Jon Dahl Tomasson - Officially No Longer Our Head Coach

[Tim Southampton Rover]

It wouldn't surprise me if the club just hushed it up N.Korea style. 

Press: Where's Jon?
Rovers: Jon?
Press: The manager?
Rovers: No one called Jon here. I think you're mistaken. Security!! Remove this fake news. 

[Polky]

2 minutes ago, Armchair supporter supremo said:

When did the Sweden job become available? 

19 November 2023

[rog of the rovers]

EDIT

https://www.brfcs.com/magazine/articles/jdt-the-highs-and-lows/495

 

Trying to think of JDT's legacy as Rovers manager.

Top 5 Moments

1. Leicester City (a) FA Cup 5th Round 22/23 - 2-1 Victory

Inspired performance from a side missing Brereton Diaz and Dack, the birth of the Sammie Szmodics era. Hung on bravely in the end, but for 70 minutes, the Rovers dominated a Premier League team on their own patch.

2. West Ham United (a) League Cup 3rd Round 22/23 - 2-2 (10-9 on pens) Victory

The first of our two giant killings last season, Rovers' first visit to the London Stadium resulting in a morale boosting victory heading into the East Lancashire Derby (more on that later) with a memorable night in East London. Vale and Brereton Diaz the goalscorers before Rovers successfully converted all 10 penalties in the shootout!

3. Millwall (a) Championship Finale 22/23 - 4-3 Victory

The last game of last season, as Rovers missed out on a playoff place on goal difference, but an inspired comeback (a rarity in the JDT era) culminating in a fitting finale for BBD as Rovers spoiled the party at The Den

4. Harrogate Town (a) League Cup 2nd Round 23/24 - 8-0 Victory

A record breaking victory for Rovers who avoided the banana skin at The EnviroVent Stadium with seven different goalscorers, including academy products James Edmondson, Tom Bloxham and Zak Gilsenan.

5. Norwich City (a) Championship 23/24 - 3-1 Victory

Rovers finest performance of this season as Dolan and Szmodics goals saw Rovers dominate the Canaries. Carrow Road a happy hunting ground for JDT as he emerged victorious on all three trips to Norfolk

Bottom 5 Moments

1. Burnley (a) Championship 22/23 - 0-3 Defeat

1st v 3rd on the eve of the World Cup break, with just three points separating the two great rivals. Clinton Mola, Jake Garett, neither Whartons, 1 shot on target, well you know the rest.... This only just beats out number 2, but the fortunes of both swung massively on this game, with Rovers never getting near the Clarets again that season.

2. Sheffield United (a) FA Cup 6th Round 22/23 - 2-3 Defeat

Rovers 2-1 up and 9 minutes away from their first ever appearance at 'New Wembley'. Brittain and Scott Wharton on for Joe Rankin-Costello and Ryan Hedges in the 80th minute to try and see out the game, a minute later Oli McBurnie fired the Blades level, before a 90+1 minute screamer from Tommy Doyle sent Paul Heckingbottom's men to the famous arch to face Manchester City.

3. Preston North End (h) Championship 22/23 - 1-4 Defeat

The match after the Burnley debacle, albeit four weeks later due to the Qatar World Cup. Rovers toiled in the snow and were dispatched convincingly by local rivals for the second game running. Ched Evans' double before Ben Whiteman made it four after just 65 minutes. England would go on to lose 2-1 to France in the evening to compound a miserable sporting Saturday.

4. Gagged in the Presser, QPR (h) Championship 23/24 - 1-2 Defeat, Post Match Press Conference

Bringing things right up to date. Last weekend's chain of events which led into the weeks departure (although still not confirmed). JDT denied the chance to speak to the press before the QPR match an obvious sign that the point of no return had been reached. The performance that followed was equally alarming. QPR deserved winners on the day, before an explosive post game interview sealed Tomasson's fate. 

