Next Bristol Rovers manager: Former Birmingham City and Middlesbrough boss new favourite

Former Birmingham City manager Aitor Karanka has emerged as the bookies new favourite for the Bristol Rovers job.

The Gas parted ways with manager Matt Taylor on Monday following a 2-0 defeat to Blues at the weekend. Yesterday, Gary Rowett was the favourite, but he has since been displaced. Like Rowett, Karanka is a former Birmingham City manager, and he is now leading the way in the markets.

George Friend, who played for Middlesbrough and Birmingham City is the Director of Football at the Memorial Stadium. The 37-year-old is Karanka's most used player, having played 163 times under the Spaniard, playing at both Boro and Birmingham. At the moment, there have been nothing substantial between Bristol Rovers and Karanka, but at least there is already a working relationship between Friend and the former Real Madrid defender.

Karanka came to England in 2013, having worked as assistant to Jose Mourinho. The 51-year-old spent four years at the Riverside Stadium and took them to the Premier League in 2016.

He took over at Nottingham Forest, but he lasted just over a year, having guided them to a 17th-placed finish. An almost two-year break from football was ended in July 2020 when he was named manager of Birmingham. He oversaw 38 games but didn't see out the 2020/21 season with Lee Bowyer taking over from him with 10 games of the season to go.

Since leaving England behind, he’s gone on to have a job in Spain in Granada, and most recently he was manager of Israeli Premier League champions Maccabi Tel Aviv. His stay in Israel only last 23 games, and he finished in third, eight points behind the champions Maccabi Haifa.

It's been 17-months since Karanka was manager of Tel Aviv. Most recently, he was at the Chinese Football Association Coaching Conference, and he also helps out UEFA as a UEFA Technical Observer.

Back to Rovers’ manager search, the Bristol Post is reporting that no potential candidate has been immediately lined up for the job. It's expected that David Horseman and Lee Cattermole will lead the side at the weekend for their League One match against Wrexham.

Should something come of the links between Karanka and Bristol Rovers, he would be denied a return to St Andrew’s, as the two sides have already played. The next time the two sides play is at the Mem on April 1.

Next Bristol Rovers manager

The full list of favourites, as per BO:

Aitor Karanka - 8/11

Gary Rowett - 2/1

Lee Cattermole - 3/1

Steven Schumacher - 10/1

Michael Appleton - 25/1

Leighton Baines - 33/1

Mat Sadler - 33/1

Shaun Derry - 33/1

David Healy - 33/1

Dean Holden - 33/1