Tony Mowbray remains ‘open-minded and relaxed’ over his Rovers future but is in the dark over which direction the club will take.

Mowbray sees his contract expire at the end of June, meaning his long-term future at the club is uncertain after more than five years in charge.

The Rovers boss says his primary aim is on winning the final three games of the season which would be required to secure a play-off finish, although the manager admits a top six finish is now looking ‘pretty unlikely’.

Beyond that he says chief executive Steve Waggott and the club hierarchy hold the key to his future, with no contract talks having been instigated, and Mowbray having sought no clarification of what lies next.

However, he says that could well be dictated by what happens in the remaining matches.

He said: “It looks to me as though the club is waiting to see the destiny of what this season brings and then I would assume pretty quickly after the destiny is known that decisions will be made."

 

Here is what the manager had to say on his future ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Preston North End.

Every team is looking to the future, with season tickets now on sale, is there are a necessity for clarity over your future?

“I don’t know, you should ask Mr Waggott. From my point of view I come in every day and get on with the job.

“I’m not the executive here, I’m the football manager, I coach the team and try and win games and obviously we haven’t been doing that well enough in recent games.

“You look at the bigger picture, you can look at any football club and take a snapshot. You can look at it over five weeks and see how it is, or you can look at it over the last couple of months.

“That’s fine, I’m pretty open-minded, pretty relaxed about the future, with total respect to the football club.

“Five years is a long time to be a football manager at one club, enough time to build a culture, structure and put in place how I believe football should be played and tried to introduce a lot of young players to a team that when I arrived there were a lot of 35 and 36-year-olds with very little value, and now the club has lots of assets, even below the first-team there’s a bunch of lads ready to burst onto the scene, because of the information and structure passed down and how we want footballers coaching.

“I’m pretty relaxed about life, I would like to win the last three games and gives this club a chance of getting into the play-offs, it’s looking unlikely at the moment but we’ll wait and see, who knows?”

 

Will you be manager of Blackburn Rovers beyond the end of the season?

“I don’t think that’s a question I need to answer today. I want to play these three games, I’ve always been professional at every club I’ve been at, I manage a team as if I’m going to manage it forever.

“You never do, because that’s the job, but let’s get the next few weeks out of the way or the club make a decision of course.

“I don’t think there would be any shocks or surprises for me.

“I prepare the team ready for Preston and we’ll go and try and win that match.”

 

Do you think clarity on your future will be made at the end of the season?

“I don’t know, go and ask Mr Waggott, if we lose tomorrow he might make a decision after the game.

“I’ve no idea, those conversations have not been had.

“Why should the manager go to the club and ask about his future? It’s not my job to go and say ‘are you giving me a contract?’

“I manage the team, pick the team, it’s not my job to go and push the debate really.”

 

Would you like to stay?

“I’d like to win the next three games and go into the play-offs and win them at Wembley with 45,000 Rovers fans cheering the team to victory.

“I’ve done that as player and a manager, they’re pretty special days winning promotion to the Premier League.

“That’s looking pretty unlikely I would suggest.”

 

Do you think it’s unusual to be in this position with the manager of the club?

“I don’t think so, managers run out of contract as players do, I’m just running out of contract, that’s fine.

“Maybe the club want to see where the team is at the end of the season?

“Forget about me, the bigger issue is Ryan Nyambe, Darragh Lenihan, Joe Rothwell, these lads are going out and putting their bodies on the line, competing, giving everything they’ve got for a club and they don’t know what they’re going to do in two weeks’ time.

“I can see it in their eyes, it’s a really difficult situation for them.

“It’s the club’s decision who gets offered contracts, I would say a lot goes on behind the scenes, they have been offered and conversations have been had with their agents, they haven’t come to fruition.

“You can only pay what you pay as a football club, the intention has been there to sign those players under contract.

“The club has to be careful, it has to have a structure, it has to know what it pays its top players and once those numbers start to get exceeded and go beyond you either start to gamble with the future of the club or you keep rolling.

“At this moment it looks as though some people are going to leave the football club.”

Take out a subscription...

Gain unlimited access to the Lancashire Telegraph website with a premium digital subscription - we are running a £2 for two months special offer