The 2022/23 season dawns a new era for Blackburn Rovers after Tony Mowbray's 5-year tenure as boss came to an end. The dismissal of Mowbray came down to the disappointing end of last season with Rovers picking up only 16 points from a possible 48 since February and ultimately missing out on a play-off place after comfortably being in the promotion mix for most of the season.
A new chapter now begins with former Danish international Jon Dahl Thomasson being the man to replace Mowbray in the hot seat. The optimism for Thomasson is undoubtably high, with the Dane managing in the champions league only 8 months prior to his appointment as Blackburn boss, taking Malmo through 4 qualifying rounds to qualify for the Champions League group stages alongside winning 2 Swedish titles and a domestic cup. As everyone knows though, the championship is a whole new ball game and the question of if Thomassons fresh tactics will work in this league is waited to be seen.
The clubs' vision is certainly long term with a whole new structure being put in place to the way the club is run with new a Director of Football, Gregg Broughton being brought in to take control of transfers and behind the scenes work while Thomasson’s main focus is on coaching the first team, this will be very similar to the way most European clubs are run. Upon Broughton's arrival, he stated ‘We want to become a sustainable Premier League football club. That's not going to happen overnight, but with a really clear plan and by sticking with that plan, I really believe we can get there’. This shows for the first time in a while that the club has a plan and a vision which can only bring excitement to Blackburn fans about what the long-term future brings.
However, despite a long-term plan in place, short term work is needed to be done by the club, with loanees Reda Khadra and the club's player of the year Jan Paul Van Hecke returning to Brighton, and 3 major players in Darragh Lenihan, Joe Rothwell and Ryan Nyambe all departing for pastures new. Current recruitment has been non-existent this summer as Blackburn is the only club in the championship to make 0 first team signings with only 2 weeks left until the new season starts; this is worrying for Rovers fans as so much work needs to be done before the first game is played. Although it has been stated by Thomasson that the club's category one academy will play a massive part in the team this year; it is a known fact that you need both a mixture of youth and experience to compete in the league.
With the championship much stronger this year, it is unlikely Blackburn will be near the top end of the table this time around, especially with so many key players leaving, and a lack of business currently being done to replace them. However, trust is still there that the club will bring in additions before deadline day to replace key departures. If this is done, Rovers fans will believe a realistic mid table finish is achievable for the club this season. This is the Championship however; nobody knows what that league table will look like come the end of the season.
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