List of Blackburn Rovers F.C. managers

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Michael O'Neill is the current head coach at Blackburn Rovers, an English professional 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 were Irish, Henning Berg who is Norwegian, and Jon Dahl Tomasson who is Danish.

The previous head coach was Valérien Ismaël, who left in February 2026 following a run of 1 win in 15 matches and Blackburn sat in the EFL Championship relegation zone. He was replaced by Michael O'Neill on a short-term contract.

Information correct after match played on 23 April 2026.[5] 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[c] Refs.
Thomas Mitchell  Scotland 1 August 1884 31 May 1896 2631275383048.29 FA Cup winners: 1884, 1885, 1886, 1890, 1891 [6]
Joseph Walmsley  England 1 August 1896 31 May 1903 2488948111035.89 [7]
Robert Middleton  England 1 August 1903 1 February 1922 605238155212039.34 First Division champions: 1911-12, 1913-14
FA Charity Shield winners: 1912		 [2]
Jack Carr  England 1 February 1922 1 December 1926 217766081035.02 [8]
Bob Crompton  England 1 December 1926 1 February 1931 198844173042.42 FA Cup winners: 1927-28 [9]
Arthur Barritt  England 1 February 1931 30 April 1936 2388647105036.13 [10]
Reg Taylor  England 1 October 1936 1 April 1938 72231831031.94 [11]
Bob Crompton  England 1 June 1938 31 March 1941 5732916056.14 Second Division champions: 1938-39 [9]
Eddie Hapgood  England 1 June 1944 28 February 1947 3410816029.41 [12]
Will Scott  England 1 April 1947 1 December 1947 288416028.57 [13]
Jack Bruton  England 1 December 1947 31 May 1949 70221632031.43 [14]
Jackie Bestall  England 1 June 1949 31 May 1953 179723572040.22 [15]
Johnny Carey  Ireland 1 June 1953 1 October 1958 2351194967050.64 Second Division runners-up/promoted: 1957-58 [16]
Dally Duncan  Scotland 1 October 1958 1 June 1960 85361534042.35 [17]
Jack Marshall  England 1 June 1960 1 February 1967 32912279128037.08 [18]
Eddie Quigley  England 1 February 1967 21 October 1970 168654162038.69 [19]
Johnny Carey  Ireland 21 October 1970 8 June 1971 315917016.13 [16]
Ken Furphy  England 4 August 1971 5 December 1973 119503039042.02 [20]
Richard Dinnis*  England 5 December 1973 14 January 1974 9414044.44 [21][22]
Gordon Lee  England 14 January 1974 12 June 1975 82342721041.46 Third Division champions: 1974–75 [23]
Jim Smith  England 20 June 1975 12 March 1978 128463547035.94 [24]
Norman Bodell*  England 13 March 1978 14 April 1978 8224025.00 [25]
Jim Iley  England 14 April 1978 1 November 1978 16268012.50 [26]
John Pickering  England 1 November 1978 15 May 1979 61151531024.59 [27]
Howard Kendall  England 1 June 1979 1 June 1981 105483324045.71 Third Division runners-up/promoted: 1979–80 [28]
Bobby Saxton  England 31 May 1981 30 December 1986 257937391036.19 [29]
Tony Parkes*  England 30 December 1986 3 February 1987 6321050.00 [30]
Don Mackay  Scotland 3 February 1987 2 September 1991 232916477039.22 Full Members' Cup winners: 1986-87 [31]
Tony Parkes*  England 2 September 1991 12 October 1991 9522055.56 [30]
Kenny Dalglish  Scotland 12 October 1991 25 June 1995 1961034647052.55 Second Division promoted: 1991-92
Premier League champions: 1994-95		 [32]
Ray Harford  England 25 June 1995 25 October 1996 64241327037.50 [33]
Tony Parkes*  England 25 October 1996 1 June 1997 3010119033.33 [4]
Roy Hodgson  England 1 June 1997 21 November 1998 63221823034.92 [34][35][36]
Tony Parkes*  England 21 November 1998 4 December 1998 2002000.00 [4]
Brian Kidd  England 4 December 1998 3 November 1999 44121814027.27 [37][38]
Tony Parkes*  England 2 October 1999 14 March 2000 261187042.31 [4]
Graeme Souness  Scotland 14 March 2000 6 September 2004 212866165040.57 First Division runners-up/promoted: 2000-01
Football League Cup winners: 2001-02		 [39][40]
Tony Parkes*  England 6 September 2004 15 September 2004 1001000.00 [4]
Mark Hughes  Wales 15 September 2004 4 June 2008 188824759043.62 [41][42][43]
Paul Ince  England 22 June 2008 16 December 2008 216411028.57 [44][45][46]
Sam Allardyce  England 17 December 2008 13 December 2010 90322434035.56 [47][48][49]
Steve Kean  Scotland 13 December 2010 28 September 2012 74211637028.38 [50][51][52]
Eric Black*  Scotland 28 September 2012 31 October 2012 6231033.33 [53][54][55]
Henning Berg  Norway 31 October 2012 27 December 2012 10136010.00 [56][57][3]
Gary Bowyer*  England 27 December 2012 11 January 2013 4310075.00 [54][58]
Michael Appleton  England 11 January 2013 19 March 2013 15456026.67 [59][60][61]
Gary Bowyer*  England 19 March 2013 24 May 2013 9333033.33 [62][58]
Gary Bowyer  England 24 May 2013 10 November 2015 118414334034.75 [63][64][58]
Paul Lambert  England 15 November 2015 7 May 2016 3312813036.36 [65][66][67]
Owen Coyle  Ireland 2 June 2016 21 February 2017 3711818029.73 [68][69][70]
Tony Mowbray  England 22 February 2017 30 May 2022 2671087089040.45 League One runners-up/promoted: 2017–18 [71][72]
Jon Dahl Tomasson  Denmark 14 June 2022 9 February 2024 90401436044.44 [73][74]
Damien Johnson*  Northern Ireland 10 February 2024 10 February 2024 1100100.00 [75]
John Eustace  England 11 February 2024[d] 10 February 2025 52181519034.62 [76][77]
David Lowe*  England 12 February 2025[e] 25 February 2025 3201066.67 [78]
Valérien Ismaël  France 25 February 2025 2 February 2026 43111220025.58 [79]
Damien Johnson*  Northern Ireland 2 February 2026 13 February 2026 2101050.00 [80]
Michael O'Neill  Northern Ireland 13 February 2026 Present 14554035.71 [81]

Records

Notes

References

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