Jon Dahl Tomasson - Sweden coach

[Upside Down]

7 minutes ago, lraC said:

Absolutely heartfelt and spot on.

Like many on here, the only constant in our lives are our football club. 

Friends enter our lives and we lose touch. Family come and go from our lives too in a way and sadly we lose people close to us, as they pass away. We have relationships and even marriages and they don't always last.

Once you become a Rovers fan though, that it for life. We can't move onto another club, like we can with a job, a relationship a marriage even, or new friends in and around us.

If you ever go to a neutral game, or even watch  one on the TV there is never the same enthusiasm as there is watching your own team and the thrill we all get when we rack up at somewhere like Stoke, at the end of last year and come away with a 0-3 win, is one of the best feelings in our lives.

Sadly, these are few and far between currently and it is extremely difficult to watch not only the struggles on the pitch, but the pure incompetence and neglect that is going on behind the scenes and has been now for 13 years.

Although I understand people turning away from it in despair, if anyone asks who your club is, it will always be Blackburn Rovers and even when not attending, the result of the Rovers match is still important and still affects our moods for the weekend. It is impossible to switch it off, even if we try to.

The current lot will eventually be gone and fortunately we do still have groups such as the Trust and others, who although some of it may not be visible, the groups are trying to ensure that the people responsible for the current state of affairs are removed.

They will eventually be gone and we can all stand up and be proud again, as without the people now fighting against this regime and making them accountable, they will not last forever. we  will eventually win the fight  and the club we will be there for our future generations to enjoy once again.

Exactly right.

I can tolerate us being shit on the pitch. I was a season ticket holder when Bryan Kidd was the manager, Jesus Christ that was awful.

I will never accept the way the club is being run behind the scenes by the Rao family and I have always held them to account from the day they turned up.

We will rid ourselves of this scum one day and we can be proud once again.

Those that are supporting the Raos and their decimation of this great club can fuck right off with the rest of their Dingle friends.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I also follow a local rugby league team for my sins. Many years ago we were going through a really bad spell. After one particular game I’d had enough. I was in kicking the cat mode. It was really affecting me. So I said to my pal “ Don’t bother picking me up on Sunday Stan, I’m not going anymore. “ 

Of course my pal still came around on Sunday but I stood firm. I said “ Stan, I’m done !”

So he says “ OK, why don’t we go and watch Oldham v Leigh then or we could go and watch Swinton v Saints ? “

So we agreed to do that - pick a game and go as neutrals. We lasted about a month. It was like kissing your sister or eating a toffee with the wrapper still on.

That was me done for years, Stan still went but I was finished with the club.

Then the club moved grounds to a five minute walk from where I lived. One Sunday afternoon, completely out of the blue,  I decided to go again. That was it, I was hooked again. That was it and 35 years later I’m still hooked. We got battered yesterday but I’ll be there for the next home game.

Edited February 5 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[chaddyrovers]

2 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

My experience is that it’s ten times harder to get people to return than it was to attract them in the first place. Once people walk away they tend to stay away.

In other news - Charlton are near to signing Nathan Jones as their new manager. One to scratch off our potential replacement list.

He was appointed Charlton manager yesterday

[ABBEY]

stuart mcall was at ewood saturday. No idea in what capacity

[Tugayisgod]

Unfortunately I fear the man least culpable for this charade is likely to be the first out of the door.

As much as I've admired JDT and his style of football, it's now looking pretty obvious that his general demeanor and disillusionment with the current situation is having a detrimental effect on the players on the pitch.

The uncertainty around his future can't be helping, it needs to be resolved one way or another. If he does go I hope he is swiftly followed by the real  culprits in this farce that is Blackburn Rovers at present.

 

[martonrover]

1 minute ago, Tugayisgod said:

Unfortunately I fear the man least culpable for this charade is likely to be the first out of the door.

As much as I've admired JDT and his style of football, it's now looking pretty obvious that his general demeanor and disillusionment with the current situation is having a detrimental effect on the players on the pitch.

The uncertainty around his future can't be helping, it needs to be resolved one way or another. If he does go I hope he is swiftly followed by the real  culprits in this farce that is Blackburn Rovers at present.

 

After being gagged on Friday and being so outspoken on Saturday, at any other club the manager / head coach would be gone within a couple of days.

At Rovers, he will probably still be sat in the dugout next Saturday.

