Blackburn's global advisor Shebby Singh wants new manager by tomorrow

Rovers recorded a 3-1 victory at the weekend

Dominic Farrell
Monday 31 December 2012 12:57 GMT
Comments
Blackburn's global advisor Shebby Singh, pictured with Henning Berg
Blackburn's global advisor Shebby Singh, pictured with Henning Berg (GETTY IMAGES)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Blackburn global advisor Shebby Singh wants to have a new manager in place at the npower Championship club tomorrow.

Having led the protracted recruitment process to appoint Henning Berg at Ewood Park, Singh sacked the former Rovers defender last week following 57 days and 10 games in charge that produced a solitary win.

A 3-1 victory over Barnsley on Saturday ended a turbulent week on a high for Blackburn and reserve team manager Gary Bowyer is set to continue in temporary charge for the New Year's Day visit of Nottingham Forest.

But Singh wants Berg's successor to have as much preparation time as possible for the FA Cup third round tie against Bristol City and is awaiting the green light from owners Venky's over his preferred course of action.

The former Malaysia international defender and television pundit told the Lancashire Telegraph: "I have made my submissions to my bosses. They will receive it, then we will talk about it.

"We would like to make an appointment on New Year's Day to start the new year in the right way and to see the back of a horrible 2012."

The search for Berg's successor has become another unseemly episode in a wretched 12 months for Blackburn, during which the club was relegated from the Barclays Premier League in May.

Fans reacted angrily to reports that Singh was lining up former Aston Villa caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald and relatively unknown coach Judan Ali as part of the team to replace Berg and his outgoing backroom staff.

Director of operations Paul Agnew and managing director Derek Shaw - the other two board members involved in the selection process for Berg's appointment - travelled to India for meetings with Rovers' owners this week amid claims of a rift between the pair and Singh.

Speaking to BBC Radio Five Live's 606 programme on Saturday evening, Singh stated his preference for an experienced manager before dismissing any behind-the-scenes ructions at Ewood were nothing out of the ordinary.

After claiming he had spent his first six months at Blackburn "fighting enemies from the outside and inside", Singh said: "As with every organisation, not everybody is always fighting the same cause.

"Individuals have their own agendas sometimes - this is common everywhere you go.

"I would say I've just been fighting the regular battles."

PA

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in