Blackburn Rovers are making off-pitch moves to find a replacement for Michael O’Neill, who has decided not to extend his stay at Ewood Park ahead of the 2026/27 Championship season after securing survival during a brief and successful stint in East Lancashire.

A turnaround in fortunes following the appointment of O’Neill back in February would ultimately see Blackburn retain their second-tier status by five points as a 20th-placed finish ensured survival ahead of Oxford United in 22nd position.

The success of those efforts is, to a large extent, attributed to O’Neill, who steadied the ship, reverted to basics, and made Blackburn difficult to beat in a relegation dogfight. While Rovers had hoped to make his time in Lancashire permanent, the 56-year-old eventually decided to focus on his international commitments with Northern Ireland, which he was juggling alongside duties at Ewood Park.

It has left Blackburn to comb the market for a fifth permanent managerial job in less than two and a half years, and a number of names look to be under consideration as the Venky’s consider further action in the dugout.

Popular ex-Rovers manager Tony Mowbray and Slaven Bilic, the latter of whom has been linked with the Championship vacancy on several occasions in recent years, have both been linked in reports over the last few weeks, and an update on the duo and potential talks to seal either appointment has now emerged.

Slaven Bilic, Tony Mowbray update emerges at Blackburn Rovers

The latest update regarding the saga has come from The Sun’s Alan Nixon, who reported a fresh development via his exclusive Patreon service on Wednesday morning.

Nixon claims that Blackburn has made a new offer to Bilic that includes a large severance package, but it is reported to fall short of the ex-West Ham United and West Bromwich Albion manager’s requests for two years’ pay.

Exactly where that leaves the possibility of Bilic returning to the Championship with Blackburn remains unclear, with the Croat having been repeatedly linked to this particular job.

He is certainly of great interest to the Rovers administration, but the club’s decision-makers are concerned that their attempts for Bilic will be unsuccessful once again.

According to Nixon, Bilic has yet to respond to Blackburn’s latest offer, raising concerns that he is holding out for another job, forcing the Lancashire club to cast a wider net in an attempt to speed up the process and avoid putting all of their eggs in one basket.

Separately, his report states that contact has been made with the aforementioned Mowbray, who has been out of work since leaving West Brom in April of last year.

The 62-year-old has, of course, had a stellar managerial career in the EFL, spending some of his best years at Blackburn, where he led the club for just over five years, from 2017 to 2022, and helped win promotion from League One back to the Championship before re-establishing Rovers in the second tier.

However, despite initial communication, Mowbray has yet to receive a formal offer from Blackburn, which could indicate how serious they are about returning the experienced boss to BB2.

With Blackburn looking to broaden their net, Nixon claims that an unnamed senior official at the club jetted off to mainland Europe on what is only described as a “mystery mission,” possibly to meet with a new unknown contender for the role, while Dave Challinor is also on the radar following his mutually agreed departure from League One play-off finalists Stockport County.

Blackburn Rovers must sort manager situation ASAP

Blackburn evidently want to take time to ensure the best possible successor for O’Neill is sealed, but they can ill-afford to deliberate and drag out that process ahead of a crucial summer transfer window at the club.

Once again, Rovers are likely to face stiff competition in the market and when the Championship season begins in mid August. The odds will be stacked against the Ewood Park club, who will be depending on yet another astute managerial decision to keep their heads above water in a probable relegation battle.

The window is shortly upon us, though, and given that you really do get the sense of a squad rebuilding process taking place over the summer months, it’s extremely important that Blackburn elect a manager to oversee such changes and look to initiate a fresh direction of travel in the second-tier sooner rather than later.