It is a fairly common occurrence in the cosmopolitan world of modern football for managers to accumulate a number of players of the same nationality.
Having familiar voices in the dressing room can be a big help in helping the settling-in and integration process while also aiding on-pitch understanding, the great AC Milan and Inter Milan sides of the late 1980s which featured stellar trios from Holland (Gullet, Van Basten and Rijkaard) and Germany (Matthaus, Klinsmann and Brehme) respectively being a prime example.
Jurgen Klopp during his seven years at Liverpool may so far have only brought in one player - goalkeeper Loris Karius - from his native Germany having inherited Emre Can but his overseas predecessors in the Anfield hotseat, Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez, both regularly tapped up contacts in their home countries to sign players throughout their time in charge.
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Roy Evans may have hailed from Bootle but the Boot Room boy proved partial to players from Norway, bringing in Bjorn Tore Kvarme and Oyvind Leonhardsen during his time in sole charge of the Reds to accompany Stig-Inge Bjornebye who had been signed by Graeme Souness. In the early years of the Premier League era as the proportion of foreign players particularly in the aftermath of the 1995 Bosman ruling began to increase, there was a sense amongst some that players from Northern Europe may be better suited both in ability and temperament to adapt to the English game than their Latin counterparts.
The steady and somewhat prosaic nature of Liverpool’s first three Norwegians fitted into that stereotype but the next one - the first, and it was would turn out, last - signing of Evans’s brief and ill-fated joint-manager partnership with Gerard Houllier could have hailed from South America given his liking of a dribble and briefly dazzled the Kop before injuries sadly cut his football career short.
Trondheim-born Vegard Heggem began his career with Rennebu and Orkdal before moving to Norway’s biggest club Rosenborg BK and helping them win three league titles and a domestic cup, springing to prominence in December 1996 when he scored a famous winning goal in the San Siro which knocked AC Milan out of the Champions League and sent the Norwegians through to the knock-out stages for the first time, an achievement labelled Mirakelet på San Siro (the miracle at San Siro) and still regarded as one of the finest moments in the small Scandinavian country’s football history.
The attacking right-back’s prowess saw him drafted into Norway’s World Cup squad for the 1998 final in France and, while a groin injury prevented him getting off the bench as they reached the last 16 before losing narrowly to Italy, the 23-year-old’s progress had alerted Liverpool’s attention. The rich promise Roy Evans’s side had been showing in the mid-part of the decade - when the Reds’ attacking armoury featuring the likes of Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman and Stan Collymore had briefly threatened to challenge Manchester United’s dominance of the early Premier League years - had begun to fade and, following a distant third place finish to Double winners Arsenal in 1997/98, the man credited with having a huge influence in France’s World Cup triumph on home soil - technical director Gerard Houllier, a Liverpool fan who had spent time on Merseyside as a teaching assistant in Alsop High School in Walton during the late 1960s - was brought in to work alongside Evans in a surprising and unconventional joint-manager role.
The Reds’ only summer acquisitions so far had been South African-born forward Sean Dundee who had joined from Karlsuher for £2m and 29-year-old Irish left back Steve Staunton who returned for a second spell at Anfield on a free transfer from Aston Villa. Shortly after Houllier’s unveiling only days after France’s triumph over Brazil in Paris, Heggem became the new managerial pair’s first joint-purchase for £3.5m with Evans speaking about how they were hoping 23-year-old’s experience - which had already seen him play 20 times in the Champions League - would be a useful asset for the new team they were trying to build.
"He is good at delivering quality balls into the box and that is something we are looking for”, Evans admitted. “We want good deliveries because, with players like Karl-Heinz Riedle and Sean Dundee, it will add another aspect to our game." For Heggem, having three fellow Norwegians at the club was an additional bonus to his move into the big time while the new coaching set-up held no fears for him. “It was unusual”, he admitted, “but for me the most important thing was that both of them were eager for me to sign. And having other Norwegians already at the club didn’t make any difference. I would of course have signed for LFC even if I was to be the only player from Norway or Scandinavia.“
The new boy was put straight into the starting line-up as the new Anfield era began with a 2-1 victory away to Southampton and kept his place for the first seven games of the campaign as three wins and a draw against the champions Arsenal in the opening four games briefly put Liverpool top of the table. Heggem was left out following a 3-3 draw at home to newly-promoted Charlton Athletic but regained his place soon after and became a regular fixture on the right flank for much of the campaign which soon tailed off for the Reds after such a bright start.
