Jane Anderson reveals she turned it down watford While in charge of the Sweden national team.
The 63-year-old turned down the Watford job when the current Championship side were in the Premier League.
He began his coaching career in 1988 at lower division side Swedish Elets IK. Since then, he played at Halmstads BK and Laholms FK between 1990 and 1998.
After taking a break for two years, the Swede returned to Halmstads BK in 2000 as an assistant manager and took on the role as head coach in 2004. A short stint at Örgryte IS in 2010 and then a five-year period at IFK Norrköping.
The Swede had spent his entire coaching career in his own country before taking charge of the national team in June 2016. He was in charge for more than six years and stepped down from the role in November 2023.
Watford made a solid approach
Jan Anderson has not returned to the bench since leaving the national team. In April 2025 he announced his retirement From his coaching career.
He has now written a book, titled 'Da Var Da', in which he tells of Watford's determined attempt to bring him to Vicarage Road. soccer channel Has released his comments.
After parting ways with Quique Sanchez Flores, the Hornets contacted him in December 2019.
Watford appointed Nigel Pearson as Flores' successor that month. Before that, they wanted to bring in Anderson.
"You've got to be happy as long as you can. If you lose a few games, it's the other way around." He writes.
"A funny thing is that I turned down the chance to become manager at Watford. They approached me with a relatively concrete request. Then you never know whether it would have resulted in something.
"For me, it was never an option, but still. I thought for an hour and called back. No, I would no longer be willing to leave Sweden and stand in England and train on a Monday. I was happy anyway, what we have done in the last 3.5 years is noteworthy."
The Swede appointed John Dahl Tomsson as his successor in February 2024, a few weeks after his exit from Blackburn Rovers. At that time, Dane was happy to go His difficult situation with Rovers.
What happened at Watford during the 2019/20 season
The 2019/20 season was halted due to the global pandemic and extended to July 2020.
Watford had four managers during that season.
- Javi Gracia: Start September 2019
- Quique Sanchez Flores: September to December
- Nigel Pearson: December to July 2020
- Hayden Mullins: July until the end of the season
The Hornets won eight from 38 Premier League matches and were relegated after finishing 19th in the table. A year later, they returned to the top flight, only to be relegated to the Championship after one season.
