Now, right off the bat I’m at a disadvantage cause when this news is breaking in real time, it is still bed time here. Terrible things those time zones but here’s what we’ve got till now:

1st: This is the reason Shearer won’t be the next manager, this and he’s a Newcastle loving gobshite.
For anyone not interested in opening a tab to the link, I’ll pull a quote from the article:

“Looking back at that night at Ewood Park, I deliberately missed a few chances against Newcastle and what happens but Graham comes off the bench and before I knew it he popped in a couple of goals.

Follow after the jump for the rest of what’s up officially.

2nd: John Williams is taking this front and center. Anyone who hasn’t caught the two articles on the official site needs to, and lemme pull out the highlights. First, the statement from the club:

It is with great sadness the Board announce that Paul Ince is to leave the club. After a Board meeting yesterday it was decided to relieve Paul of his duties.

The Board, having selected Paul back in June, were desperate for him to succeed and wanted to give him as much time as possible in the unforgiving environment of Premier League management where time is such a precious commodity.

Chairman John Williams said “Three wins in 17 games has seen a squad, which finished seventh last season, fall to 19th position. We are currently in real danger of becoming detached from the pack.

“The survival of the club in the Premier League is paramount and our focus now is on finding a replacement who will be able to maintain our top division status.

“Paul will bounce back, he is a fighter and we wish him well.”

AKA: SACKED!

Also, JW is letting everyone know what the clubs goal is: “Appointing a new manager is our total focus.” he adds in a club article. “In the meantime, the day-to-day training will be carried out by Archie Knox, Ray Mathias and Karl Robinson. Our coaching staff and all of the players fully understand the importance of this weekend’s game.

“Our supporters can rest assured that we will do everything in our power to get the team climbing the Premier League table as soon as possible.”

3rd: Who’s going to come in and take over? Really, I’m asking. Who? I have no idea who would be the ideal person to lead up to safety. Maybe we can persuade old ‘Arry to come save us.

Comments, thoughts; moans and groans all go here folks. Can the club survive this season? (spoiler alert: yes, we can!)

• I am extremely happy that Shearer will not be out next manager. While some people may want him or may have had him as the number one on their list, my opinion is no where near yours. I think hiring him would have been very King Kev-esque and hasty in my opinion. He has shown his true black and white colors as a player in the late of his career and as a pundit for the Beeb where his insights are like that of elementary school child. I’m going to leave it at that but I wanted to use this medium to let the record show my feelings on that man.

• In order to progress onwards and upwards, we must not hire Big Fat Sam. I will protest, I will cry, rant, and rave, and you will read me everyday with some other new and true reason why he is horrendous. Yes, he will almost 100% guarantee BRFC survival in the premiership, but over the last few years with MH, we have allowed our hopes and dreams to grow and expand. The long ball tactic will not only empty the seats at Ewood park (something we have enough trouble filling week in and week out) but it will alienate and probably annoy our players. If Bents is disgruntled now, how do you think he will be next year when he’s forced to lob it up to RCS or Roberts and hope for the best? We will get that sort of play that will win us enough games to stay a float in the Premiership, a league with constantly growing and attacking teams. In order to stay hungry, stay a force in the top ten, and compete for Europe on an annual basis, we must not accept complacency and old school tactics. Hiring a manager with something to prove or with a track record like that is what wee as a football team need right now. Attacking and interesting football isn’t too much to ask, is it?

• With all the events going on, the players commenting, the Managers moving to and from our shortlist, its easy to get caught up. The good thing is, whatever you read, a newspaper website, this or any other website, there has not been much officially from the club. The only thing that shows is that the powers that be are taking a good amount of time and John Williams, the King of Chairmen, is going through the process the right way and I’m confident we as a club will come out the better for it.

From the BBC:

“Alan Shearer has told BBC Sport he has declined the offer to be placed on the shortlist of candidates for the managerial vacancy at Blackburn Rovers.”