[Old Codger]

21 minutes ago, martonrover said:

After being gagged on Friday and being so outspoken on Saturday, at any other club the manager / head coach would be gone within a couple of days.

At Rovers, he will probably still be sat in the dugout next Saturday.

We can but hope. JDT is perhaps the one positive we can talked from the chaos raging around us at the moment. He clearly feels passion for football, came here with a vision for what he wanted to achieve and how that would be done. It is to his credit that he calls out the cretins who seem to have forgotten the basis on which he was recruited, and for his continuing service to the club. Yes he has flaws, but how much of that is down to being asked to go into the ring with hands tied behind his back? I know that the likes of the City manager, Klopp and Co would have struggled under the constraints and reducing /changing resources imposed on JDT. 

CRETINS Out!!

RAOs OUT!

VENKY CONG OUT!!

 

[Groundhog]

31 minutes ago, martonrover said:

After being gagged on Friday and being so outspoken on Saturday, at any other club the manager / head coach would be gone within a couple of days.

At Rovers, he will probably still be sat in the dugout next Saturday.

He will be, sounds like he's dug his heels in. If he has to stay, maybe he's going to carry on playing his brand of football as an attempt at saving his reputation (though relegation would surely be worse for it) and by also letting the media know he hasn't got the squad he asked for, as an easy-to-digest press friendly soundbite to cover up any tactical misgivings. 

"Rovers WERE willing to let Tomasson go after they decided to cut back on spending. But with a catch. However they demanded he would have to pay them the rest of his contract if he stepped into a new post."

This is just madness if true, no wonder he's going to just ride it out, almost as an f*** you to the powers above, especially if he's moved his family over, schools etc. Can you imagine him giving them his own money to leave? It's crazy.

I've got Danish family and friends in Finland, and they aren't afraid to "tell it like it is", a quality I love personally, and I think why fans on the whole have warmed to him. Putting a gag on JDT and trying to control him is probably one of the worst things you could do to the guy, just asking for trouble. He's a proper football man, a former winner at a high level, not a yes-man, and our CEO and organisation aren't, what did we expect. On the other hand, this stubbornness is destroying what happens in 90mins, so we're at a total stalemate.

You can just tell that JDT is capable of a certain kind of behaviour, if his general demeanour is anything to go by, with added BC 😂:

 

Edited February 5 by Groundhog

[booth]

9 minutes ago, Groundhog said:

He will be, sounds like he's dug his heels in. If he has to stay, maybe he's going to carry on playing his brand of football as an attempt at saving his reputation (though relegation would surely be worse for it) and by also letting the media know he hasn't got the squad he asked for, as an easy-to-digest press friendly soundbite to cover up any tactical misgivings. 

"Rovers WERE willing to let Tomasson go after they decided to cut back on spending. But with a catch. However they demanded he would have to pay them the rest of his contract if he stepped into a new post."

This is just madness if true, no wonder he's going to just ride it out, almost as an f*** you to the powers above, especially if he's moved his family over, schools etc. Can you imagine him giving them his own money to leave? It's crazy.

I've got Danish family and friends in Finland, and they aren't afraid to "tell it like it is", a quality I love personally, and I think why fans on the whole have warmed to him. Putting a gag on JDT and trying to control him is probably one of the worst things you could do to the guy, just asking for trouble. He's a proper football man, a former winner at a high level, not a yes-man, and our CEO and organisation aren't, what did we expect. On the other hand, this stubbornness is destroying what happens in 90mins, so we're at a total stalemate.

You can just tell that JDT is capable of a certain kind of behaviour, if his general demeanour is anything to go by, with added BC 😂:

 

It's a shame it hasn't worked out, as he's obviously got a wicked sense of humour and with backing has much more potential. He'll go on to greater things. Us on the other hand... 😞

[oldjamfan1]

2 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I also follow a local rugby league team for my sins. Many years ago we were going through a really bad spell. After one particular game I’d had enough. I was in kicking the cat mode. It was really affecting me. So I said to my pal “ Don’t bother picking me up on Sunday Stan, I’m not going anymore. “ 

Of course my pal still came around on Sunday but I stood firm. I said “ Stan, I’m done !”

So he says “ OK, why don’t we go and watch Oldham v Leigh then or we could go and watch Swinton v Saints ? “

So we agreed to do that - pick a game and go as neutrals. We lasted about a month. It was like kissing your sister or eating a toffee with the wrapper still on.

