Trond Egil Soltvedt

Trond Egil Soltvedt
Personal information
Full name Trond Egil Soltvedt
Date of birth (1967-02-15) 15 February 1967
Place of birth Voss, Norway
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position Midfielder
Youth career
1985–1986 Ny-Krohnborg
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1992 Viking 65 (10)
1992–1995 Brann 64 (34)
1995–1997 Rosenborg 60 (18)
1997–1999 Coventry City 57 (3)
1999–2001 Southampton 30 (2)
2001–2003 Sheffield Wednesday 74 (2)
National team
1997–1998 Norway 2 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Trond Egil Soltvedt (born 15 February 1967) is a Norwegian former footballer who played as a midfielder. After playing for Viking, Brann and Rosenborg in Norway, he played in England with Coventry, Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday before he retired. Soltvedt was capped twice playing for Norway.

Playing career

Norway

Soltvedt started his professional career at Viking in Stavanger in 1987 and was a member of the team who won the Norwegian Cup in 1989 and the Tippeligaen in its inaugural year, 1991.

In 1992 he joined mid-table club Brann. At the end of his first season he was voted the club's "most popular" player. During his time at Brann, the club finished each season in 6th or 7th place in the league. His extremely dedicated style, his innocent and somewhat naïve personality and the fact that many of his goals were scored as a midfielder made him immensely popular. Just before the start of the 1995 season, however, he was sacked by Brann's board for "illoyality", the board refusing to elaborate on this. This prompted a demonstration from fans supporting Soltvedt.[1]

After three seasons at Brann, he moved to Rosenborg where he was able to share in more success, claiming the Tippeligaen championship in 1995 and 1996 as well as winning the Norwegian Cup in 1995.

England

His success in Norway brought him to the attention of English clubs and after an unsuccessful trial at Stoke City, Gordon Strachan signed him for Coventry City for a fee of £500,000 in July 1997.

After two seasons at Coventry City, he was then signed by Southampton under Dave Jones in August 1999 for £300,000. He was a "tall, elegant midfielder who added an air of calm authority whenever he played".[2] He made his Saints debut as a substitute in a 4-2 victory over Newcastle United on 15 August 1999, helping to set up Mark Hughes for the final goal. He made a total of 24 appearances in the 1999-2000 season, playing in midfield alongside Matthew Le Tissier and Marians Pahars as Saints struggled both in defence and in attack, finishing in the lower half of the table. Soltvedt missed a large part of the last few months of the season with persistent groin problems.

By now Dave Jones had been replaced by Glenn Hoddle who never gave Soltvedt a chance to make an impression and soon shipped him out to Sheffield Wednesday, initially on loan before making the transfer permanent in March 2001 for an appearance-based fee which had the potential to rise as high as £200,000.[3]

He remained at Sheffield Wednesday for three seasons, being appointed team captain. Unfortunately, he was unable to prevent Wednesday being relegated at the end of the 2002-03 season, when he was released, returning to Norway to play in the lower leagues.

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (2003). In That Number - A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. Hagiology Publishing. ISBN 0-9534474-3-X.
  3. ↑ "Saints duo wing way to Owls". BBC News. 22 March 2001. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
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