THE KING AND I
When SUTTON met LARSSON
SUTTON ON LARSSON By the end of your time in Glasgow, you couldn’t walk round the city. We went on nights out together and it was like being out with John Lennon LARSSON ON SUTTON You told me: ‘We can play good together’. Then you wrestled your wife Sam to the floor, so I didn’t know if I could take you seriously!
IN Glasgow, he is known as ‘The King of Kings’. In Manchester, Sir Alex Ferguson christened him a ‘real football aristocrat’ while Ronaldinho’s nickname for him in Barcelona was ‘idolo’.
Yet in his home town of Helsingborg, Henrik Larsson insists he is a normal bloke.
‘People are used to seeing me,’ he says, having picked Sportsmail up from the train station.
Indeed they are. Anyone strolling along the seafront will see this five-star striker immortalised in bronze (thankfully, his bears a far greater likeness than that bust of Cristiano Ronaldo).
Larsson is coolness personified, driving a Porsche Panamera Turbo and dressed all in grey.
The Swede was not a dressingroom loudmouth but, when he spoke, players listened and there is a steely look in his eyes as he discusses his desire to manage in England.
It is in a nearby Radisson that he and CHRIS SUTTON spend the afternoon reminiscing about old times and talking about the future, while KIERAN GILL listens in.
ON TuESdAY, October 15, Larsson was booked on a 9.30pm flight from Copenhagen to Southend. He was going to sign the papers to become the English League One club’s manager but the deal collapsed when Tommy Johnson, one of his assistants, accepted another offer.
CS: When Southend first came calling, you texted me asking what do I know about the town. Can you remember my reply?
HL: You answered: ‘It has an airport.’ The thing is, even though I played at a certain level, in order to come into the English system, you have to start somewhere. I’m realistic enough to know I won’t be offered a Premier League club, or even a Championship club. CS: Why not? HL: Because that’s not the way it works. The longer you’re out of football, the more difficult it is to get back in. You’re forgotten quite quickly. I’m not a guy who does interviews, or television, or, as we say in Swedish,
‘natverk’ (network), so you meet people who know people who have influence in clubs.
In Sweden, I’ve been more or less offered jobs. This was the first proper job interview I’ve had, and we were agreed, 100 per cent. Then Tommy called me, said he was sorry but he had another offer. I wasn’t very pleased.
CS: So why England? You’ve managed a few clubs here in Sweden. Would you do that again?
HL: In Sweden, no. In Scandinavia, no. As a player, I played at the highest level, and I want to see if it is possible to reach that as a manager.
Why England? It’s the culture, the love of the game. But I can accept that the owners in the Premier League don’t want me as their manager. I can accept that. I’m not afraid. I believe in myself. I don’t need to work a day more in my life, but I love the game.
CS: Has coaching changed? The first 11-v-11 session I ever did was under Roy Hodgson at Blackburn in 1997.
HL: Was that the year you lost against Trelleborgs (the Swedish minnows in the uEFA Cup)? CS: No, but thanks for bringing that up. HL: Coaching has changed. To be honest, when I played, I didn’t listen that much to the coaches. We had game plans, then it was up to me to do my thing. CS: I suspect it would be difficult for you to take a job in Scotland other than you know who? HL: I would have to agree. I was offered the Celtic job once, around 2015. I was manager of Falkenbergs. I had a meeting with the owner and another member of the board, and they wanted me. But I saw some things. I asked them a few questions about different things and I wasn’t really pleased with the answers that I got.
CS: Southend have lost every league game since Sol Campbell took charge. Maybe you dodged a bullet.
HL: No, because I have a high belief in myself. I’m sure we could have done something there.
What I can offer as a manager is I know what it takes. The know-how, the sacrifices you have to make to play at a high level.
Even though it was 15 years ago (when I played), I know what it takes. Football is not a new game.
LARSSON joined Celtic for £650,000 in 1997, after three-anda-half years in Holland with Feyenoord. They were one of only two clubs in for him (the other being Helsingborgs).
In his first season, Rangers were aiming to be crowned champions for the tenth time in succession and it went down to the last day. Larsson scored his 19th goal in a 2-0 win over St Johnstone and Celtic finished top.
HL: We played dunfermline away in our second-to-last game (a 1-1 draw, meaning the title race would go down to the wire).
A grown man came up to me afterwards. He was crying. ‘You’ve got to stop them from winning ten.’
That was the first time it really sunk in, what it meant to Celtic supporters.
