DERBY ARE A PREMIER LEAGUE CLUB!

Down and up again

”Derby will go down this season. I’m afraid it’s too late to even dream about staying up. But I’m pretty sure the club is going to go up again next year and if the right staff and the right players are brought in I can’t see why Derby shouldn’t make it big,” Lars says. Nowadays he is the Director of Sports in Stabæk, one of the best sides in the Norwegian Premier League, so he realises the importance of a well-working organisation.

”It is not only down to the players or the manager. The board and the backroom staff are an integral part of the road to success as well. It seems to me Derby is about to get it all right. When I played for Derby the manager was Jim Smith and his closest staff was Steve McClaren. They teamed up perfectly which is quite important. In fact, Derby started falling apart when Steve left to become Ferguson’s right hand in Manchester United, though a brilliant coach such as Ray Harford was brought in to replace him,” Lars recaptures.

The good old days

I ask him about the rivalry between Derby and Nottingham. After all, he has played for both sides. Lars says that ”all in all I played in England for about eight years. I played for Forest, Blackburn and Derby and I enjoyed all three spells. I know that both Forest and Derby supporters were a bit dubious regarding me playing for both sides because of the rivalry between the two clubs. But to me it didn’t matter. I signed for Forest after having played a tremendous match and scoring a goal for Norway in an international against England back in 1993. I signed for Derby in 1997. But in between I had played for Blackburn. And as I said, I enjoyed playing for all three clubs.” Derby actually paid Blackburn £1.7-million for the Norwegian midfielder in a transfer that was labelled ”a surprising capture for the Rams.”

I ask Lars to sum up the years with the Rams. ”Well, in the beginning it was great. There were quite many fine footballers in the squad. Eranio and Baiano were truly great players. Igor Stimac as well. Wanchope was more of an individual player than a team player but he was very talented, indeed. Yes, when I joined Derby there were a large number of such players there. We got along very well and worked hard together for the club. I had more than 30 appearances the first season with Derby. Then I started becoming fairly susceptible to injuries. Due to this I didn’t play as much the next couple of years and I was largely disappointing, and the club started selling the clever players without buying new ones capable of taking their places,” Lars, whose total for the Rams is 61 appearances with one goal to his credit, tells.

”I remember when we beat Liverpool at Anfield. Everybody was stunned. Especially because we had five or six injured players, guys who normally would have played,” Lars says, referring to the Rams’ famous 2:1 victory in the 1998-1999 campaign.

”That was one of the heights in my entire career. But, of course, nothing beats the World Cup in 1994 where I played all of Norway’s three matches. I was only 24 years old and had the time of my life,” says Lars, born in Vadsø, Norway on the 9th of September 1969. ”For a young man it was almost overwhelming...”

Going home

”When I left Derby I played for the Danish sides Lyngby and Farum. But I was injured too often to really get it going again and I guess I was homeward bound as well. I was sort of fed up with living abroad. Before going to England I had played for the Swiss side Young Boys Bern for almost three years so I was looking forward to going home. When I got the chance I joined Vålerenge where I retired as a footballer. Since then I have worked as a Director, first at Vålerenge and now at Stabæk,” Lars says, wrapping up time since he left the Rams.

He earned 49 caps and scored 10 goals for Norway. Though being an important player for the Norwegians for a decade his most famous international may very well be one he didn’t play! He once refused to play for Norway in an international against France. It was Lars’ way of protesting against the French carrying out nuclear tests in the South Pacific.

He has never been afraid to speak his mind. Nowadays, where most players don’t say anything (though speaking) or aren’t allowed to give interviews to supporters’ sites (e.g. everyone involved with the Rams!) a player like Lars is truly missed.

And when I thank him for taking time out of his busy schedule for this interview he answers, ”anytime! I know it’s hard to support the Rams these days but the best is yet to come.” Well, Mr. Bohinen, we all hope you are a gifted fortune teller!