None of us know for sure on that but I do think patterns are appearing here. Between Broughton's appointment as D of F on 8th June 2022 and JDT's appointment as manager there was a period of 6 days. That is impressive. He came into a new club, took charge of the recruitment process and in less than a week had spoke to JDT, agreed terms with him and his team and got him into the building. Eustace's appointment occurred within a few days at most of the club knowing JDT was leaving. Both were professional appointments, clarity as to what we needed, sorted out rapidly. Let's look either side of that. Waggott was lucky to walk into the Mowbray era where there was nothing to do on the football side and it was easy to leave it all to Mowbray and Venus. From Mowbray's departure being confirmed on 11th May there was a wait of almost a month and talk of all sorts of worrying names (Duncan Ferguson). And now from Eustace's departure we are 2 weeks into knowing Derby were speaking to him and are still conducting interviews. An interesting pattern.

There was a video before the Stoke home game showing Eustace arriving at Ewood and walking along the pitchside and down the tunnel. Broughton was the one who welcomed him and was walking with him. No sign of Waggott. Other than that though yeah, very little information on who was doing what but obviously bridges had been burned and Broughton was on his way out by that point.

I haven't seen anything other than claims online that Waggott had anything to do with Eustace's appointment. It seems to be another one of those rumours that has been repeated so many times that it has become fact, something I imagine suits Waggott down to the ground for people to believe that he was the mastermind behind Eustace's appointment whereas big bad Broughton was the problem and things got better once he was taken out of the equation. Might be right and might not but I repeat the question of why Rovers were paying Broughton to run the football operation and why Broughton was filmed escorting and welcoming Eustace to Ewood ahead of that Stoke game if he had no involvement in his appointment. I personally don't think it is a coincidence that the two managerial appointments that occurred during Broughton's time were both quick, decisive and successful appointments - almost as though he had ideas and a shortlist in place and was prepared - whereas either side of that we've taken weeks to 'interview' and sift through largely dross CVs and not got anywhere with Waggott and the curtain twitcher running the show. Almost as though the introduction of someone with half an idea on what was needed worked and either side of that we've been a shambles.

Says who? And if correct, why was Waggott picking managers ahead of someone paid to be Director of Football? Maybe the same will be happening again with Gestede?

Didn't Gregg Broughton appoint the last two managers that worked out well? He was certainly director of football when we did so it would be a fair assumption that he was at least heavily involved. If he wasn't then what was he being paid for?

Even if you ignore Karanka's dismal recent record including at better resourced Championship clubs than he will find here, and look at the bloke's track record, as others have correctly identified he has a reputation of being a difficult character to deal with. I'll always remember the fall out at Middlesbrough when he walked out mid-season as they were pushing for promotion and they went to Charlton I think without a manager whilst he sulked somewhere, then he came back and they got over the line in the end. This was a Middlesbrough chaired by a bloke many consider to be the best chairman in English football, a stable well run club and one that backs their managers with players and cash. Heaven knows how he would cope working for this shower. I've always seen him as a 'mini Mourinho' having worked under him at Real Madrid and admitted that he draws his managerial inspiration from him. Obviously that's not necessarily a bad thing but Mourinho has a certain reputation for being an abrasive personality and if Karanka copies that it is not hard to see a problem developing. The very last thing this group need now is an external figure coming in who rubs people up the wrong way or upsets the team spirit. It needs more of the same or a galvanising 'us against the world' figure (yes him again, a Warnock type). I worry that introducing a Karanka (or indeed some of the other names on this list) into our dressing room would upset the apple cart. I also am increasingly of the view that if they go for this that is what the people making this decision want - derailment of the season before it is too late and we get into the top 6.

He wanted out because he wanted not just his own choice of players in but also because he wanted assurances and clarity regarding budgets and contracts (nearly everyone out of contract in a little over a year need I remind you). He didn't get what he wanted which is precisely the reason why he took the unprecedented step of swapping a promotion push for a relegation dogfight with 14 games to play. Good luck to him? Why would you wish good luck to a rival team's manager?

Karanka has a 26% win record in his last two Championship jobs at Forest and Birmingham. Maybe they are hoping he brings that form here so that it drops us out of the top 6 before May.

Lijnders is an interesting one, obviously a stellar CV working as assistant to Klopp, and you don't get jobs managing in the Red Bull group if you don't have a strong background, but a short unsuccessful spell with Salzburg is concerning. I think if he was coming straight from being Liverpool assistant manager there would be plenty of people cock a hoop about it, but that 4-5 months at Salzburg has trashed his reputation.

I still think Plymouth have half a chance on their home form alone. They're capable of beating anyone at their place and I wouldn't be surprised if they had promotion level home form to keep them in the mix. Luton in all sorts of trouble, their away record has been horrific this season and now their home record appears to be getting worse. Absolutely no new manager bounce there. Bloomfield yet to get a win. Hull and Stoke should have enough. Portsmouth pulling clear on home form. Cardiff in bother but seem to be able to pull the odd win out when they need it.

It's far too early to be drawing conclusions on the success or otherwise of the January window other than to say it directly led to the departure of a promising manager mid-season, just as it did last year. So regardless of whether the players turn out to be decent or not it has to balanced against the serious destabilising impact on our coaching staff and retention of a good manager. Will you be celebrating the January window when every one of them other than Kargbo is off playing elsewhere next season?

In what possible way would that help when dealing with Venkys and Waggott?

Middlesbrough and Huddersfield were success stories given where they were when he took over. Aberdeen granted a failure but its his Championship record I am interested in. It's 13-16 games and 2-3 months of a job. No more than that. He can return to retirement a bit wealthier in May. We are in no position to turn our noses up at tried and proven operators just because they are getting on a bit. It is taking unnecessary gambles or the dross we are being linked with now that is a bigger risk.