CS: Of course, then I joined in
2000. Remember the first time that we met?
HL: I remember One Devonshire Gardens in Glasgow. CS: Oh God. HL: That was hilarious. Me and my wife, Magdalena, were there, you were there with Sam (Sutton’s wife). You told me: ‘We can do this together. It shouldn’t be a competition. We can play good together.’ Then you wrestled Sam to the floor, so I didn’t know if I could take you seriously!
CS: I have to stress this was in a fun and loving way!
HL: Absolutely! We understood each other. I don’t know if you remember me differently but I wasn’t nasty like you. I was polite, and tried to get everybody to feel the warmth.
CS: The biggest thing about you, Henrik, was your unselfishness. You won the European Golden Boot in 2001, but most of my goals, you beat three or four men, then I tapped them in.
HL: That’s not true. We were a team.
TIRED of the Glasgow weather, Larsson left Celtic in 2004. He had made it known in newspapers that he planned to leave.
Barcelona signed him, and he was given the same locker used by Romario and Michael Laudrup. In the 2006 Champions League final against Arsenal, he started on the bench. Barca were losing 1-0 when he came on. With two assists in the 76th and 80th minutes, they won 2-1.
CS: How many clubs came in for you when you were leaving Celtic?
HL: Around 30, but I’d put a great ad in the papers! I had said I’d be leaving and I would like to play somewhere warm. CS: Who came in for you? HL: I can’t remember them all and don’t want to tell pork pies, but they were from Spain, France, Italy, even one from Saudi Arabia.
CS: Were you surprised Barcelona came in for you?
HL: Very. Frank Rijkaard called. He said: ‘I need something different.’ He needed someone who could come off the bench. I say I’m fine with it but then I told myself: ‘I’m going to show him that I’ll play.’
CS: Your Champions League win came three years after our 2003 UEFA Cup final in Seville. You scored twice, but we lost 3-2 to Jose Mourinho’s Porto.
HL: You know how sick I was after that. I couldn’t even talk about that game for yea rs. I threw away my runners-up medal but someone had the sense to pick it up for me.
The amount of Celtic fans who came to that, even those who did not have any tickets… I’m getting goosebumps just talking about it. Then to go to another final and I’m sitting on the bench, not able to have an impact… I didn’t want to lose that. I would have loved to score against Arsenal but I’d rather not score and win the Champions League, than score two against Porto and lose.
AFTER signing for Barcelona, the Spaniards draw Celtic in the
Champions League. Two months after leaving, Larsson is forced to return to Celtic Park, scoring in a 3-1 win. At full-time, Sutton, who also played and scored an equaliser, broke his rule of never swapping a shirt after a defeat. CS: I’ve still got your shirt. HL: I’ve still got yours! I remember I was laying by my pool and Magnus Hedman (former Celtic goalkeeper) called me. He said: ‘You can’t guess.’ I said: ‘Of course I can. We probably drew you guys.’ And we did. That was too early to go back, given the feelings I had for that club.
CS: Did you feel guilty scoring against Celtic?
HL: No. I didn’t feel guilty, but I didn’t want to celebrate. The fans started singing in a cheeky way: ‘Bobo’s going to get you.’ He (Bobo Balde) tried, as well. He still does it if you play in a friendly. Bobo doesn’t do friendlies. Remember the time he kicked (Alessandro) Del Piero on to the running track at Juventus?
LARSSON joined Manchester United on loan in 2007 and they won the title. He made seven Premier League appearances, so failed to collect a medal.
Yet in his very last game, away at Middlesbrough, Ferguson noted how Larsson ‘ran his balls off.’ He then received a standing ovation from Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Co as he walked into the changing room afterwards.
CS: Was money ever a motivation for you?
HL: No. Never. I understood I had to make my money from football but it was never what drove me. I didn’t get a goal bonus at Celtic. Maybe you did!
CS: I didn’t either! Tell me about Manchester United. Why didn’t you go there earlier in your career? I happen to know Sir Alex came in for you at least twice before that.
HL: I felt good (at Celtic). We were in Europe, playing in the biggest competitions. I was playing for Sweden at World Cups. To go and maybe make £10,000 more per week but leave something I enjoyed doing behind? No. But I should have stayed in Manchester after that season.
CS: I admire you for turning United down but, by the end of your time in Glasgow, you couldn’t walk round the city. We went on nights out together and it was like being with John Lennon. It got difficult for you.
HL: It was but, at the same time, I was happy about it. I had a connection with that club, with the fans. I would never change my seven years in Celtic. That’s where I made my name. That’s where I became the player that people still talk about today. I would live with that every day of the week.
CS: Hopefully next time we meet, it’s in England!