SIR Alex Fergusonâs praise is reserved for a deserving few, most obviously Paul Scholes, Carlos Queiroz and Ryan Giggs. But a more surprising recipient of his unqualified admiration is Henrik Larsson, despite only spending two months at Manchester United. It wasnât so much the autumn of Larssonâs career but the winter, coming after his seven years at Celtic and a spell at Barcelona, yet Ferguson describes the Swede as âa real aristocratâ. Ferguson reveals in his new book that he wanted Larsson while he was still at Celtic. âI could have signed him earlier,â he writes. âI was ready to make the bid when he was at Celtic but Dermot Desmond, Celticâs majority shareholder, rang me and said, âYouâve let me down, Alex, youâve got tons of players, we need him.â â Larssonâs impact, on loan from Helsingborgs in 2007, was immediate. âOn arrival at United, he seemed a bit of a cult figure with our players. They would say his name in awed tones. For a man of 35, his receptiveness to information on the coaching side was amazing. At every session he was rapt. He wanted to listen to Carlos, the tactics lectures; he was into every nuance of what we did. In training he was superb: his movement, his positional play. His three goals for us were no measure of his contribution. âIn his last game in our colours at Middlesbrough, we were winning 2-1 and Henrik went back to play in midfield and ran his balls off. On his return to the dressing-room, all the players stood up and applauded him, and the staff joined in. It takes some player to make that kind of impact in two months..â
did he though? I think everyone accepts that he could have moved to any league in Europe but stayed as he was happy and his family were settled. Also at the time I am sure Celtic were around the 4th highest payers in British football. he was also playing with some fantastic footballers at that time
Scored two in a european final, hardly wasting his talents in the spl , as for getting compared to Boyd !! Henrik's first season for us he played midfield , can you imagine the big fat thing that can't move playing there ???
to be fair to rod wallace the last time i stood in the kop at elland rd he did this (skip to 2min 55) [video=youtube;XApDYHnBE6I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XApDYHnBE6I[/video] i was also there the day Jeremy Goss scored his screamer
"I think everyone accepts that he could have moved to any league in Europe but stayed as he was happy and his family were settled" Did you not see that part? Nah, you ignored it and preferred to try and nit pick about the bits you disagreed with. Hence ...and What's wages got to do with it?