That was me done for years, Stan still went but I was finished with the club.

Then the club moved grounds to a five minute walk from where I lived. One Sunday afternoon, completely out of the blue,  I decided to go again. That was it, I was hooked again. That was it and 35 years later I’m still hooked. We got battered yesterday but I’ll be there for the next home game.

You've been in Rochdale too long old lad ha ha

[martonrover]

40 minutes ago, Old Codger said:

We can but hope. JDT is perhaps the one positive we can talked from the chaos raging around us at the moment. He clearly feels passion for football, came here with a vision for what he wanted to achieve and how that would be done. It is to his credit that he calls out the cretins who seem to have forgotten the basis on which he was recruited, and for his continuing service to the club. Yes he has flaws, but how much of that is down to being asked to go into the ring with hands tied behind his back? I know that the likes of the City manager, Klopp and Co would have struggled under the constraints and reducing /changing resources imposed on JDT. 

CRETINS Out!!

RAOs OUT!

VENKY CONG OUT!!

 

I have a lot of time for JDT, and feel sorry for the position he has been put in.

Given more favourable circumstances I think he would’ve had us in the Play Offs within a couple of years.

However, I don’t believe he is the right man for these circumstances, and we are badly in need of a more down to earth, pragmatic style of play and leadership.

If he’s in the dug out on Saturday, he will have my full support.

[Bbrovers2288]

Like him as a man more than as a manager in all honesty. I do think the time has come we part ways and that’s as much for him than us 

[jim mk2]

3 minutes ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

Like him as a man more than as a manager in all honesty. I do think the time has come we part ways and that’s as much for him than us 

 

Same here. He looks fed up and wants out. And at the moment, with the team in freefall and him unable to do anything about it, he's doing more harm than good. They won't sack him because it costs money; I wish he would walk away today 

[rigger]

1 hour ago, martonrover said:

After being gagged on Friday and being so outspoken on Saturday, at any other club the manager / head coach would be gone within a couple of days.

At Rovers, he will probably still be sat in the dugout next Saturday.

If he is, will he give a presser on Friday?

[Groundhog]

When we lost 1-0 to Stockport at home under Ray Harford, it was my first experience of a fanbase being unsettled, the fans were united in wanting the manager out, even as a kid you could see the issues clearly. You had confidence in John W and the board that they understood us, they were football people with a clear goal in mind, get Rovers competitive. Same with Brian Kidd and Hodgson, the board were our constant, you believed in them. You don't realise how much you take that for granted.

This is a multi-faceted beast, the whole divide and conquer technique that we've seen in politics in recent times, get the populace confused and fighting amongst themselves and they can't mount a coherent challenge, apathy sets in and the process repeats. 

I am so confused. Like everyone I've got so many questions. I do like JDT, as many have said he's the right man at the wrong time. I was harsh towards him last week, it's easy to take his arrogance the wrong way, but after hearing about what happened in the summer, and him offering to stay here with his family and stick at it; he has my sympathy personally, but his tactics don't. I can't help thinking he's just managing us out of spite now, which is just plain toxic and if football is all about the fans as he rightly says, playing this attacking football with a demoralised squad is insane. His stubbornness is causing us problems.

Going to 5 at the back with Siggurdsson as left back, or an absence of left back, against Huddersfield was pure insanity - any other manager in any normal club would be hounded out. Can they see it? What is Remi doing, is no one able to make a sensible, pragmatic footballing decision? 

Football is all about hope for me, it's what keeps you coming back. The biggest issue with JDT is he's actually had the temerity to give us this hope, some of the football has been the best we've seen, his charisma and his desire to treat the fans with respect, the attitude towards the cup is just one example, it's meant we've all believed in him, especially compared to the previous regime.

But hand on heart, how many games have you seen that were actually good for the full 90mins, Sheff Utd at home, Leicester away, Swansea away? Is it purely down to the quality of the squad, or bad preparation of the opposition leading up to games and then bad in-game management? It's such a high risk style of football, when it comes off it's amazing but when it doesn't it's terrible. 

If he was a middling plodding manager and we'd been trudging away in mid table, no ups, no downs, no dalliances with the play offs, more draws and less highs, what would that be like? The issues with the transfers and financial side would remain though, and that's been the consistent part over the years regardless of who's in charge, whether we have a traditional setup or a DOF - whatever happens on the pitch can't cover for that. 

