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Back when English clubs started waking up to the potential of foreign
players in the early nineties, Scandinavians were all the rage. For
many English managers they were much more suited to play in England -
especially in the cold winter months - than those coming from other
European leagues. It was reputation largely borne of their familiarity
with the game, knowledge of the language and physical attributes,
although Norway's victories over England in the qualification rounds to
the 1994 World Cup also helped. Liverpool in particular built something
of a reputation as a haven for Scandinavian players, a trend set off by
Graeme Souness and eagerly taken up by his successor Roy Evans.
At the
time, the club annually toured Scandinavia during pre-season and it was
on one of these trips that Souness first caught sight of Stig Inge
Bjornebye. Admittedly, it was a particularly happy period for Norwegian
football with champions Rossenborg regularly handing out footballing
lessons to supposed European giants. So Bjornebye - already an
established Norwegian international when he signed for Liverpool - was
hardly plucked out from obscurity. Still, Bjornebye struggled to make an
impact. Souness controversially brought in Julian Dicks and the high
profile recruit became a fixture in the left-back slot preferred by
Stig. In the limited opportunities that came his way, he hardly
impressed enough to warrant taking over. Ironically, the turnaround in
Bjornebye's fortunes at Liverpool came when the manager who had taken
him to Anfield was sacked.
When Roy Evans was appointed, he promptly got
rid of Dicks and Stig, who was familiar with the wing-back role from
his time with Rosenborg, fitted in nicely to the 5-3-2 formation
favoured by the new management. For Bjornebye this was a new lease of
life and he was a revelation. Good defensively, he knew when to over-lap
and could be relied on to provide pinpoint crosses in dangerous areas.
Stig's improvement was such that by the end of the 1996-97 season, where
he was an ever present with 2 goals from 38 league appearances, he was
voted into the PFA team of the season. Yet, the Anfield crowd has a long
memory and the supporters weren't quick to forget Bjornebye's ungainly
displays earlier during his career.
His upturn in form failed to win
them over and any mistake was quickly pounced upon. To make matter
worse, defenders got wise to Bjornebye's strong points and started
forcing him inside, thereby reducing his effectiveness. With the quality
of crosses getting worse all the time, he was eventually ousted by
local boy Dominic Matteo and thereafter never got any extended run in
the first team. Eventually Souness, recently installed as manager at
Blackburn, returned to Anfield in the summer of 2000 to snap up
Bjornebye for a cut price £300, 000 where the Norwegian helped the team
win promotion before injury cut short his career. He made a total of 184
appearances during his 8 years on Merseyside, including 9 as a sub, and
scored 4 goals. (Paul Grech)
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