Latics legend Lowe promoted to assistant role at Blackburn

Mowbray, 53, has put pen to paper on an 18-month contract and succeeds Owen Coyle who left the Championship club by mutual consent on Tuesday.

Mowbray, most recently in charge at Coventry, is set to take training for the first time on Wednesday afternoon as he prepares the team for a crucial clash away at relegation rivals Burton on Friday night.

He will be assisted by Lowe, who makes the step up from the club’s head of academy coaching, while former Rovers favourite David Dunn will take on the role of first-team coach.

As a player, 51-year-old Lowe had two stints at Latics.

He played 188 games between 1983-87, scoring 40 goals after coming through Wigan’s youth team.

After spells at Ipswich, Port Vale and Leicester, he returned to Wigan in 1996, playing a further 109 games and scoring 26 goals before he left for Wrexham in 1999.

Mowbray began his managerial career at Ipswich and has also managed Hibernian, West Brom, Celtic, Middlesbrough and Coventry.

At Hibs, he twice led the Scottish club into Europe while at West Brom he lost the Championship play-off final in 2007 before getting the Baggies promoted to the Premier League as champions the following season.

Mowbray kept Middlesbrough in the Championship in 2011 before narrowly missing out on the play-offs the following campaign.

He took charge of Coventry in March 2015 and managed to steer them away from relegation before guiding the Sky Blues to an eighth-place finish in League One last season. He left the club without a league win at the end of September.

Blackburn are currently second-from-bottom of the Championship, three points from safety, after two wins in the last 13 league games.