Take out his time at Middlesbrough, and he's managed 134 games across 4 clubs winning 44 of them. His average tenure has been 33 games. Since 2021 he has had 21 games with Granada and 23 games with Maccabi Tel Aviv. I've ignored his Middlesbrough spell as that appears to be very much an outlier, where he was blessed with heavy backing, a stable club and a good chairman. Quite irrelevant to the situation here. I do think he is a fiery individual though and I also don't see him as a desperado who will accept any old rubbish to get a job. Expect he has applied but could quite quickly give it up as a bad job when he realises what they're giving him.

I'll keep on saying it because I believe it is the obvious and correct course of action but I really wish the clowns running the club would just pick up the phone to Warnock, offer him what he wants to take it until the summer, offer him £1 million bonus if he pulls it off and let him get on with it. It is a total no brainer. It buys us 3 months to work out what the hell we are going to do come the summer whilst also giving it to the safest pair of hands available for a shot at the play-offs. What on earth they are doing if they are speaking to the names Nixon is mentioning I do not know but it isn't going to end well. They clearly don't know what they are doing or looking for, too many cooks spoiling the broth and they're going to end up getting a panic appointment or a middle ground that just isn't what is needed.

His win % at RB Salzburg is actually pretty poor given most managers there are at 60-70% and he was at 40 odd %. 40%+ in PL or Championship is very good but when managing RB Salzburg in Austria it is pretty poor. Not sure about his spell in Holland....did he leave that to join up with Klopp at Liverpool?

I agree with 3 down to 6 but can't see O'Neil or Wellens in the running. O'Neil surely too expensive for us even if he'd gamble his career on coming here which I think would be a huge risk for him. Wellens embroiled in a playoff push with Orient and would require compensation. Can see both being hurdles we aren't able to overcome. The other ones all unemployed and Edwards apart would struggle to get jobs in the Championship these days so probably realistic.

I imagine Rovers will have accepted a reduced allocation and won't now be able to get the full 3100 even if they wanted it. See Leeds 'sell out' which was a sell out of the reduced allocation ignoring the fact that they could have had an extra 1500+ in the lower tier but declined. Suspect it will be a similar affair at Derby - boasting about a 'sell out' but won't get the maximum allocation.

The only +ve that I have for Ismael is that he had an immediate positive impact at both Barnsley and West Brom taking over tough situations. At Barnsley they were struggling and he ended up getting them into the play-offs and at West Brom they had just been relegated yet for the first few months at least he had them up at the top of the league. So perhaps there is some reason to think he might be able to come in and see us through to the end of the season. There's no reason based on his CV to think he would be suitable beyond that. He's had a vast number of clubs and jobs and never lasted more than about a year. I can guarantee most of them will have been more stable and professional than Rovers. Perhaps this is the new model - a Watfordesque turnover in head coaches who come in and 'do a job' for 6-12 months before their contracts expire, they resign and we get some compo and then we repeat it again. Suppose it stops any repeats of the JDT and Eustace debacles.

Mentioned by someone on here way back at the very start and has been in the back of my mind as a typical Venky appointment. Another who may be ok until the summer but I'd be very concerned if he was getting any longer than that. A dismal record at West Brom and Watford.

Two years ago we were battling for the play-offs in JDTs first season having put some solid building blocks in place the previous summer and were 7 months into the Broughton/Head Coach/Continental setup. Since then we've drastically cut the budgets, alienated and forced out the head coach, got rid of Broughton, ditched that approach, adopted some sort of half way house approach by employing Gestede in that role, appointed a more traditional manager, forced him out to relegation threatened Derby County, had 3-4 pathetic transfer windows, sold most of our assets, spent nothing, still aren't getting funding from India after over 2 years, haven't renewed a contract in almost 18 months, failed to offer the last manager any assurances on medium to long term plan or investment...... And you think they are going into this appointment with an eye on the long term or 2 years from now? I bet the people speaking to the head coach don't know with any confidence whether there'll still be a football club here in 2 years given the way this lot are operating.

Oh well that must be true then, when have they ever got anything wrong or been influenced by people working for Rovers with an agenda?

How do you know Waggott selected him? Sounds to me like him trying to gain free credit after Broughton the man employed to appoint managers, had left

There is no medium to long term. That's the issue. Only the short term i.e. the next 13 games. I'd be saying that even if we were a fantastically well run club. And we certainly aren't that. The summer and beyond is going to be a total disaster and unless there are cast iron promises on budgets and investment no manager worth his salt is going to get involved with this lot after the last two fiascos. The only thing that avoids that disaster is promotion and the only thing the club should be concerned about right now is ensuring the best man for that task is in place asap. Not drifting around sifting through 100+ CVs working out who looks alright. You headhunt the best candidate for the job whether he has applied or not. That's if you know who and what you are looking for. If you don't have a clue you sit back, wait for applications to come in then work through them until someone ticks your boxes.

He engineered his own departure and it had been months in the making. Same as Eustace, only difference being that Derby's approach may have taken the club by more of a surprise this time. It was abundantly obvious to anyone that both managers were keen to get out of here and jumped at the chance when it came. I suspect we are going to be somewhat disappointed by the outcome of this search because I don't think Waggott, Venkys or Suhail could pick their nose let alone a good new manager. Mowbray came in during Paul Senior's spell as Director of Football, JDT and Eustace during Broughton's time. Outside of that we had a bungled search for Mowbray's replacement when it dragged on for weeks jeopardising pre-season before Broughton quickly sorted it out after his arrival. Not that it really matters either way because whoever they give it to will not be given the opportunity or resources to succeed.