Berg to be named Blackburn boss

Blackburn will hold a press conference on Thursday morning to confirm Henning Berg as their new manager.

After Rovers managing director Derek Shaw told Press Association Sport of the news, the club confirmed an 8:30am press conference at Ewood Park to unveil their new manager. Shaw revealed the former Norway defender became the board's number one choice on the back of an impressive interview.

"He interviewed well and he moved straight to the top of our list," said the ex-Preston chairman.

Berg, who won the Premier League and League Cup while making 297 appearances across two spells as a player with Rovers, has agreed to take on his first coaching assignment in English football following spells leading Lyn Oslo and Lillestrom in his native Norway.

The 43-year-old's appointment will conclude Blackburn's protracted search for a successor to Steve Kean, whose resignation ended a troubled and unpopular reign at the end of last month.

Berg, who works as a television pundit for Norwegian broadcaster TV 2 Sporten, was an outspoken critic of owners Venky's this summer following Blackburn's relegation from the Barclays Premier League.

In a widely referenced quote that he appears set to hear plenty about in the coming days, Berg said of the top job at Rovers: "There are no real managers with credibility who would accept a job like that."

Shaw is unconcerned by this and looking positively towards an assault on promotion at the first attempt. He added: "We're not interested in things like that, we're not interested in any negatives at all. We're moving forward."

Wayne Wild, co-chairman of the Rovers Trust - a group committed to fan ownership of Blackburn - believes the club's concluded pursuit of a former player may be misguided.

"I think the protracted process underlines that there are still problems at board level and senior management level at Blackburn Rovers," Wild told Press Association Sport. "It seems to be more important to give the fans an ex-player's name rather than getting somebody who would be more expensive and more experienced."