Blackburn Rovers are expected to part with manager Jon Dahl Tomasson ahead of Saturday’s game against Stoke City, which will cap a turbulent week for the Championship club. John Eustace is the favorite to take over, with an announcement expected of Tomasson’s resignation or mutual contract termination.
Tomasson became disillusioned with the Rovers hierarchy after transfer blunders and at a time when owner Venky faced questions over finances. Tomasson remains popular with the board and the fans, but the Dane’s discontent and Blackburn’s dismal recent form, which has seen them drop to 18th, appear to have convinced everyone that a departure would be in the club’s best interests. Eustace was controversially replaced by Wayne Rooney at Birmingham City in October and the club finished sixth.
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Following a controversial deadline last Friday, Tomasson was prevented from speaking to the media. Rovers have twice failed to make a deal for highly-rated United States international Duncan McGuire after selling prize asset Adam Wharton to Crystal Palace for a club record £22m. A deal for the striker remains in the balance after an “administrative error” by Blackburn officials just before deadline day. According to the Athletic, Rovers thought they had clicked “send paperwork” on the English Football League’s transfer system but had clicked “save”.
“All of the required signed paperwork was completed before 10pm on Thursday, February 1, but due to an administrative error the forms were not processed within the stipulated time,” Blackburn said in a statement Friday. “The club’s lawyers prepared the necessary documents and sent them to the EFL board.”
On Thursday the EFL board rejected Blackburn’s application to book McGuire on loan. “The board has decided that uploading documents to the draft application area does not amount to submitting documents to the EFL,” the league said. “Should the appeal be rejected, Blackburn will seek to agree a pre-contract agreement with Orlando City in the coming weeks to enable the player to officially join the club on a permanent basis when the 2024 summer transfer window opens,” Blackburn said in a statement last week. .
Blackburn went through a similar transfer saga on deadline day last summer. The EFL, which reached an agreement for Nottingham Forest midfielder Lewis O’Brien, decided not to approve the transfer due to the late submission of documents. Broughton said he was “devastated by the decision” and cited “internal and external reasons” but ultimately took responsibility for O’Brien’s failure.
The sale of Wharton, who was born at Blackburn and joined the club’s academy at the age of six, is a rare example of Rovers receiving a significant fee for their assets. England under-19 defender Ashley Phillips, who has been at the club since the age of 12, left for £2 million after Spurs invoked a release clause that Rovers failed to extract from the youngster’s contract.
Top scorer Ben Brereton Díaz also left the team last summer and transferred to Villarreal on a free transfer. Rovers had rejected a bid of around £10 million for Brereton Díaz in January 2023, gambling on a long-awaited return to the Premier League as the club remained in the top six. Blackburn finished the season in seventh place and missed out on the play-offs due to goal difference. Last summer Joe Rothwell (to Bournemouth) and captain Darragh Lenihan (to Middlesbrough) left the club without pay.
This season’s form has tailed off badly after a bright start, prompting Rovers to invite their supporter group to a meeting with senior players to discuss recent results. Blackburn have collected two points from their last eight games and have gone without a league win for almost two months. Injuries mounted and summer signings such as Niall Ennis and Semir Telalovic had no impact. The form of Sammie Szmodics, who scored 21 goals in 30 matches, kept Rovers away from the relegation zone.
Tomasson was allowed to speak to the media following Saturday’s final defeat at home to QPR but said he was “not allowed to talk” about the McGuire deal. “I think you should ask Steve [Waggott, CEO]Suheyl [Shaikh, the operations and management consultant] and ownership of the Duncan McGuire case.”
Venky’s, which bought Blackburn for around £23 million in 2010, is under scrutiny in India, where the government seized assets worth £7.3 million in September in connection with the purchase of a large house in Lancashire. The transactions “will not impact the day-to-day finances of the club”, the club announced last month.