Excellent video where Henrik Larsson talks about his career. Tough character and class guy.
Interesting Henrik Larsson interview
- Thread starter Eric's Seagull
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Excellent video where Henrik Larsson talks about his career. Tough character and class guy.
I met Larrson before in London City Airport. Had a beer while chatting to him mostly about Celtic etc. He was a genuinely sound man.
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What’s he doing now ?
What’s he doing now ?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIOLOQk9PZQ
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https://www.invidio.us/watch?v=OIOLOQk9PZQAlways wonder what Larsson could have achieved if he'd left Scotland much earlier. Shame really.
He'd have been a superstar at United
Yeah I agree. Did he ever say he regretted staying in Scotland for too long? He seemed to love his stint at United and Barca. Wonder if he has regrets looking back.
I doubt he’d say it if he did regret it. Like Alan Shearer claiming that moving to Newcastle was the right choice.
difference was Shearer went to his boyhood team, a team he always wanted to play for. For Larsson, Celtic was any old team. Ridiculous he stayed there so long, should have left after 2 years max - wasted the best years of his career.
I don't know about Larsson. It all seems a facade to me. He seems to have that cult status at United simply because it was the start of the late 00s success period. I don't remember him having such a big impact actually.
You should read what Fergie had to say in his book about him.
I was at all but one of the games he played for us, and he was instantly recognizable as an elite talent to anyone that saw him. His movement is among the very best of the last 30 years. Also watched him well over 100 times for Celtic, quality was better in the SPL back then and he and GVB were by far and away the two best in the league.
an absolutely brilliant guy too, he stayed at Celtic so long because he was treated like a god there, more than Gerrard at Liverpool or messi at Barca, and he got his just rewards when he changed the game coming on as a sub and winning the CL against arsenal.
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I agree actually, his on pitch impact was pretty minimal. I remember being very underwhelmed but the general success of the team at that time led the press to hail it as a ‘masterstroke’.
Only my opinion but I just don’t believe Shearer when he says that, if he’d signed for United it would most likely elevated both parties and would have been incredible. He must know that deep down.
He was only at Unuted for a couple of months really and it was the tail end of his career. He was a class player.
Wasn't too good for United but yeah he was past his best when he came and still produced some decent moments.
Used to watch Celtic regularly and have family who are mad Celtic/Rangers fans. He used to be like Henry of the SPL where he was just too good for the league for a number of years.
Used to watch Celtic regularly and have family who are mad Celtic/Rangers fans. He used to be like Henry of the SPL where he was just too good for the league for a number of years.
Don't understand all the him not being good for us comments. I thought he was a great signing.
Class player. Most overrated loan signing ever.
Sir Alex had a title medal struck for him so he obviously thought he was ok
Sir Alex thought Moyes was the perfect successor so let's not treat everything he says/does as gospel.
Henke Larsson was sublime - and on top of that, cool player with lots of marketing potential. It was a travesty for him professionally to stay at an insignificant club like Celtic (relatively speaking given his ability) until he was 33 or whatever he was, but perhaps he never had the biggest ambitions to do it at the top level? Some players also seem to live for the national team, I think he appreciated those WC’s with Sweden more than anything really. Unlike Le Tissier and other legends from smaller clubs, there was a 100% probability of him being a star at a top club - shame really.
He didn't do much for us in terms of numbers but it was clear he had an influence on the team when on the pitch. I remember players looked up to him when we were playing the way they did to our best senior players.
Well, perhaps not that great since Larsson never actually got the medal.
Joke aside, I think he was great for United and it's a shame he couldn't stay longer.
Truth is Ighalo had a bigger impact on the pitch...
I bet he regrets that until the day he dies.
We are a worse team though, easier to stand out now than at that time.
Sir Alex had no clue about Moyes, since he wasn't at the club under him and he only had limited information from what he could judge. Plus we don't know if that is really true, or if Moyes was our 4th choice and we said that so that everyone would get on board. Fergie could judge Larsson directly.
He had a relatively late peak hence he stayed at Celtic for so long. Clubs tend to drag their feet at signing older players.
Agree with this.
What about Jones having potential to be Uniteds best ever player, since SAF had chance to judge Jones directly?
I think SAF was god disguised as human, but he talked nonsense from time to time.
From Ferguson's book "Leading".
"We also always kept track of what was happening in management circles elsewhere. For example, I had dinner with Pep Guardiola in New York in 2012, but couldn’t make him any direct proposal because retirement was not on my agenda at that point. He had already won an enviable number of trophies with Barcelona–two Champions Leagues, three La Liga titles, two Copa del Reys (Spanish Cup), two UEFA Super Cups and two FIFA Club World Cups–and I admired him greatly. I asked Pep to phone me before he accepted an offer from another club, but he didn’t and wound up joining Bayern Munich in July 2013."
[...]
"When we started the process of looking for my replacement, we established that several very desirable candidates were unavailable. It became apparent that José Mourinho had given his word to Roman Abramovich that he would return to Chelsea, and that Carlo Ancelotti would succeed him at Real Madrid. We also knew that Jürgen Klopp was happy at Borussia Dortmund, and would be signing a new contract. Meantime, Louis van Gaal had undertaken to lead the Dutch attempt to win the 2014 World Cup."
Seems to suggest Pep was Fergie's first-choice.
his peak sort if came in two stages because of his leg break, which happened in his 3rd Season for the club and in his late 20s. personally don’t think he gets the credit he deserves for what he did the season after that injury (it was a horrific snap) when he notched 53 goals in 50 games. I don’t care what league you are in, a record of >1.00gpg across a full season is remarkable, let alone after recovering from something that could have ended your career.
Disagree - even in that short spell, could tell he was top top class and wasted his career at Celtic. Could have been one of the greats at CF if moved sooner to big club in his prime.
You could tell saf admired him that's good enough for me.
he didn’t waste his career. He’s the greatest player to ever play for the club, one of the most idolized players by a fan base in the sport, and a champions league winner with the respect of every Single one of his peers. I’d argue that him staying at Celtic for his peak should be a plus for him and not a mark against him, he did it because he loved the club above all else, that kind of loyalty is absolutely priceless.
not to mention his time at Celtic was when they were strong In Europe, always doing well against big English sides and they were reasonably well compensated all things considering.
Agree with this. Celtic were a very good side then and the Scottish league hadn't been ruined by the money of today. Larsson was an incredible player, up there with Ibra for me in Swedish terms.
Had he not settled for Celtic he could have been lethal for a top European team. Shame but still a class act of a player. Also he wasn’t anywhere near Ibra as an overall player.
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Awesome stuff. Seems like a genuine fella; quite refreshing really. I have fond memories of him being with us. Like Ferguson said, "It was a great piece of business."
Agreed. For anyone unconvinced about his performances in Scotland, he showed his class in Europe and for Sweden. He’s incredibly revered by Celtic fans and it was compellingly clear how good he was. For instance, Sutton shared the glory days at Blackburn with Shearer and then at Celtic with Larsson and rates the Swede as the superior player. He was comfortably ensconced in the top 2-3 strikers in Britain throughout his time in Scotland.
I thought it would have been the opposite.
Strikers actually do much better with class players around them.
Celtic is a great club in the wider scheme of things and that was a strong era for Scottish football but Larsson was a player who should have been at the very top of the game..
it’s harsh to say he wasted his career.