Tore André Flo

Tore André Flo
Personal information
Full name	Tore André Flo
Date of birth	15 June 1973 (1973-06-15) (age 37)
Place of birth	Stryn, Norway
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position	Forward
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1993–1994 1994–1995 1996–1997 1997–2000 2000–2002 2002–2003 2003–2005 2005–2006 2006–2008 2008–2009	Sogndal Tromsø Brann Chelsea Rangers Sunderland Siena Vålerenga Leeds United Milton Keynes Dons	044 (21) 026 (18) 040 (28) 149 (50) 072 (38) 029 0(4) 063 (13) 024 0(4) 023 0(4) 013 0(0)
National team2
1995–2004	Norway	076 (23)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:48, 26 April 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 12 March 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Tore André Flo (born 15 June 1973) is a Norwegian former football striker, who retired after being released by the Milton Keynes Dons in 2009. His brothers Jostein Flo and Jarle Flo, and cousin Håvard Flo are also professional footballers. Tore André Flo is from the village of Flo in the municipality of Stryn in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. He has participated in the Norwegian version of Dancing with the Stars, finishing second after Lene Alexandra Øien on November 2008.

He was considered to be a free scoring striker, with excellent control and finishing abilities despite his large height. At points in his career, he was described as a 'super sub' due to his habit of scoring vital goals after coming off the bench.

Club career

Sogndal

Flo started his career with his local amateur club Stryn. In 1993, he moved to Sogndal, playing with his brothers Jostein and Jarle. When Sogndal was relegated from Tippeligaen in 1994, Flo was transferred to Tromsø.

Tromsø

In Tromsø, Flo became a success: he scored 18 goals in the 1995-season, and was the club's top goalscorer. His performances in that season culminated in Flo making his debut for the Norwegian national team.

Brann

Flo moved to Bergen in 1996 to play for Brann. He continued to play well, and scored 28 goals during his stay there. During his years in Brann, Flo arguably became one of Norway's best attackers.

In the first half of the 1997 season, however, he was not considered a great success by most of the Brann fans, perhaps because his mind was already in Chelsea, which he signed for under disputed circumstances. He did, however, score a hat-trick in his last game for Brann before leaving for Chelsea.

Chelsea

Flo was bought for the relatively small fee of £300,000 by the English Premier League team Chelsea in the summer of 1997. Flo would have become a Bosman player at the end of the year, which influenced the small transfer fee. Everton had made a bid of around tenfold, but then Everton manager Joe Royle fell out with his boardroom over the proposed transfer and shortly afterwards resigned. Also, the leaders of economically struggling Brann claimed to have a gentlemen's agreement with Flo that he should not exploit his Bosman status in a transfer, although it is rare that exploiting one's Bosman status in this manner raises controversy in more recent times.

Flo made his debut for Chelsea against Coventry City, and scored in a 3-2 loss for his side. He scored 15 goals in his debut season for Chelsea, including a hat-trick in a 6-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane and two in a 6-2 win over Crystal Palace as Chelsea finished 4th in the FA Premier League and won the League Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup. Flo made a particularly important contribution in the latter tournament, hitting two away goals against Real Betis in the quarter-finals.

A year later, as Chelsea challenged for the title, Flo hit ten league goals, but constantly found his playing opportunities limited by manager Gianluca Vialli's squad rotation policy and the signing of Italian striker Pierluigi Casiraghi. The Blues eventually finished 3rd, high enough for their first ever UEFA Champions League qualification. Flo scored 19 goals in the 1999-00 season, making him Chelsea's top scorer and helping the club win the FA Cup and reach the Champions League quarter-finals, where he scored twice in a 3-1 win over Barcelona at Stamford Bridge. He scored another at the Camp Nou in the return game against Barca, though the team ultimately lost 5-1 (it was 3-1 at full time, with Chelsea conceding 2 goals in overtime). By the start of the 2000-01 season, Chelsea had signed strikers Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eiður Guðjohnsen, again forcing Flo onto the substitutes' bench, and he requested a move away. He made 163 appearances for Chelsea (69 of which were as a substitute) and scored 50 goals.

Rangers

In November 2000 Flo was sold to Scottish Premier League team Rangers, in a record £12 million deal, making Flo the most expensive Norwegian player ever, the most expensive SPL signing ever and Chelsea's most expensive sale^[1] before the sale of Arjen Robben in 2007.

Flo scored on his debut in a 5-1 thrashing of Rangers' arch rival Celtic, and hit 18 goals in 30 SPL games. His second season at Rangers was considered his best in Scotland, scoring 22 goals in 42 games, including the opening goal in the 2002 League Cup final win over Ayr United. In general Flo was not considered a success in Scotland mainly due to the high price tag.