5. Coventry City (h) 1-1 Draw/Preston (a) 1-1 Draw

Rovers playoff bid last season derailed by two late goals, in two games, just four days apart. A questionable hand ball from Coventry keeper Ben Wilson was followed by the most bizarre series of events a Deepdale. Ryan Hedges' chip will live long in the memory, for the wrong reasons. Just moments later a punt from the North End keeper was missed by Scott Wharton and the ensuing cross was inexplicably turned into his own net by Dom Hyam, he probably couldn't do it again if he tried! 4 points dropped, and with it, Rovers playoff hopes for another year.

[Sparks Rover]

On 08/02/2024 at 08:30, 47er said:

Haven't followed his fortunes since he retired as a player. What success has he had that you think this?

He's doing well and showing some good signs....https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/damien-duff/profil/trainer/65169

Obviously he's not got any real success but it seems he's making his mark and has a real passion as a manager......he could have DJ as assistant,  Shay as Goalkeeper coach.....

Very cosy and if ot worked we'd be laughing as I've read that people think DD is going to be a good manager....

[Armchair supporter supremo]

Just now, Polky said:

19 November 2023

Hope im just being paranoid and cynical but that's also around the time our form really plummeted 

Really hope he hasn't had one eye on the Sweden job since then.....

[Beanie01289]

I like jdt but if he has agreed to be Sweden manager whilst under contract and still demanded compensation that's a joke.

[jim mk2]

Blimey, there's some dewy-eyed romantic view of the Tomasson era on here when the reality is he's left the club in the middle of a relegation fight after a calamitous sequence of results. Ambition and optimism and a good personality are fine qualities but a coach also has to know to organise a defence properly and set up a team not to give away soft goals. Tomasson was a busted flush IMO, canny Championship managers had him and Rovers worked out in the second half of last season

 

 

[oldjamfan1]

1 minute ago, jim mk2 said:

Blimey, there's some dewy-eyed romantic view of the Tomasson era on here when the reality is he's left the club in the middle of a relegation fight after a calamitous sequence of results. Ambition and optimism and a good personality are fine qualities but a coach also has to know to organise a defence properly and set up a team not to give away soft goals. Tomasson was a busted flush IMO, canny Championship managers had him and Rovers worked out in the second half of last season

 

 

This!

[imy9]

1 minute ago, jim mk2 said:

Blimey, there's some dewy-eyed romantic view of the Tomasson era on here when the reality is he's left the club in the middle of a relegation fight after a calamitous sequence of results. Ambition and optimism and a good personality are fine qualities but a coach also has to know to organise a defence properly and set up a team not to give away soft goals. Tomasson was a busted flush IMO, canny Championship managers had him and Rovers worked out in the second half of last season

 

 

💯 

[cesus]

1 minute ago, jim mk2 said:

Blimey, there's some dewy-eyed romantic view of the Tomasson era on here when the reality is he's left the club in the middle of a relegation fight after a calamitous sequence of results. Ambition and optimism and a good personality are fine qualities but a coach also has to know to organise a defence properly and set up a team not to give away soft goals. Tomasson was a busted flush IMO, canny Championship managers had him and Rovers worked out in the second half of last season

 

 

Agree with most of that, the last sentence if we are being fair was opposition managers realised we had no squad and couldn't really make any telling subs.

[islander200]

11 minutes ago, Beanie01289 said:

I like jdt but if he has agreed to be Sweden manager whilst under contract and still demanded compensation that's a joke.

It's us demanding compensation from JDT/Sweden

[Beanie01289]

1 minute ago, islander200 said:

It's us demanding compensation from JDT/Sweden

good

[frosty]

4 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

canny Championship managers had him and Rovers worked out in the second half of last season

 

 

We lost 5 out of 21 league games from Jan onwards in the second half of last season. We were a better team in the second half of last season than the first half, playing much better football and losing a lot less, even if we didn't win as many.

[joey_big_nose]

4 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Blimey, there's some dewy-eyed romantic view of the Tomasson era on here when the reality is he's left the club in the middle of a relegation fight after a calamitous sequence of results. Ambition and optimism and a good personality are fine qualities but a coach also has to know to organise a defence properly and set up a team not to give away soft goals. Tomasson was a busted flush IMO, canny Championship managers had him and Rovers worked out in the second half of last season

 

 

Yeah... the way I would describe him to a fan of another club asking about him becoming their manager - great fair weather manager. If he's on top you play some lovely football, exciting style, brings young players through, a "we will score more that you" philosophy. But.... when the worm turns doesnt adapt at all. Just keeps on the same way even if you are conceding 15+ chances and 3+ goals per game.