The inevitable difficulties within a joint-manager partnership soon reared their head and, despite recording one of Liverpool’s best results in Europe since their return to continental competition when knocking Valencia out of the UEFA Cup, successive home defeats to Derby County and Tottenham in the League Cup saw Evans depart in mid-November after 35 years of sterling service with Houllier taking sole charge. The Frenchman’s reign saw its first Anfield win over Blackburn Rovers at the end of the month and featured a moment of great historical significance with 18-year-old midfielder Steven Gerrard making his senior debut as a late substitute, Heggem being the man the youngster who would go on to become one of the Reds’ greatest ever players replaced.
“It’s funny to think that’s where it all began for Steven,” Heggem told the ECHO years later. “I just remember how shy and skinny he was back then. I was surprised how quickly he went from his first session at Melwood to making his debut at Anfield. It was a really short period. There was a buzz when he came on as it was a great boost for the fans to see another local boy coming through. It had a really positive influence on the whole club. Houllier had been monitoring him at the Academy and could see the potential there. He believed he could make the step up and his judgement was certainly proved right. I hadn’t heard much about Steven before Houllier promoted him to the first-team squad. After he arrived he made himself well known with his influence on the training pitch.
“When I first saw him he was so skinny I didn’t expect much but that went out of the window when he started training with us. He never held back at all. I think the senior players soon realised we had a real talent here. I was surprised he was so physical. Back then he lacked a bit of muscle but he would still go flying in and was fiercely committed. He was so focused, so desperate to succeed. He was fearless and he had the attitude a young player needs to go with his talent. Everyone talks about his passing and shooting abilities but his speed was also a big asset. I remember we did some speed tests and he was the quickest out of all of us. Having such quick feet helped him a lot as he could get himself into great positions to intercept the ball. It’s been a great achievement by Steven to stay at the top level for so long and his record speaks for itself.”
Three successive defeats after the Blackburn victory, including a UEFA Cup exit to Spanish side Celta Vigo, dropped the Reds to 12th in the Premier League and highlighted the challenges facing the new manager both on and off the field, with tabloid revelations soon emerging about goings-on at the team’s boozy Christmas party where some naked Liverpool players were reportedly seen cavorting with strippers which drew a scathing reaction from Heggem who went to the press to make clear he had had nothing to do with such antics.
“I have to be very careful about what I say but this would never have happened during a Christmas party at a Norwegian club”, he said. "I have spoken to other Norwegian players at Liverpool and we are all agreed that we want to have no part in any of this. We want to make it clear to everybody that none of us has anything to be ashamed of. I'm very angry that my name should be linked with the disgraceful goings-on at this party and I want to make it perfectly plain that in no way do I condone anything that went on during the party."
The incident came during a run of four wins and a draw at Arsenal either side of new year with Heggem playing an increasingly influential role and scoring a memorable first goal for his new club at Middlesborough on Boxing Day. Bryan Robson’s side were enjoying a 14-month unbeaten league run in their Riverside Stadium and the newly-promoted Teessider’s were desperately trying to salvage that record - trailing 2-1 to goals from Michael Owen and Jamie Redknapp - when with only two minutes remaining, Liverpool’s rampaging Norwegian sealed only the Reds’ fourth away win of the campaign with a stunning solo strike. “Heggem skipped in from the right past four defenders”, the Guardian reported, “exploiting dummy runs, and nonchalantly flicked in the third goal with his right foot. It was the sort of goal McManaman should score regularly.
Two days later Ruud Gullit’s Newcastle United were on Merseyside for a Bank Holiday festive fixture with the previous two Anfield meetings having ended in epic 4-3 home wins and a repeat almost ensued. Despite losing future Reds midfielder Dietmar Hamann to two yellow cards after half an hour, the Geordies took a two-goal lead early in the second half before Liverpool came roaring back with four goals in the final quarter with Heggem - pushed forward onto the right wing to take advantage of the extra man - creating the equaliser for Karl-Heinz Riedle and tearing the visitors to shreds. “Houllier found extra attacking verve in Vegard Heggem”, the Independent reported. “The Norwegian was freed from his defensive responsibilities by the introduction of Jason McAteer and ripped Newcastle apart on the right flank.”
