New year, new look for clubs
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Article summary
Monthly review: Denmark's winter calm has been broken by a surprise sacking and a long-expected transfer.
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By Peter Bruun
The traditional calm of the Danish winter break was interrupted this year by the dismissal of FC Nordsjælland coach Christian Andersen and the news that FC Midtjylland had finally agreed terms over the departure of Egyptian prodigy Mohamed Zidan.
Andersen sacked
Though less dramatic than Stig Tøfting's sacking by AGF Århus in December for an altercation with a team-mate, Andersen's exit also came out of the blue. Nordsjælland might have been scrapping it out at the wrong end of the Superleague, but Andersen would still have expected to see out the season when he accepted the offer of a new deal - for an unspecified period - at the end of November.
'That's life'
As it turned out, however, the 60-year-old did not see out the year. "That's life as a coach," said Andersen, who has been replaced by Johnny Petersen, one-time coach of another struggling club, Herfølge BK.
Zidan joins Bremen
The chase for Zidan intensified as 2004 drew to a close and finally climaxed in the first week of 2005. Several leading European teams had expressed an interest in the skilful striker, but none was willing to meet the Wolves' demands for the 23-year-old, who eventually signed for German champions Werder Bremen on loan until the end of the season. Come the summer, Bremen will have the option of buying the player, who set the Superleague alight with eleven goals this term, for a fee close to €3m.
Defensive boost
A number of clubs have used the winter break to strengthen their defences with reinforcements from abroad. Fourth-placed Odense BK landed Alexander Aas from Odd Grenland, while Aalborg BK replaced Bård Borgersen with 27-year-old Canadian defender Marco Reda, who joined from another Norwegian side, Sogndal IL, on a free transfer.
Rasmussen returns
Former Brøndby IF defender Kenneth Rasmussen, who spent the past two and a half years in Sweden with Helsingborgs IF, crossed the Øresund once again to return to the Copenhagen area - this time to try and lift Nordsjælland out of the relegation zone.