I really struggle to see how anyone decent will offer him a job as the inability to turn around results either in game (extremely rarely getting points from losing positions) or get out of this terrible run of form makes him appear a huge risk.

[smiller14]

12 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Blimey, there's some dewy-eyed romantic view of the Tomasson era on here when the reality is he's left the club in the middle of a relegation fight after a calamitous sequence of results. Ambition and optimism and a good personality are fine qualities but a coach also has to know to organise a defence properly and set up a team not to give away soft goals. Tomasson was a busted flush IMO, canny Championship managers had him and Rovers worked out in the second half of last season

 

 

100% this. I don't dislike him, but ever since that cup quarter final at Sheffield United we've been well and truly found out. For all the pretty football, we were one dimensional and even inexperienced managers were out-manouvering him (some with worse squads - see Huddersfield, Sheff Wed and then QPR).

I think his brave and appreciated calling out of the hierarchy has pulled the wool over some people's eyes over how bad this season truly has been - and yes, we lost 4 players (3 of which were either perennially injured or not in the manager's plans). 
 
Edit - that being said, last year was good overall league position wise and we played some fantastic stuff. The way we threw it all away still hurts, and I'm still not over the Turf Moor surrender. He will probably do well somewhere but his heart hasn't been in it for some time imo. 

Edited February 9 by smiller14

[joey_big_nose]

55 minutes ago, NeilInBristol said:

What time is his presser due for today?

As current we haven't been told formally that he has left..

They haven't even formally said he's on gardening leave yet, and that DJ etc will take the game? I would have expected at least that by now.

[Crimpshrine]

9 minutes ago, islander200 said:

It's us demanding compensation from JDT/Sweden

How can you possibly know that?

Has JDT resigned or been sacked ? Has he been offered the Sweden job? Any illegal approaches involved ?

All those questions would need to be answered before we can know if your statement is true.

[Neal]

32 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Blimey, there's some dewy-eyed romantic view of the Tomasson era on here when the reality is he's left the club in the middle of a relegation fight after a calamitous sequence of results. Ambition and optimism and a good personality are fine qualities but a coach also has to know to organise a defence properly and set up a team not to give away soft goals. Tomasson was a busted flush IMO, canny Championship managers had him and Rovers worked out in the second half of last season

 

 

 

I was about to post something similar Jim but you've put it perfectly there. 

 

I think all of us appreciated hearing someone within the club talk about ambition for once, that's why people are mainly upset about this one. The reality though is 10 wins in 40 and the goals against column doesn't lie. He didn't get the best out of what he had and threw away countless points. We did sell key players but so have other teams (Hamer, Gyokeres, Scott, Akpom for e.g.)

 

Whilst I appreciated his willingness to put the owners and Maggot to the sword, his job was to win games and pick up points. He started with a pragmatic & measured approach with sprinklings of excellent football which I think really suited us. Eventually he ended up with a crazy fantasy football ideology without the budget and players to pull it off and without the dignity to take it on the chin and switch tactics. 

 

That isn't necessarily a criticism of just him but many other clubs outside of the top 8 of the prem who are trying to play the guardiola way, without the budget. In the championship you must get the best out of what you have and in the end... He didn't. With that said, as much as he wants to point at the finger at the lack of signings, it was the injuries that hurt him more. Those are proven championship players and you have no guarantees new signings will perform to the standards he wanted. 

 

It's a failed project unfortunately. No one is wrong in this instance for feeling the way they do, missed opportunity or relieved he's gone. We can all see the positives and negatives for ourselves. 

Edited February 9 by Neal

[Groundhog]

10 minutes ago, cesus said:

Agree with most of that, the last sentence if we are being fair was opposition managers realised we had no squad and couldn't really make any telling subs.