“The situation is that I was very flattered to get a call off of Blackburn’s chief executive John Williams,” said the 37-year-old. “He asked me if I wanted to be included on a shortlist for the manager’s job, which I politely declined.”

Other quotes include:

“I got a call from the Blackburn chief executive John Williams and he asked me if I wanted to be on the shortlist to be the new manager, but I said no because of other commitments I’ve got, namely my BBC work and other things. It’s not the right time for me.”

He even told Gary Lineker that he was “flattered to have been invited for inclusion on John Williams’ short list, however at the present time he (Shearer) had to many other commitments.”

Link to the video of his comments: Click here

Name: Alan Shearer
Odds: 5-4
History: No managerial experience, but a Rovers legend on the pitch.
Pros: Shearer would certainly be an exciting appointment. He seems to have a good knowledge of the game, he would certainly have the respect of the players (and may convince our key ones to stay), and he could possibly convince a few good players to come in with his reputation.
Cons: No previous experience (obviously). However, more worrying is that we would essentially be a test drive for that inevitable day when Newcastle come calling.
Rating: 7/10

Name: Sam Allardyce
Odds: 7-4
History: Did very well at Bolton, not so well at Newcastle.
Pros: A disciplinarian (though not even he could control Joey Barton), and good at grinding out results. A dominating figure who could bargain well with the board. Can get the best out of not very good players.
Cons: Not at all inspiring or successful in the transfer market. Can’t seem to get much out of very good players. Style of play is boring and monotonous, and worst of all his time at Newcastle showed an inflexibility boarding on arrogance, when he put confidence in a system that wasn’t working and refused to change it.
Rating: 3/10

Name: Paul Ince
Odds: 7-2
History: Saved useless Macclesfield from relegation, and this season took an upward MK Dons storming through League 2 this season.
Pros: An exciting and determined manager who had a fantastic career, playing for Man Utd and Inter Milan. Has been hugely successful so far in management. Like Shearer, his reputation could attract good players. Saving Macclesfield was akin to working miracles.
Cons: No experience at the higher levels of management. MK Dons relative financial power may have flattered him a bit and we certainly do not have such relative financial strength.
Rating: 7/10

Name: Steve McClaren
Odds: 12-1
History: No 2 to Sir Alex during the glory days at Man Utd. Did a good job at Boro and we all know what happened with England.
Pros: Wants the job, which is good to see. Did a very good job at Boro (particularly in cup competitions). Has shown a willingness to learn from his mistakes with England. He could be a very different prospect to the one at Wembley last winter as Mladan Petric drove the ball across Scott Carson.
Cons: England during his tenure were poor and boring – never convincing really. His reputation is in tatters and I’m not sure if I want Rovers to be the place for him to rebuild it. He doesn’t play the media very well at all (though that shouldn’t be too much of a problem here).
Rating: 5/10

The others:

Some less likely prospects:

Michael Laudrup is a very exciting prospect, if unlikely. He has done wonders with Getafe, who are a similarly sized club to us. Hopefully he would be a good mix of Spanish flair and Scandinavian effieciency. 8/10

Dick Advocaat knows how to play attractive football and if he did come to Lancashire he would hopefully bring along some of his UEFA Cup winning Zenit St Petersberg side. He has experience in these isles with Rangers. 8/10

Slaven Bilic has made a name for himself with Croatia and speaks English having played in the EPL. A fantastic character who commands great respect amongst his players and good team spirit. He’s also got a fantastic football brain. He has said he wants to manage in the EPL. 9/10

Even less likely:

Zico has recently left Ferhabache. 8/10
Gordon Strachan may want to return to England. 7/10
Roberto Mancini may be desperate for a job. 8/10
Kenny Dalglish would be popular. 5/10
Avram Grant would be interesting to say the least. 6/10

So my pick would be Bilic, but out of the favourites I would have to go for Laudrup or Ince.