My head is torn in two directions and I can't handle it anymore, I just want to go to sleep and wake up when this season is over. 

 

Edited February 5 by Groundhog

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

They won't sack him because it costs money; I wish he would walk away today 

Tomasson would have to recompense the club for breaking his contract. It works both ways.

Unless, of course, the pair come to a settlement (mutual termination) to terminate the contract. Looks like that's not happening.

Now the club has a loose cannon on their hands, all of their own making.

[KentExile]

37 minutes ago, Groundhog said:

Going to 5 at the back with Siggurdsson as left back, or an absence of left back, against Huddersfield was pure insanity - any other manager in any normal club would be hounded out. Can they see it? What is Remi doing, is no one able to make a sensible, pragmatic footballing decision? 

 

Chrisene started as LWB against Huddersfield.  He was replaced by Sigurdsson for the final 30 mins with the game at 1-1 (presumably in an attempt to be more attacking and get a winner)

Sigurdsson and Dolan did play as wing backs vs Wrexham if you are maybe getting the games confused?  But I don't  think anyone would say that the tactics were wrong in  the Wrexham game

[Groundhog]

1 minute ago, KentExile said:

Chrisene started as LWB against Huddersfield.  He was replaced by Sigurdsson for the final 30 mins with the game at 1-1 (presumably in an attempt to be more attacking and get a winner)

Yes I totally mean this part, it felt like suicide as Siggy was caught in no-man's land more than once and we could have easily conceded two or three in that last 30 mins. He's not a covering full back. 

[tomphil]

He's a continental manager who won the league twice probably playing this style of football with players better adjusted to it. In this situation like many others of his ilk he hasn't got the first clue how to set up and that right hand man he has looks like he has even less.

Like i said yesterday there is now a stand off between him and the club, he said he'd walk in summer but he'd have walked straight into another job.  Things have changed rapidly since then so now he's saying you'll have to sack me and pay me off otherwise i carry on as normal.

A cross between stuborness and cluelessness but all the blame for that is on the club, tell him to grind out some results starting Saturday or fire the man.

It really is that simple.

[Mattyblue]

But then again he didn’t have us playing like this game after game last season, we ground out plenty of results. 
 

Edited February 5 by Mattyblue

[phili]

5 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

But then again he didn’t have us playing like this game after game last season, we ground out plenty of results. 
 

I just don't think we have the players to grind out results at the moment. 

A lot of teams set themselves up to nulify Brereton, we don't have any players who scare other teams now.

[Mattyblue]

We are playing absolutely wide open, I don’t think BBD going can be used an excuse.

[Theaxe15]

There are worse squads on way better form than us right now. I bet QPR and Huddersfield have never found themselves through on goal as much as they have done against us in the last couple of games. That’s purely on the manager and will cost us our place in the league.

The championship isn’t the league to play in the way we are doing. Only Leeds have managed it and their budget was massive compared to ours.

[Groundhog]

3 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

We are playing absolutely wide open, I don’t think BBD going can be used an excuse.

I agree, but to go off-tangent a bit the one thing Ben did for almost all of his Rovers career was track back and defend like an animal at times, he did this when he was out of form as a bare minimum to get himself back into form, the mark of a good pro - work your arse off, get the crowd on your side, get confidence back and build from there. We've got players casually jogging back to their own penalty area. 

I get your point though, JDT saying he hasn't got the players, I agree with him in principle, we've sold and not replaced to the same standard, but they're showing all the hallmarks of every Rovers team down the ages who has lost the respect for the manager and the desire to grind results out. Getting serious Coyle and Ince flashbacks. 

We all know this squad is better than this, not as good as it should be and not good enough for JDT, but better.

 

[sharpysharps86]

I really do feel like JDT is days away from leaving the club, and I'm sad to say it's probably for the best.

We know that larger issues are present off the pitch, but on it, I just don't see a group of players that are playing him anymore. This style of football we are trying to play. For the teams with money to burn it can get you promoted comfortably, but for the likes of Rovers and several other teams it can get you relegated.

So many players underperforming way below their standard. This doesn't tend to happen unless the head coach / manager has lost them. Morale must be at a real low in that dressing room and sometimes it just needs a fresh voice to pick them up.

I suspect there are bigger problems though in that it'll still be same old voices in the coaching staff anyway. Can't imagine the likes of Lowe is able to really motivate the players. He's no Tony Parkes is he!