Following months of frustration and mistrust between Head Coach and the Board of Directors, Blackburn Rovers have today confirmed that Head Coach, Jon Dahl Tomasson, has left Ewood Park to pursue pastures new, via a mutual termination of his contract.
The Danish manager, who arrived in East Lancashire in June 2022, has departed his first managerial job in England after just 19 months in the job after being left at the end of his tether following recent issues at the club coming to a head. Tomasson, who has been open in the press since the summer about the financial difficulties that the club have faced, has decided that he is no longer able to continue in his job due to a multitude of broken promises and administration errors, which have left the Dane helpless in the transfer market.
Tomasson, who reportedly leaves Ewood Park having waived any financial benefit he would gain, has been at loggerheads with his seniors for months as a result of a lack of communication funnelling down from Rovers’ seemingly dysfunctional hierarchy, which has stemmed from being unable to reinvest in the playing squad due to a multitude of players being released for free and also a lack of reinvestment of garnered income. Alongside the Dane’s frustration at board level, he has been unable to mastermind a repeat of his maiden season at Ewood Park in which Rovers finished outside the playoffs – in 7th – on goal-difference and reached the FA Cup Quarter final, as he departs with the Blues in 18th place, nervously looking over their shoulder, five points clear of the relegation zone having only won one league game in the last 11.
Despite Tomasson’s poor run of form in the dugout, the brewing frustrations the two-time Allsvenskan winner had, came to the fore following a mismanaged January Transfer Window, in which Rovers sold start academy graduate, Adam Wharton, to Premier League side, Crystal Palace for a reported club record fee between £18m-£22m and failed to reinvest part of that fee. With Rovers aiming to complete the signing of American international forward, Duncan McGuire from Orlando City, a series of unfortunate/unbelievable events left the incoming signing high and dry with his registration rejected by the EFL following a rather documentary-worthy Deadline Day. As Rovers left the window a forward lighter than when they entered, after selling Niall Ennis to Stoke City, Jon Dahl Tomasson would have no doubt voiced his frustration behind the scenes and resultantly was not allowed to speak to the press per a club decision, ahead of Rovers’ 2-1 defeat at home to relegation rivals, Queens Park Rangers. After a similar Deadline Day fiasco in January 2023, where Rovers failed to acquire the services of Nottingham Forest’s Lewis O’Brien and then-Rochdale’s Ethan Brierley, this third incident in the space of a year proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for the well-respected boss.
The Champions League winner with AC Milan, who had a spell with Rovers’ upcoming FA Cup opponents, Newcastle United between 1996-97, returned to British shores with high expectations from the Rovers fanbase who placed Denmark’s leading goalscorer in the highest regard having arrived following a sabbatical after back-to-back titles in Sweden. Following a busy summer transfer window, where Rovers reportedly spent (potentially) up to £7.5m on Dominic Hyam, Sammie Szmodics and Callum Brittain, combined, the newly-appointed manager took to English football management like a duck to water, winning his first three games, scoring six and conceding one. The Head Coach would have a rather humbling first season, as out-of-contract forward Ben Brereton Díaz led the line for the former attacker’s side as it took Rovers until the new year – 28 games in – to secure their first draw of the season. Despite spending a majority of the season in the top-six, the Rovers fans were also treated to two mesmerising cup runs as Rovers won away at West Ham United, following a pulsating 10-9 penalty shoot-out win after a 2-2 draw in the Carabao Cup Third Round, before losing 4-1 to Nottingham Forest at Ewood Park, whilst their FA Cup run was nearly the stuff dreams, but turned into agony as despite winning away at Norwich City, 1-0, Birmingham City at St. Andrew’s in a replay, by the same scoreline after a 2-2 draw at Ewood Park and Leicester City, 2-1 at the King Power Stadium in an unforgettable night in the Midlands, their hopes of reaching the new Wembley for the first-time ever, were dashed inside the last 12 minutes at Bramall Lane, as Sheffield United came from behind twice on home turf to win 3-2 in the 91st minute to book themselves a date with eventual champions, Manchester City in London.
All the while, Rovers failed to recover from that defeat, as they failed to win eight of their remaining nine league games and were dropped out of the playoffs on the final day due to goal-difference, despite their first comeback win of the season as they came from behind to beat Millwall, 4-3 on the final day of the campaign. Despite the heartbreak and being unable to come back from a goal down until the final April and May, Tomasson had guided Rovers to their best season since their relegation from the Premier League in 2011-12.
Despite the memories remaining just that, Rovers were unable to build on that success in the summer as the Head Coach reportedly saw his budget by 15%-20%, with a once ambitious target of playoffs being reduced to surviving relegation. Resultantly, the boss had offered the club to be released from his contract for no fee due to the nature of the job that he signed up for changing, as he revealed in the aftermath of the QPR defeat. Although the Board of Directors begged him to remain, the clearly frustrated Head Coach continued with his job in a professional manner and continued to try and put the fans first in his press conferences, however after the second successive January error and furore brewing in the stands against the Board, Tomasson has, sadly, decided to end his relationship with Rovers.
Debate has and will continue to rumble over whether this was the correct decision, with the current run of form that the team are on not being forgotten, as blame has to be attributed to the Head Coach, in what is the worst run of his managerial career, however what cannot be denied is that Jon Dahl Tomasson allowed the fans to dream once again. His implementation of a brand of ‘Total Football’ and – for the most part – exciting – take on the modern game has not only provided us with memories that will live long in the memory, but has improved the existing players that he both, signed and inherited. Whilst the Dane has all the credibility and makings of a top manager, sadly – as many on social media have mentioned – it proved to be a case of ‘right manager, wrong club’, with the Head Coach effectively having his hand tied behind his back for most of his tenure.
Everyone at ReadRovers would like to express gratitude to Jon Dahl Tomasson and wish him, and his outgoing assistant Remy Reijnierse, the very best for their future endeavours.
Thank you for fighting for the fans and allowing us to briefly believe again, Jon.
