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.
Information correct after match played on 26 October 2024.[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 (*).
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 | 48.29 | FA Cup winners: 1884, 1885, 1886, 1890, 1891 | [7] |
Joseph Warmsley | England | 1 August 1896 | 31 May 1903 | 248 | 89 | 48 | 111 | 35.89 | [8] | |
Robert Middleton | England | 1 August 1903 | 1 February 1922 | 605 | 238 | 155 | 212 | 39.34 | 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 | 35.02 | [9] | |
Bob Crompton | England | 1 December 1926 | 1 February 1931 | 198 | 84 | 41 | 73 | 42.42 | FA Cup winners: 1927-28 | [10] |
Arthur Barritt | England | 1 February 1931 | 30 April 1936 | 238 | 86 | 47 | 105 | 36.13 | [11] | |
Reg Taylor | England | 1 October 1936 | 1 April 1938 | 72 | 23 | 18 | 31 | 31.94 | [12] | |
Bob Crompton | England | 1 June 1938 | 31 March 1941 | 57 | 32 | 9 | 16 | 56.14 | Second Division champions: 1938-39 | [10] |
Eddie Hapgood | England | 1 June 1944 | 28 February 1947 | 34 | 10 | 8 | 16 | 29.41 | [13] | |
Will Scott | England | 1 April 1947 | 1 December 1947 | 28 | 8 | 4 | 16 | 28.57 | [14] | |
Jack Bruton | England | 1 December 1947 | 31 May 1949 | 70 | 22 | 16 | 32 | 31.43 | [15] | |
Jackie Bestall | England | 1 June 1949 | 31 May 1953 | 179 | 72 | 35 | 72 | 40.22 | [16] | |
Johnny Carey | Ireland | 1 June 1953 | 1 October 1958 | 235 | 119 | 49 | 67 | 50.64 | [17] | |
Dally Duncan | Scotland | 1 October 1958 | 1 June 1960 | 85 | 36 | 15 | 34 | 42.35 | [18] | |
Jack Marshall | England | 1 June 1960 | 1 February 1967 | 329 | 122 | 79 | 128 | 37.08 | [19] | |
Eddie Quigley | England | 1 February 1967 | 21 October 1970 | 168 | 65 | 41 | 62 | 38.69 | [20] | |
Johnny Carey | Ireland | 21 October 1970 | 8 June 1971 | 31 | 5 | 9 | 17 | 16.13 | [17] | |
Ken Furphy | England | 4 August 1971 | 5 December 1973 | 119 | 50 | 30 | 39 | 42.02 | [21] | |
Richard Dinnis* | England | 5 December 1973 | 14 January 1974 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 44.44 | [22][23] | |
Gordon Lee | England | 14 January 1974 | 12 June 1975 | 82 | 34 | 27 | 21 | 41.46 | Third Division champions: 1974–75 | [24] |
Jim Smith | England | 20 June 1975 | 12 March 1978 | 128 | 46 | 35 | 47 | 35.94 | [25] | |
Norman Bodell* | England | 13 March 1978 | 14 April 1978 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 25.00 | [26] | |
Jim Iley | England | 14 April 1978 | 1 November 1978 | 16 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 12.50 | [27] | |
John Pickering | England | 1 November 1978 | 15 May 1979 | 61 | 15 | 15 | 31 | 24.59 | [28] | |
Howard Kendall | England | 1 June 1979 | 1 June 1981 | 105 | 48 | 33 | 24 | 45.71 | Third Division runners-up/promoted: 1979–80 | [29] |
Bobby Saxton | England | 31 May 1981 | 30 December 1986 | 257 | 93 | 73 | 91 | 36.19 | [30] | |
Tony Parkes* | England | 30 December 1986 | 3 February 1987 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 50.00 | [31] | |
Don Mackay | Scotland | 3 February 1987 | 2 September 1991 | 232 | 91 | 64 | 77 | 39.22 | Full Members' Cup winners: 1986-87 | [32] |
Tony Parkes* | England | 2 September 1991 | 12 October 1991 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 55.56 | [31] | |
Kenny Dalglish | Scotland | 12 October 1991 | 25 June 1995 | 196 | 103 | 46 | 47 | 52.55 | Second Division promoted: 1991-92 Premier League champions: 1994-95 |
[33] |
Ray Harford | England | 25 June 1995 | 25 October 1996 | 64 | 24 | 13 | 27 | 37.50 | [34] | |
Tony Parkes* | England | 25 October 1996 | 1 June 1997 | 30 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 33.33 | [4] | |
Roy Hodgson | England | 1 June 1997 | 21 November 1998 | 63 | 22 | 18 | 23 | 34.92 | [35][36][37] | |
Tony Parkes* | England | 21 November 1998 | 4 December 1998 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00 | [4] | |
Brian Kidd | England | 4 December 1998 | 3 November 1999 | 44 | 12 | 18 | 14 | 27.27 | [38][39] | |
Tony Parkes* | England | 2 October 1999 | 14 March 2000 | 26 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 42.31 | [4] | |
Graeme Souness | Scotland | 14 March 2000 | 6 September 2004 | 212 | 86 | 61 | 65 | 40.57 | 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 | 0.00 | [4] | |
Mark Hughes | Wales | 15 September 2004 | 4 June 2008 | 188 | 82 | 47 | 59 | 43.62 | [42][43][44] | |
Paul Ince | England | 22 June 2008 | 16 December 2008 | 21 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 28.57 | [45][46][47] | |
Sam Allardyce | England | 17 December 2008 | 13 December 2010 | 90 | 32 | 24 | 34 | 35.56 | [48][49][50] | |
Steve Kean | Scotland | 13 December 2010 | 28 September 2012 | 74 | 21 | 16 | 37 | 28.38 | [51][52][53] | |
Eric Black* | Scotland | 28 September 2012 | 31 October 2012 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 33.33 | [54][55][56] | |
Henning Berg | Norway | 31 October 2012 | 27 December 2012 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 10.00 | [57][58][3] | |
Gary Bowyer* | England | 27 December 2012 | 11 January 2013 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 75.00 | [55][59] | |
Michael Appleton | England | 11 January 2013 | 19 March 2013 | 15 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 26.67 | [60][61][62] | |
Gary Bowyer* | England | 19 March 2013 | 24 May 2013 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 33.33 | [63][59] | |
Gary Bowyer | England | 24 May 2013 | 10 November 2015 | 118 | 41 | 43 | 34 | 34.75 | [64][65][59] | |
Paul Lambert | England | 15 November 2015 | 7 May 2016 | 33 | 12 | 8 | 13 | 36.36 | [66][67][68] | |
Owen Coyle | Ireland | 2 June 2016 | 21 February 2017 | 37 | 11 | 8 | 18 | 29.73 | [69][70][71] | |
Tony Mowbray | England | 22 February 2017 | 30 May 2022 | 267 | 108 | 70 | 89 | 40.45 | League One runners-up/promoted: 2017–18 | [72][73] |
Jon Dahl Tomasson | Denmark | 14 June 2022 | 9 February 2024 | 90 | 40 | 14 | 36 | 44.44 | [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] | 31 | 9 | 13 | 9 | 29.03 | [75][76] |
As of 25 February 2024 (including caretakers)