Football Season Guide

Blackburn’s 2023/24 season seemed set for disaster before a ball was even kicked. Financial troubles for the owners meant drastic budget cuts and a significant shift in expectations for then manager Jon Dahl Tomasson. The Dane offered to resign before the start of the campaign, before eventually departing in February with the club fighting relegation. Even after he initially decided to stay, Tomasson handed out constant and not so subtle reminders to the board that his squad was too weak to compete up near the top of the Championship and it proved to be the case. Rovers lost two of their top scorers from the previous season in Ben Brereton Diaz and Bradley Dack, but failed to replace them with a striker in the transfer market. The saving grace turned out to be attacking-midfielder Sammie Szmodics who had the season of his life, finishing top scorer in the Championship with 27 league goals and becoming the first Blackburn player to go past the 30-goal mark in all competitions since the great Alan Shearer. Unfortunately for everyone involved with the club, it looks as though Szmodics will leave for new pastures imminently. Szmodics led an attack that scored an impressive 60 goals in the Championship but the defence let in 74 at the other end, with only the two bottom clubs conceding more. Rovers often toed a fine line between the sublime and the ridiculous under Tomasson, before John Eustace arrived to steady the ship with a more pragmatic approach. The former Birmingham boss needed ten games to finally record his first official win but did pick up some precious points here and there, which allowed Rovers to clinch their safety on the final day of the season. The club have made a spate of signings with just over a week until the season starts. Kyle McFadzean returns after a successful loan spell last term and Danny Batth also bolsters the defence. Andi Wiemann makes it a trio of free agents who arrive with Championship experience. Starting striker Sam Gallagher has departed and been replaced by three unfamiliar names in Makhtar Gueye, Yuki Ohashi and Exauce Mafoumbi. The jury remains out on them.