For all the chaos above Tomasson, I have to say that I'm not bothered to see him go.
It's not just our results that have been alarming over the past couple of months, but the performances, too. The whole squad seems to have had the joy sapped out of it. Say what you will about the hierarchy above Tomasson, but the dressing room under Mowbray was visibly more vibrant and happy than it ever has been under Tomasson. Sure, it's not supposed to be a holiday camp, but I'm convinced the players generally didn't enjoy working under him. Whether that's because he worked them too hard to the point of it being joyless, I don't know, but either way, I think it's a huge factor in why we have been so generally poor this season.
On the pitch, the first alarm bells rang with me during our 3-0 defeat at Reading last season. We got off to a very good start, and may even have been top of the league, but the performance at Reading was right up there with the many away day no-showings under Tomasson. We quickly followed that up with the same at Sheffield United, and some lower profile matches such as Coventry City away. We just didn't turn up at all on far too many occasions, and I think that is down to an underlying problem between Tomasson and the players. The cardinal sin was our no-show at Turf Moor. That was my worst moment as a Blackburn Rovers supporter. Yes, Burnley were too good for everyone last season, but to show no fight or passion against our closest rivals was the absolute pits.
Tomasson clearly came here with "the project" at heart and, I've no doubt, was told of a degree of funds that would be at his disposal one way or another, but I cannot think of many workplaces where you can publicly gaslight your paymasters like he did and survive. The issues in India have clearly killed off whatever was planned. Unfortunately, that's part of life. If the same happened between me and my clients (paymasters), any grievances would be professionally dealt with behind closed doors. I really think Tomasson has stoked the hornets' nest with the supporters without realising that he's just dividing them again.
Anyway, he's history, now. I don't really have any fond memories of his time at the club, even forgetting about the off-field issues.
Looking forward, it sounds like we're going for John Eustace. The key for whoever comes in will be to galvanise the players and get them pulling together in one direction. That's the one big reason I'm glad Tomasson has gone because I don't think he ever had the capacity to do that with his tunnel-visioned philosophy at the club.
