CORRY Evans is in international mode as Northern Ireland prepare for the European Championships, but he can’t help wondering how long it will take Blackburn Rovers to start preparing for life after the summer by appointing a new manager.

The 25-year-old midfielder is part of Michael O’Neill’s squad that faces Slovakia in a final warm-up match on Saturday before heading to France for group games against world champions Germany, Poland and Ukraine, and maybe more if they progress.

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That’s not guaranteed against high-calibre teams in their pool, but there’s even less certainty at Ewood Park, where Evans is set to stay after signing a three-and-a-half year deal in November.

And he says the wait to learn of Paul Lambert’s successor - which is still going on more than four weeks after the Scot announced he was quitting the job - is ‘frustrating’ as it means contracts and signings can’t be sorted out.

Evans said: “Hopefully we can get someone in from the start of the new season.

“It’s frustrating and it’s not healthy really for players.

“There’s been eight lads who have left and the club have told them when a new manager comes in he will decide if he wants to negotiate a new deal with them.

“We had three players on loan also who have gone back; that’s a large chunk of our squad who are potentially not going to be there next season.

“It’s the right time to be recruiting players and hopefully the club can press on with that, get a new manager in place to build a squad for next season.

“The Football League isn’t going to have emergency loans in the following season, so we need to have our squad ready for then.

“Hopefully we can get something sorted.”

Evans is part of a Northern Ireland squad that travels to a major competition for the first time since the World Cup in Mexico in 1986, which came four years after they upset to the odds by beating hosts Spain in Valencia thanks to Gerry Armstrong’s famous goal.

He admits he’s looking forward to the experience, especially after a poor and disrupted season with Rovers that saw two managers in charge and a flirt with relegation before a disappointing 16th place finish.

He added: “Hopefully, whoever the new manager is, we can have a better season than we did last season.”

“You don’t really know until a manager comes in with his methods and ways of playing.

“We were sad to see (Paul) Lambert go, he was a really nice fella. He came in and we started really well.

“We had a little dip during the middle of his tenure and towards the end we picked it back up, got a few results.

“He addressed the squad and told us he was leaving.

“It was quite disappointing to see him go but that’s football, you’ve just got to get on with it, do your job and the next manager comes in, you’ve got to impress him and start all over again.”