BLACKBURN Rovers are searching for their seventh permanent manager in just over six years after Owen Coyle left his role at Ewood Park.

Coyle leaves with Rovers second bottom of the Championship ahead of Friday’s crucial game at Burton Albion.

Head of Academy coaching David Lowe is the most experienced of the coaches left at the club, and could be the man to lead the team in the intervening period before a new manager is appointed.

An alternative would be to hand the reigns over to Rovers Under-23 boss Damien Johnson and his assistant David Dunn.

The Rovers players will return to Brockhall to train this morning after a scheduled day off on Tuesday.

Assistant manager Sandy Stewart, first team coach John Henry and goalkeeping coach Phil Hughes departed with Coyle, leaving Rovers without any senior first-team staff coaching staff on the books.

The club said the search for a new manager will begin with immediate effect, with former QPR and Burton Albion boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink the early favourite for the job.

Rovers are likely to be keen to make a quick appointment in their battle against relegation, with just 15 games of the season remaining.

Coyle follows Paul Lambert and Gary Bowyer out of the Ewood Park exit door since November 2015, with Venky’s now looking to appoint a seventh permanent manager since taking ownership of the club in November 2010.

Rovers say the decision behind Coyle leaving was ‘in order to give the club the best possible chance of climbing to a position of safety in the Championship in the remaining 15 games’.

Speculation had been rife over his future after last Tuesday’s defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, though his departure comes after the morale-boosting performance in Sunday’s FA Cup tie against holders Manchester United.

That was the first of eight games in 27 days for Rovers who have a run of three consecutive home games after Friday’s trip to Burton.