Pål Lydersen (born 10 September 1965) is a Norwegian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Background

Lydersen played for

IK Start Idrettsklubben Start (or simply IK Start) is a Norwegian Association football, football club from the city of Kristiansand that currently plays in the Norwegian First Division, the second tier of the Norwegian football league system. The club was ...

, until he was signed by English club

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in November 1991 for a £500.000 fee. He spent the first three months in the reserves, and made his league debut as a substitute in a 3-1 win over

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

28 March 1992 at

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst, in the London Borough of Croydon, England, which is the home ground of Premier League club Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted interna ...

. Then he showed his versatility by appearing at left-back, right-back, in the centre of midfield, and as a sweeper, though he's made most of his first team appearances at right-back. However, he was unable to oust first-team regulars

Lee Dixon Lee Michael Dixon (born 17 March 1964) is an English pundit and retired professional footballer who played as a right-back. Dixon was also capped 22 times for England. His father Roy was a goalkeeper with Manchester City and many of Dixon's f ...

and

Nigel Winterburn Nigel Winterburn (born 11 December 1963) is an English former professional footballer who made 687 appearances in the Football League and Premier League. He was capped twice by England, in 1989 and 1993. Winterburn played primarily as a left ba ...

, and played only 16 games in all competitions during his time at the club. His last start in

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

was against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

11 May 1993. In February 1994, Lydersen went on loan to his old club IK Start for the

1994 Tippeligaen The 1994 Tippeligaen was the 50th completed season of top division football in Norway. Each team played 22 games with 3 points given for wins and 1 for draws. This year was the last consisting of 12 teams. The format was expanded to 14 teams the ...

season and the move was made permanent when his contract was terminated by Arsenal in March 1995. On 21 February 1995, Arsenal’s manager

George Graham George Graham (born 30 November 1944) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Nicknamed "Stroller", he made 455 appearances in England's Football League as a midfielder or forward for Aston Villa, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester Unite ...

, had lost his job after a Premier League inquiry found he had accepted an illegal £425,000 payment from Norwegian agent Rune Hauge following Arsenal’s recruiting of Lydersen and

John Jensen John Jensen (; born 3 May 1965), nicknamed Faxe (), is a Danish professional football manager and former player. A former midfielder, his playing career lasted almost two entire decades, including a stint with Arsenal in England and three stin ...

, two of Hauge’s clients. Lydersen went on to play for

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian professional association football club, based in Graz, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austr ...

in Austria and then onto

Molde Molde () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the seat of Molde Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Pen ...

, before retiring at the end of the

1999 Tippeligaen The 1999 Tippeligaen was the 55th completed season of top division football in Norway. Each team played 26 games with 3 points given for wins and 1 for draws. Number thirteen and fourteen are relegated, number twelve had to play two qualifica ...

season. He also won 20 caps for

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, scoring one goal.

Honours

Kniksen award The Kniksen Award (), established in 1990, honors the best players in the Norwegian football premiership. The award is named after the legendary Norwegian football player Roald Jensen, nicknamed "Kniksen". Categories Category A A jury comp ...

as Defender of the year: 1994

References

1965 births Living people Footballers from Kristiansand Norwegian men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Norway men's international footballers IK Start players Arsenal F.C. players Molde FK players SK Sturm Graz players Kniksen Award winners Eliteserien players Premier League players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria 20th-century Norwegian sportsmen {{norway-footy-defender-stub