The Danish link with Malmo is long-standing and easily explained. Take a 15-minute drive across the bridge on the coast beside Copenhagen and you are in the city that is home to Sweden’s most successful football club.
It’s not just about geography, of course. There is opportunity there, too. And right now it is the stage on which my former Denmark team-mate Jon Dahl Tomasson is growing his reputation in management.
Tomasson will relish tonight’s Champions League qualifier against Rangers. No question about that. It’s in his nature. He was always a big-game player and that single-minded determination won’t have changed.
Malmo are facing Steven Gerrard's Rangers on Tuesday night in the UEFA Champions League
I do feel Rangers have an excellent chance to go all the way to the Champions League group stage this season. They enter this tie as favourites for sure. But no-one in Scotland should underestimate the huge test Malmo could provide.
Under Tomasson’s leadership, they have developed a nice mix of style and steel. I’d expect them to invest everything in tonight’s first leg to try and get a result to protect at Ibrox. It should be a fascinating encounter.
As a player, Tomasson had a superb career. He had this unique gift with the instep of his foot. He wasn’t the type to necessarily go and take on two or three players, or to always be hugely elegant on the ball, but in terms of teamwork and finishing he was excellent.
Just look at the clubs he played for, most notably AC Milan. I know he wasn’t a great success during his time in England with Newcastle but that was an exception, really. To score 52 goals for Denmark in 112 caps was just phenomenal.
There have always been personality traits he could take into management. One is that willpower I mentioned.
Jon Dahl Tomasson will relish tonight’s Champions League qualifier against Rangers
He had a fantastic mentality as a player. Rock-solid. Almost German-like, if you know what I mean. You could rely on him under pressure for sure.
Also, he is a very clever guy. He played with intelligence and I think he coaches the same way. He really started both of those careers working in Holland and became embedded in the Dutch way of seeing things.
He then was the assistant to Age Hareide at Denmark for four years and that was another type of management altogether. Very pragmatic.
Tomasson wants his team to play. No doubt about that. But for them to do so with the right, winning mindset. They are used to dominating games in Sweden, so it’s going to be really interesting to see how they try and enforce their game on Rangers.
Being manager of Malmo is a huge job in the Nordic region. One of the biggest. You could argue that Rosenborg in Norway and FC Copenhagen in Denmark are the other top places to be. They all come with big expectation.
Tomasson brought