A 7-1 Anfield victory over Southampton in mid-January lifted Houllier’s men up to sixth in the table to prompt optimistic talk of a push for Champions League qualification as well as sending the Reds into the following weekend’s FA Cup fourth round clash at Manchester United in good heart. Heggem again showed what an asset his crossing from the right flank was becoming for the team by centring for Michael Owen to head Liverpool in front after only three minutes and the visitors led for virtually the entire match before an 88th minute Dwight Yorke leveller and stoppage time Ole Gunnar Solskjaer winner sent Alex Ferguson’s men through.
It had a devastating effect on the Reds’ confidence and season, with only two more victories recorded over the next three months before a late flurry salvaged a seventh place finish. The first of those wins came in early February in the return match with Middlesborough and saw Heggem score his second Liverpool goal, a superbly-improvised cushioned right-foot volley, but in the second of them a month later - the Merseyside derby remembered for Robbie Fowler’s controversial goal-line celebration - he was the victim of a late tackle by Everton debutant Kevin Campbell which damaged his ankle and ruled him out for a month, only returning in time to play the final few minutes of the last-day home victory over Wimbledon.
The Norwegian began Houllier’s first full campaign in charge in the team but a series of hamstring injuries, coupled with new signings Sami Hyypia and Stephane Henchoz establishing themselves as the Frenchman’s regular centre-back pairing with Jamie Carragher often shifted to right-back, saw Heggem only able to manage 11 starts in all competitions. He did get a third Liverpool goal, another jinking solo effort remarkably similar to his maiden one at Middlesborough moments after coming on as a substitute in a 3-1 Anfield win over Bradford City, proudly recalling, “I remember all of my three goals very well, the one against Bradford being special as it was in front of the Kop. It was a good break by myself and Vladimir Smicer. I was keen to improve having come off the bench, and fancied my chances to go all the way when I received the ball from Vladi in the box. A good memory!“
But his hamstring problems persisted and, with German international Markus Babbel arriving in the summer of 2000 on a free transfer from Bayern Munich to make the right-back spot his own, Heggem played only four times in the Houllier’s hallowed Treble cup-winning season, the Norwegian’s six minute appearance in a 4-0 win at Derby County proving to be 65th and final of his brief Liverpool career. There were a serious of abortive comebacks in the Reds reserves but an Achilles tendon problem added further complications and in March 2003 Heggem revealed his career might be over with Houllier sympathetically commenting, "I'm not sure if Vegard will be able to play top-class football again. I feel very sorry for him. He was my first signing for Liverpool when I was joint-manager with Roy Evans. He had the potential to be a very good player and he is a particularly nice guy.”
The Norwegian did indeed retire from football that summer at the age of only 27 but has since gone on to run a highly-successful salmon fishing business in Norway which helped him come to terms with the premature end to his playing days and he remains a proud Liverpool supporter, grateful to have the chance to play however briefly at Anfield.
“When I moved away to play football, I started to think about what to do when my playing days were over”, he told LFC TV. “I’ve got a passion for fishing, in particular salmon fishing, so the idea of opening a fishing lodge seemed like a great idea. I can’t imagine a better job now than being host for fishermen from all over the world that come here to hunt for Atlantic salmon. I thoroughly enjoy my present role as merely a Liverpool supporter and spectator. I am truly grateful for the five years I got to spend at the club and in the city and will always enjoy travelling back to watch the Reds play at Anfield and to visit the city.
“Playing for Liverpool was a fantastic era for me and a proud memory. I quickly came to terms that a new era started for me when I hung up my boots. There wasn’t much I could have done differently. I was really unlucky with injuries. I did my very best to get back playing, I thought the club did everything they could to get me fit. But rather than be bitter or regretful about the games I didn’t play, I’d rather appreciate those games that I did play. I’ve scored in front of the Kop, what more can you really ask for?”
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