9 months ago
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Blackburn have named John Eustace as their new head coach - just 30 minutes after parting ways with Jon Dahl Tomasson.
The well-respected coach, who was most recently replaced at Birmingham by Wayne Rooney, arrives at Ewood Park following the departure of Tomasson.
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The Danish boss had endured a tumultuous season in Lancashire after falling out with Rovers owners - the Venky's family- over the direction of the club.
Despite Eustace's swift appointment, he will not be in charge of the team for Saturday's clash against Stoke, with first team coaches David Lowe and Damien Johnson to be in the dugout.
Speaking to the club's media team, a buzzing Eustace said: "I am delighted to be the new Head Coach of such a fantastic football club as Blackburn Rovers, which has such a proud history and tradition within the game.
“I am excited for this new challenge in my career and can’t wait to get started.
“I am looking forward to being at Ewood Park tomorrow and meeting the supporters, who can play a big part for us between now and the end of the season.
“I will give my all to ensure the fans have a team they can be proud of and, together, I hope we can quickly start climbing the table.”
Blackburn are currently on an eight-match winless run and find themselves 18th in the Championship and in with a genuine chance of being dragged into the relegation zone.
However a 2-1 defeat to relegation-threatened QPR didn't come close to rivalling what went wrong in the final week of the January transfer window.
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Having agreed a permanent deal to sign Duncan McGuire from Major League Soccer club Orlando City, the Blackburn owners ordered all deal involving a transfer fee to be cancelled.
That was despite the American star already boarding a flight to the UK and landing at a hotel in Sheffield, with Sheffield Wednesday also interested.
That deal was then reignited with Blackburn striking a loan deal with the option to make it permanent in the summer, with the Championship side announcing that the deal was agreed, only for it to fall through due to an 'administrative error', the club said in a statement, which turned out to be quite the blunder.
According to The Athletic, Blackburn thought they had clicked 'submit paperwork' on the English Football League's transfer system before the deadline hit.
However, the club had actually only hit the option to save, meaning the wrong button was pressed.
The Championship side appealed to the EFL but it was rejected, which meant that McGuire was sent back to Orlando after the transfer was cancelled.
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With Blackburn losing wonderkid Scott Wharton to Crystal Palace for £22million in a deal that didn't include a loan back, it was clear that enough was enough, with Tomasson's relationship with the Venky's growing increasingly uneasy since he came close to leaving in the summer.
Tomasson is reportedly interested in the Sweden national team job, while Eustace now faces a battle to get Blackburn firing and pull them away from the imminent threat of a relegation battle.
