The Jon Dahl Tomasson era at Blackburn Rovers got off to the best possible start, as Denmark’s all-time leading goalscorer proved to be an instant hit with the Ewood Park faithful, after he guided his side to a 1-0 opening day win over Queens Park Rangers, with the goal coming from the Dane’s newly-appointed captain, Lewis Travis. The boss couldn’t hide his delight at opening his managerial account in East Lancashire with Rovers’ first three points of the season.
“It’s an excellent feeling to start with three points. It’s a brilliant feeling to be here at Ewood Park with the crowd. The togetherness between the stands and the players was key, because that togetherness allowed us to win the game together. I want the players and the supporters to show passion and they all did that. It’s a great start to this project. There were a lot of good things, but I still feel we need to improve on-the-ball. In the first-half, off-the-ball we were not organised well enough with intensity. We had a couple of good attacks and of course, a lovely goal from Lewis Travis. I’ve just been joking with him that we should go to the casino together! It’s great to see the captain, on his first competitive game as captain scoring a goal like that. John Buckley getting his 100th game for the club was good, as well.
“You saw a team who were fighting for each other and they all carried a great spirit, which you need against a decent side. I don’t think QPR created much, but we should have scored more given the chances that we created, especially on the transition where we lacked the right decision at the final important moment. Saying that, I’m delighted that we could start this lovely project with a victory.
“Trav’s goal was a beauty and I think everyone associated with Blackburn Rovers enjoyed that. It’s a bit of a fairytale, given he was captain for the first-time, on such a great occasion and scoring such a beautiful goal, it was brilliant. We work every day on using the ball and the whole team needs to improve on the ball, but it’s great to see that we have someone capable of producing such quality in-front of goal.
“I spoke before the game about the connection with the fans and I think that was evident today. That’s a great start. We need each other. This is a great club with amazing history and an outstanding fanbase, but we need to stand together and we need to go in the same direction. That was great to see. I think, during the first 20-25 minutes of the second-half we were very dominant in QPR’s half, which I’m happy about. We still have room for improvement, but there was still a lot of good attacks as well.
“Winning the first game of the season is very important for the confidence of the players, both senior and young. I think our tremendous defending by Daniel (Ayala), Scott (Wharton) and Thomas (Kaminski) behind them kept everything well together, which will also give them confidence. I can only remember QPR having one shot that hit the crossbar, but Thomas will probably say that he saved it! Our defending was very solid and clean-sheets are vital if you want to take something from the games. You saw the boys working extremely hard. You need to be a hard worker in order to be successful and they did that. They ran very hard for each other, which is not only something you need to do in order to win, but you should also expect it, because football is a lovely game and you do that for the fans. That’s why we need to show passion and appreciation to the fans in order to encourage them to get behind the team and for them to show their passion as well.
“It was great to meet the fans for the first-time in large numbers. I saw a lot of Danish flags in the crowd which was nice. It seems the shops here are now selling Danish flags! It’s lovely to feel accepted at a new club. As I said from day one, everyone in the club is doing a good job. That’s not only limited to the players and my staff, but the people in and around the club, who fans don’t see are trying their best and to be successful, you need to all pull in the right direction and help each other. I need help, the players need help, and we all want one thing, which is to write a new chapter for this great club.
“There are a lot of questions surrounding transfers that should be given to Gregg (Broughton), but I’m getting used to being ask them. I know the club is working very hard to get players in and we will hopefully get them in. When exactly? I can’t say, but all I can say is that the boys who are here are doing a great job for the club at the moment.”
