Blackburn Rovers’ Michael O’Neill blow: Marti Cifuentes can be the Venky’s answer | OneFootball

Blackburn Rovers are searching for a new manager after Michael O'Neill's exit

Blackburn Rovers survived relegation with the help of Michael O’Neill after he took over as head coach in February.

The 56-year-old took on a dual role when he replaced Valerien Ismael in the dugout at Ewood Park as he remained in his position as the Northern Ireland boss.

A run of five wins, five draws and five defeats in the final months of the campaign led to the Lancashire outfit avoiding the drop by five points.

Blackburn finished 20th in the table, but O’Neill has confirmed that he will not be remaining in charge going into the next campaign.

He is set to go back to his role with the Northern Ireland national team, leaving Rovers to begin their search for a permanent replacement.

The club will be keen to appoint a coach capable of improving the team’s standing in the Championship after they fell from seventh to 20th over the last 12 months.

Blackburn have an obvious Michael O'Neill solution

The departure of O’Neill is a blow given his role in keeping the club in the Championship, but it is a summer with a lot of managers on the market.

And there is one obvious solution that Rovers must seek to replace the Northern Ireland boss that could help bring the club forward again.

The appointment of Martí Cifuentes would be a smart piece of business by the Championship side.

The Spaniard is currently out of work, and the reputational hit he took from his time at Leicester City could lead to him being open to a move to Ewood Park.

He earned a lot of credit for his work at QPR, where he established a more attractive brand of football after Gareth Ainsworth’s route one style.

The 43-year-old also helped turn things around at Loftus Road, playing a crucial role in guiding the Hoops out of the relegation zone and into a mid-table position.

The London outfit were 23rd in the table on 30 October 2023 when he was officially appointed, six points adrift of safety already by that stage.

But QPR ultimately finished 18th in the table, earning 46 points from 34 games to safely avoid the drop by six points - very similar to what we've just seen at Ewood Park.

Despite a ropey start to the following campaign, Cifuentes’ side rose to 15th by the time he departed in the final weeks of the 2024/25 campaign, showing clear progress that he could replicate at Blackburn.

The former Hammarby coach was constrained by limited finances at Loftus Road, but that didn’t stop him from succeeding, and that skill makes him an invaluable option for Blackburn.

Leicester City stint shouldn’t put Blackburn off Martí Cifuentes

Cifuentes made the move to Leicester last summer, where he was expected to compete for promotion to the Premier League.

But it proved a disastrous campaign for the Foxes, and the 43-year-old was dismissed in January with the team’s hopes of a top six finish fading.

Cifuentes’ side were 14th in the table, six points off Wrexham in sixth when he was sacked, although the club were set to be given a further six point deduction by the EFL, which duly arrived in February.

But the club plummeted to relegation under his replacement Gary Rowett, highlighting just how much trouble the team were in.

Even accounting for the six points Leicester were deducted, they would’ve finished just one point clear of the bottom three, which is a steep decline in Cifuentes’ absence.

So Blackburn shouldn’t let this stint put them off his potential appointment, if he’d be open to it, as it was clearly a more difficult circumstance than many believed when he was sacked in January.

If he can replicate his form from QPR, then he has the capability to bring Blackburn back to the top end of the Championship.