Ex-West Ham boss Slaven Bilic could replace Valerien Ismael at Blackburn Rovers | OneFootball

Slaven Bilic is among the options if the Lancashire club decide to make a change in managers.

The Croatian, who guided the Baggies to promotion from the Championship in 2020, is said to be among the options on the radar at Ewood Park as pressure continues to build on Valerien Ismael’s position.

Said 'pressure' comes after journalist Graeme Bailey reported that the Lancashire club were looking at bringing back Tony Mowbray to help them stay up in the second tier.

Slaven Bilic in the frame to replace Valerien Ismael at Blackburn Rovers

talkSPORT’s Alex Crook has revealed on X that Slaven Bilic is among the options if Blackburn decide to make a change in managers.

This shows that the Rovers' hierarchy are at least assessing alternatives to Ismael behind the scenes - and it comes hot on the heels of the aforementioned Mowbray claim.

Regarding Ismael’s immediate future, talkSPORT was the outlet that reported the Frenchman is effectively fighting to keep his job after not winning a single game - in the league or cup - since the 20th December against Millwall.

Bilic’s most recent stint in English football came at Watford, where they've had 22 managers since the Pozzo family took over in 2012. Saying this, it's perhaps not a surprise to learn that he was sacked after less than six months at Vicarage Road.

From Blackburn’s perspective, the potential appeal of Bilic is not hard to understand, especially if they decide that Ismael cannot turn things around. Yes, the initial aim would obviously be to keep the club up, but Bilic has already shown at West Brom that he can build a promotion-chasing Championship outfit.

That West Brom team, especially, were known for their willingness to keep possession and commit bodies forward in attack. Bilic also admitted in an interview that he likes his teams to play good football, but that could be lost in a relegation scrap.

Ultimately, with Mowbray also in the conversation and Ismael still fighting to retain his job, the emergence of Bilic suggests that Rovers are keeping all avenues open.