]
Michael Appleton  England 11 January 2013 19 March 2013 15 4 5 6 026.67 [60][61][62]
Gary Bowyer*  England 19 March 2013 24 May 2013 9 3 3 3 033.33 [63][59]
Gary Bowyer  England 24 May 2013 10 November 2015 118 41 43 34 034.75 [64][65][59]
Paul Lambert  England 15 November 2015 7 May 2016 33 12 8 13 036.36 [66][67][68]
Owen Coyle  Ireland 2 June 2016 21 February 2017 37 11 8 18 029.73 [69][70][71]
Tony Mowbray  England 22 February 2017 30 May 2022 267 108 70 89 040.45 League One runners-up/promoted: 2017–18 [72][73]
Jon Dahl Tomasson  Denmark 14 June 2022 9 February 2024 90 40 14 36 044.44 [5][74]
Damien Johnson*  Northern Ireland 10 February 2024 10 February 2024 1 1 0 0 100.00
John Eustace  England 11 February 2024[c] 44 15 15 14 034.09 [75][76]

Records

Nationalities

As of 25 February 2024 (including caretakers)

Notes

  1. ^ Drawn matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.
  2. ^ Win% is rounded to two decimal places.
  3. ^ Eustace's Blackburn appointment was announced on 9 February, but first-team coaches David Lowe and Damien Johnson took charge of the following day's match.

References

Specific
  1. ^ Ross, James M. (5 August 2019). "England – List of FA Charity/Community Shield Matches". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 15 November 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
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  3. ^ a b "Henning Berg". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Tony Parkes". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Jon Dahl Tomasson: Blackburn Rovers appoint head coach on three-year deal". BBC Sport. 14 June 2022. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
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  9. ^ "Jack Carr". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  10. ^ a b "Bob Crompton". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  11. ^ "Arthur Barritt". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  12. ^ "Reg Taylor". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  13. ^ "Eddie Hapgood". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  14. ^ "Will Scott". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
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  16. ^ "Jack Bruton". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
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  20. ^ "Eddie Quigley". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  21. ^ "Ken Furphy". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
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  48. ^ Allardyce, Sam (2015), Big Sam: My Autobiography, Headline, p. 230, ISBN 978-1-4722-3267-0
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  60. ^ "Michael Appleton: Blackburn Rovers announce new manager". BBC Sport. 11 January 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
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  69. ^ "Owen Coyle: Blackburn Rovers appoint former Bolton and Burnley manager". BBC Sport. 2 June 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  70. ^ "Rovers part company with Owen Coyle". Blackburn Rovers F.C. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
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  74. ^ "Jon Dahl Tomasson". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
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