Why Slaven Bilic doesn't want the Blackburn Rovers job right now | OneFootball

It has been reported that former West Ham United boss Slaven Bilic has turned down Blackburn Rovers.

Blackburn Rovers’ hunt for a new manager has been dealt another blow with it being reported that Slaven Bilic has told the club he does not want to take over mid-season.

Last week, Blackburn took the decision to sack manager Valerien Ismael with the Lancastrians having sunk firmly into the relegation battle in the Championship after missing out on the top six and the play-off places on the final day of last season.

Blackburn have since enjoyed a slender 1-0 defeat of crisis club Sheffield Wednesday at Ewood Park but they remain in a perilous position, as was the case when they staved off the drop on the final day of the 2023/24 campaign.

Ismael was the subject of criticism from supporters early on in his Blackburn reign after being appointed when John Eustace took the surprising decision to leave the club, who were sixth at the time, for then relegation-bound Derby County.

Supporters remain irate with the off-field running of the club and there is a lot of pressure on getting this next appointment right – but it doesn’t look like it will be Bilic.

Slaven Bilic turns down Blackburn role

According to a report via Alex Crook, in conjunction with Sam Matterface and TalkSport, Slaven Bilic has told Blackburn’s hierarchy that he does not want to become their new manager in the middle of the campaign.

The former West Ham United manager has experience in the Championship, having led West Bromwich Albion to promotion in the 2019/20 campaign, while also being in charge for six months or so of Watford’s 2022/23 second-tier campaign.

Bilic hasn’t been involved in management since August 2024 when he departed Al Fateh, who are one of the more middling clubs behind the major heavy spenders in the Saudi Pro League.

Bilic’s career began with Hajduk Split, his where he began and finished his playing career, before taking on the Croatia U21 and then Croatia first-team roles. After that, he has also been in charge of Lokomotiv Moscow, Besiktas, Al Ittihad and Beijing Guoan.

Bilic may well have been the injection of energy and enthusiasm that Blackburn are crying out for right now but Rovers are set to have to continue their search.

Frustration for Blackburn in their managerial pursuit

As was reported by Alan Nixon last week, Blackburn’s pursuit of a new manager began poorly almost immediately.

Nixon initially suggested that the Bilic camp had sent mixed messages, while there had been no contact with former boss Tony Mowbray.

Initially, the early preferred candidates were David Wagner and Bo Svensson, but the former didn’t fancy it and the latter was in the frame for the Werder Bremen job, which is a vacancy that has now been filled by Daniel Thioune.

Jon Dahl Tomasson and Mark Hughes were also linked with returns by Nixon, while Chris Coleman was another name mentioned at the start of their search.

It has since been reported that Bilic kept stalling on agreement, ahead of his refusal on Saturday, as reported by Crook, and now former Oxford United manager Gary Rowett has emerged as the favourite.

Rowett has done excellent work with plenty of clubs in the past and most recently came in to Oxford mid-way through last season to impressively steer the U’s clear of relegation from the Championship.