It also looked like we did zero prep on the opposition, whereas the other teams had us sussed. It wasn't hard though, we were/are one of the easiest teams to suss out and play against, the stats prove that too. 

Coming out for second halves, it always felt like the opposing team's manager had got his squad riled up, telling them to get amongst us, put us under pressure and play through our midfield like a hot knife through butter, we never seemed to have any comeback.

What I struggle with "modern" football is how professional it has become, players seem to stick to a system/game plan regardless of what is happening in front of them - I never saw a JDT team with a leader on the pitch, when under pressure we still played the same way, committing men forward and trying to play lovely lay offs - whether that's a consequence of inexperience, loanees etc I don't know.

I've forgotten what it's like to watch a team almost managing itself on the pitch, if that makes any sense. 

[Polky]

JDT’s reign had a few sliding door moments…

1) Starting at least one Wharton in the game at Turf Moor

2) Hedges shot hitting the post, crawling across the line and out at 2-1 in the FA Cup quarter final. 

3) Hedges chip attempt at Deepdale

4) Szmodics half volley bouncing off the crossbar and down onto the line at home to Luton.

Edit: Maybe Hedges should be better at finishing 🤷🏻‍♂️

Edited February 9 by Polky

[joey_big_nose]

2 minutes ago, Crimpshrine said:

How can you possibly know that?

Has JDT resigned or been sacked ? Has he been offered the Sweden job? Any illegal approaches involved ?

All those questions would need to be answered before we can know if your statement is true.

I think Nicko is source for the above - so someone, incorrectly or correctly - is saying that has been the blocker. 

I guess the situation is JDT knows is he sits in role he could force Rovers to eventually have to pay up his contract (maybe a million quid for 18 months? Just a guess). JDT says "I'll be okay to walk if we make it £500k". Then Rovers say - well, that's fine, but Sweden FA need to pay that £500k not Rovers. And that is the negotiation.

I could be wrong but that is what it feels like.

[sharpysharps86]

2 minutes ago, Polky said:

JDT’s reign had a few sliding door moments…

1) Starting at least one Wharton in the game at Turf Moor

2) Hedges shot hitting the post, crawling across the line and out at 2-1 in the FA Cup quarter final. 

3) Hedges chip attempt at Deepdale

4) Szmodics half volley bouncing off the cross and down onto the line at home to Luton.

 

The inability to earn points from losing positions always stuck out like a sore thumb to me. There's no doubt that JDT has potential to be a top head coach somewhere, but you could pretty much guarantee that we'd lose a game if we conceded first under him.

[joey_big_nose]

2 minutes ago, Polky said:

JDT’s reign had a few sliding door moments…

1) Starting at least one Wharton in the game at Turf Moor

2) Hedges shot hitting the post, crawling across the line and out at 2-1 in the FA Cup quarter final. 

3) Hedges chip attempt at Deepdale

4) Szmodics half volley bouncing off the cross and down onto the line at home to Luton.

Edit: Maybe Hedges should be better at finishing 🤷🏻‍♂️

To be honest the key moment was the Indian courts freezing the assets in the summer. From that moment I think this time would come as the financial stability disappeared. Only thing that would have changed it is if we had managed to get into the Prem last year, and none of those events above would have got us there as I can't see how we would have won the playoffs. 

It's also equally true that while the new manager appointment is important, the key defining thing for us until Venkys one day (please god) leave is whether we can solve this capital issue. Otherwise fast forward 6 months and the new managers and a lot of the players will be gone too.

[smiller14]

1 minute ago, sharpysharps86 said:

The inability to earn points from losing positions always stuck out like a sore thumb to me. There's no doubt that JDT has potential to be a top head coach somewhere, but you could pretty much guarantee that we'd lose a game if we conceded first under him.

Weirdly enough, the 'lion's den' of Millwall (and against cup minnows) was the exception! 

[Polky]

3 minutes ago, sharpysharps86 said:

The inability to earn points from losing positions always stuck out like a sore thumb to me. There's no doubt that JDT has potential to be a top head coach somewhere, but you could pretty much guarantee that we'd lose a game if we conceded first under him.

I agree, as soon as we conceded the first goal the writing was always on the wall.