Blackburn Rovers appoint Paul Lambert as new manager

Paul Lambert has taken charge at Blackburn Rovers. The Scot, who was sacked by Aston Villa in February, will be joined at Ewood Park by the former West Bromwich Albion manager and the former Rovers winger Alan Irvine as his assistant.

Blackburn, 16th in the Championship, sacked Gary Bowyer on Tuesday after a run of one win in six league games. The club’s owners, Venky’s, have turned to Lambert to rescue their season, the 46-year-old having been out of work since he left Villa Park. His first match is away to Preston on Saturday.

Alongside Irvine, Lambert’s backroom staff at Ewood Park will include Blackburn’s former head of youth coaching Rob Kelly and the goalkeeping coach Laurence Batty.

“I would like to thank the owners and board of directors for giving me the opportunity to manage such a fantastic club,” said Lambert, who will be presented to the media on Monday. “Blackburn Rovers is a club with superb support and fine traditions, being a founding member of both the Football League and the Premier League.”

“I bring with me a very trusted backroom team that I believe is equipped to help me create an exciting era for the club. I hope to deliver a brand of football that will both entertain the supporters and bring success.”
Lambert’s time at Villa turned sour but he did lead Norwich City into the Premier League via back-to-back promotions having also managed at Colchester United, Wycombe Wanderers and Livingston.

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Young people to lose access to unemployment benefits as part of welfare reforms

YOUNG people will not be able to get unemployment benefits until they turn 25 under reforms introduced by the Turnbull Government today. The coalition has unveiled wide-ranging welfare reforms in parliament today, including changes to the Newstart program. It hopes to stop people aged 22 to 24 getting Newstart or the Sickness allowance, and they will instead be shifted to the Youth Allowance payment. This will reduce the amount of money that they will be able to get, costing a single person living away from home about $90 a fortnight. They will also be required to study in order to qualify for the payments. “The key aim of this measure is to provide incentives for young unemployed people to obtain the relevant education and training to increase employability,” according to an explanatory memorandum for the bill. However, it says Youth Allowance does allow students to earn a higher amount of money from part-time or casual work than Newstart, before this begins imp...

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