351: Gunnar Halle, Norge, USA ’94 World Cup, UK and Eire Edition

Today’s post has been requested by Dave Mathieson and features one of his beloved Oldham Athletic’s leading lights from the 1990s. If you don’t follow Dave on Twitter already make sure you do – particularly if you’re a fan of Harchester United. Thanks for the suggestion and the considerable notes Dave provided to help with this. We hope, in his words, this “does the great man justice”.

The death of Edward the Confessor in January 1066 sparked off a series of events which led to the Battle of Hastings and the establishment of Norman rule over England. For more on this I would recommend the not-at-all biased account presented in the Bayeux Tapestry which makes it clear that Harold Godwinson fully deserved the arrow in the eye/hacking to pieces he received after he went back on an oath he’d made to William of Normandy regarding the destination of the English throne. What the Bayeux Tapestry omits is the fact that the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada actually thought he had a far stronger claim to the throne than both of the men mentioned previously and launched his own invasion of England culminating in the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Contrary to popular belief this took place in Yorkshire rather than South West London and wasn’t settled by Ashley Cole shooting a visiting student with a pellet gun.

As you can see the links between England and Scandinavia go back a long way and it should come as little surprise that many of Denmark, Norway and Sweden’s finest footballers have made names for themselves in the home of football. Norway alone has provided 63 Premier League players ranging from Manchester United’s baby faced assassin Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to Crystal Palace’s Alexander Sorloth. Sadly, despite the best efforts of Championship Manager 97/98, the excellent Bjorn Heidenstrom never experienced the top flight glory he so sorely deserved but I’m sure he enjoyed seeing his compatriots Ronny Johnsen and Henning Berg keeping David May out of Manchester United’s treble winning side. He probably also enjoyed the exploits of Oldham Athletic’s Gunnar Halle.

Long before football pundits were salivating over Liverpool’s current no.66 and referring to him only by his first name the Boundary Park faithful were blessed with a marauding right back who chipped in with goals and assists alongside his defensive duties. Halle started his professional career at Lillestrom and helped the side to two league titles in 1986 and 1989. Joe Royle parted with a meagre £280,000 to bring him to Oldham and his performances helped the Latics to the Second Division title in the 1990/91 season. Royle’s attack minded managerial approach and eye for a bargain had seen Oldham reach the semi-finals of the 1990 FA Cup and brought through iconic players such as Denis Irwin, Earl Barrett, Paul Warhurst and Ian Marshall. In their first season in the top flight since 1923 the Latics more than held their own to ensure they would feature in the inaugural Premier League season.

Halle was named in Oldham’s opening day fixture against newly-promoted Chelsea and was one of only thirteen foreign players to feature on the first day of English football’s reinvention. After back-to-back draws the Latics scored their first win of the campaign with a 5-3 victory over Nottingham Forest with Halle on the scoresheet. He added two more goals in a draw with Manchester City and a victory over Ipswich Town as the Latics established themselves in mid-table but a run of defeats saw them sucked into a hugely complicated relegation battle come the end of the season. With three games left Oldham needed wins against title-chasing Aston Villa, Liverpool and Southampton and for rivals Crystal Palace to secure no more than a point from their concurrent fixtures. On a seesaw last day Halle scored the winning goal in a 4-3 victory over Southampton and, thanks to wins against the aforementioned sides and Palace’s ineptitude, pulled off one the all-time great escapes.

Although Oldham were unable to repeat their heroics in the following season, suffering relegation to Division One, the Latics did put together an impressive FA Cup run falling at the penultimate hurdle to an Andrei Kanchelskis inspired Manchester United in a Maine Road replay. In the meantime Gunnar Halle was enjoying success on the international stage in Norway’s qualification for the 1994 World Cup in the USA. He netted a hat-trick in his national side’s 10-0 demolition of San Marino and excelled in two performances against England with Norway’s 2-0 victory in June 1993 almost as key to the Three Lions’ failure to qualify as Ronald Koeman’s unpunished atrocity against David Platt and Carlton Palmer’s inability to “hit Les” with the desired regularity. Halle’s inclusion in Norway’s World Cup squad, and the far more important Panini sticker album, at least gave Latics’ fans something to cheer in the summer of 1994 and he played the second half of his side’s opening victory over Mexico. He missed their loss to eventual finalists Italy and only lasted half an hour in their goalless draw with the Republic of Ireland which sealed their group stage exit.

Following his international exploits Halle returned to Boundary Park to help launch Oldham’s attempt to regain their top-flight status but the exit of Joe Royle to a beleaguered Everton in October sucked momentum out of a campaign which ended in a mid-table finish. After a similarly mediocre 1995/96 season Halle ended his six-year stay with Oldham with a move to Leeds United. Often rotated with academy product Gary Kelly he nevertheless made a good impression at Elland Road and helped the side finish in an impressive fourth in the 1998/99 campaign and qualify for the UEFA Cup. The arrival of Danny Mills that summer saw Halle move to newly promoted Bradford City where his Oldham experiences proved invaluable as the Bantams narrowly avoided relegation in their first season in the Premier League. Unfortunately, like the Latics before them, Bradford were unable to repeat their heroics the following season and were relegated in a precarious financial position. Halle stayed for one more season at Valley Parade before returning home for a swansong with first club Lillestrom, via five games for Wolverhampton Wanderers, before retiring in 2003. 

As the Premier League developed into a global phenomenon towards the end of the 1990s its imports became increasingly exotic and players from over 120 nations have now made at least one appearance in the English top flight. Things were very different thirty years ago, however, and Gunnar Halle’s role in opening the borders of English football cannot be underestimated as he racked up over 350 appearances for Oldham, Leeds, Bradford and, albeit briefly, Wolves putting in eye catching performances at right back and earning 64 caps for his country. It might be a stretch to suggest his contribution to the beautiful game made up for his forebears failure to recapture the English throne but for the fans he won in the north of England he can probably settle for being their Norwegian king.