Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TOM ERASING TOON GLOOM
JON DAHL TOMASSON cannot wait for another crack at the Premier League after his one season as a player with Newcastle flopped.
While the rest of his career came adorned with goals and silverware, after being bought by manager Kenny Dalglish (below) to play alongside Alan Shearer it proved to be Tyneside torture for the young Dane.
Shearer suffered a serious injury and, with Les Ferdinand having been sold, Tomasson was often forced to play a lone role up front or alongside Ian Rush, by then a veteran brought in by his former Liverpool striking partner as cover.
Rush finds it hard to comprehend how Tomasson only ended up with four goals in 35 games before returning to Holland with Feyenoord.
“Honestly, he was one of the best finishers I have ever seen on the training ground,” Rush recalled.
“In games, it just didn’t happen for him, but it was for no lack of trying.
“Everyone at the club wanted him to do well.”
But Blackburn’s new boss insists he learned a lot during his brief spell at St James’ Park.
“It was not an easy season for myself, for Kenny Dalglish or for the club,” he said.
“It was still a good experience to play in the Premier League and Kenny was an absolute gentleman in the way he treated players.
“Hopefully, I have taken some of that into my management.
“I have a Danish heart, but I got my education in England in how to survive.” Newcastle was the only blot on a rich landscape for a player who went on to play 112 times for his country, winning the Champions League with AC Milan in 2003 – although the defeat on penalties against Liverpool two years later in Istanbul still hurts.
“It was no consolation that I scored with mine.” he added.
Having left his homeland as an 18-year-old, heading to Holland determined to make it as a professional player, Tomasson lives and breathes the game.
In just a short time in charge at Ewood Park, he has quickly established a bond with the supporters.
It is why he was deflated and angered as a 100 per cent record in the Championship and Carabao Cup came to a screeching halt in a 3-0 defeat at Reading on Wednesday night. As someone who describes the fans as
“the soul of football”, he felt for the travelling Rovers supporters.
“I hate losing, our fans hate losing. I feel sorry for them,” he said.
Having injected greater intensity and physicality into his squad since taking over in the summer, Tomasson, 45, is on a mission to return the club to the Premier League, where he hopes to make a bigger impression than as a player.
And the task of leading Blackburn out of the shadows excites him.
“The owners have a clear vision of developing players and becoming a sustainable Premier League club,” he added.
“And I’m up for that.”