SO BLACKBURN Rovers head in to their ‘15 cup finals’ in the Championship without a permanent boss, an injury-hit squad and three points from safety.

It means owners Venky’s are now searching for a seventh permanent manager in just over six years in charge, with this their most important appointment to date.

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But it would be re-miss to think that the club’s problems, both on and off the field, will simply disappear now that Owen Coyle is no longer at the helm.

With Rovers’ Championship status hanging by a thread, the club say the decision to axe the Ewood boss has been taken to give the club ‘the best possible chance of climbing to a position of safety’.

It is a climb that could have been eased by investment in the January transfer window.

Coyle’s enthusiasm for the job was clear, often stating his intention to re-build Rovers in a bid to get the club back in the top flight.

But his comments, and frustration, over the lack of transfer activity in January will not have gone un-noticed by the club’s hierarchy.

Coyle had lined up deals for the likes of Giles Barnes and Abdoul Ba and to see those players fail to arrive clearly disappointed the Rovers boss.

Paul Lambert had much the same gripe when he left last summer.

Under-investment has been a common theme in recent seasons with the fans having seen a team stripped of its prized assets.

Investment in wages and salaries has slashed by half in four years and on the field the club has slipped further and further down the Championship table.

As a former Burnley boss Coyle needed to hit the ground running at Rovers to have any chance of convincing the sceptics.

Starting the season with seven straight winless league games set the tone for a season of struggle.

Coyle had been steadfast in his view that Rovers would avoid the drop - something that began to wear thin as the games slipped by.

Fans made their feelings known with chants against the manager during games with QPR and Rotherham on February 11. And it seems it was eventually a view taken by the club’s owners. It was a similar scene following the defeat at Barnsley in December.

Coyle’s comments accusing some fans of ‘having an agenda’ following that 2-0 loss only added to the sometimes toxic atmosphere at games.

It was one that couldn’t go on.

Coyle said he was happy to play ‘the villain of the piece’ in a bid to take the heat off the players, who will arrive at training today having learned the news of the manager’s exit during a scheduled day off on Tuesday.

On the pitch, it was clear where the problems have been. Rovers have come up short in games - 15 of their 18 defeats have been a by a single goal - and they have been frustratingly inconsistent.

They have failed to address defensive deficiencies and, although there could never be a suggestion that the players weren’t willing to give their all for the manager, in the end it is the points tally that has cost Coyle his job.

Despite all that this Rovers team does possess enough quality to stay up.

The new boss has less than a third of the season to prove that’s the case.

Quite who the Venky’s have in mind remains to be seen – second guessing them has proven an impossible task so far.

The Manchester United cup tie was the first of eight games in 27 potentially season defining days for Rovers, something clearly not lost on the club, with the statement referring to Friday’s ‘big trip’ to Burton Albion. That could well explain the perceived strange timing of the decision.