Sunderland

He was sold to Sunderland on transfer deadline day at the beginning of the 2002-03 season. Flo's arrival was announced alongside fellow striker Marcus Stewart, and the total cost of the transfers were declared as £10m. The individual prices were not made clear by Sunderland, although a figure of £8.2 million for Flo was widely quoted by the media^[2]. Sunderland have sinced confirmed that he was bought for £6.75 million,^[3] making him Sunderland's second most expensive purchase. Sunderland's manager Peter Reid had been under-fire throughout pre-season for his failure to buy a big-name striker to replace Niall Quinn. The relatively high price-tag for a player who was struggling in Scotland, and the late hour of his signing led many fans^[4], and pundits including former legend Jimmy Montgomery ^[5] to believe that Flo was a deadline-day panic buy. Once again he scored in his debut match, a 1-1 draw with Manchester United.

It was clear by Sunderland's tactics that Reid expected Flo to slot into the role of veteran Niall Quinn (who retired from playing in November) as a tall target-man for long-balls. It was not a role he was comfortable with, and he struggled to form a partnership with fellow striker Kevin Phillips. When Reid was sacked in October and replaced by Howard Wilkinson, Flo immediately fell out of favour - failing to make the bench for Wilkinson's first game - as Wilkinson publicly called into question the Norwegian's fitness^[6]. Flo managed to work his way back into the first-team until Wilkinson's dismissal in March. His successor, Mick McCarthy failed to give Flo 90 minutes of football in any of the remaining nine games of the season.

In 33 appearances for Sunderland Flo scored only 6 goals (4 of them in the Premiership) completing only 11 of the 23 league games he started. Sunderland were relegated to Division One, and with massive debts were forced to sell or release most players on high wages. Flo played one League Cup game in the 2003-04, but in the autumn of 2003 he was given a free transfer.

Siena

Flo then tried his luck in Italy, joining newly-promoted Serie A team Siena in 2003. Flo played for Siena for two seasons, becoming a success in Italian football and helping the club establish themselves in the top division for the first time. He was ever-present and scored eight goals in 2003/04. He scored five goals from 17 starts, and made 5 appearances as substitute in 2004/5.

Vålerenga

Flo's wife and children found it difficult living in Southern Europe, and wanted him to return to the United Kingdom. Flo was close to signing for QPR, but decided to go back to Norway.

Flo signed for the ambitious club Vålerenga from Oslo in July 2005. He was contracted to the club until the end of the 2006 season. His stay at Vålerenga was hampered by numerous injuries that prevented him of making a serious impact. Vålerenga did not offer him a new contract at the end of the season, leaving Flo free to sign with other clubs.

Leeds United

3 January 2007, Leeds United confirmed their signing of Flo, with a contract lasting till the end of the 2006-07 Championship season. The contract had the option of extending further into the future. He will be paid £6,000 per week, with a £1,000 bonus for every goal scored^[7]. It was manager Dennis Wise that was one of the main influences of attracting Flo to Leeds United as they were once team mates at Chelsea. Flo made his away début as a substitute for the Yorkshire outfit in Leeds' 3-1 defeat to West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup. A week later Flo scored his first goal for Leeds against the same opposition after 8 minutes with a towering header in a league match which ended in a 3-2 defeat. Subsequent injury prevented Flo from playing any significant part during the rest of the season. Flo was believed to be set to leave Leeds due to a clause in his contract^[8], but Leeds signed Flo with an initial one year contract to help their 2007-08 League One campaign. He only managed to score a disappointing 3 times in the League during the season(2007-2008) all in sub appearances.^[9] Flo was sponsored by famous Leeds fans, the Kaiser Chiefs. Flo had previously admitted that Leeds would probably be his last club before retirement. He turned into somewhat of a fans favourite without playing that much for Leeds.^[10]

11 March 2008, Flo announced his retirement from football.^[11]

Milton Keynes Dons

19 November 2008, MK News reported that Flo was in talks with Milton Keynes Dons over a possible comeback, which would reunite him with former Chelsea team-mate Roberto Di Matteo.^[12] This was confirmed by the club the following day, and on 21 November the club announced that Flo had signed a contract as a player until the end of the season.^[13] He played his first match for MK Dons coming on as a sub against Scunthorpe on 6 December 2008. He didn't start a match until the 3rd last game of the season against Walsall. Flo also had the misfortune of missing the ninth penalty in a tense shoot-out against Scunthorpe United which prevented the MK Dons from reaching the 2009 League one play-off final at Wembley.^[14]

On the 19th of May 2009, Flo was released from his contract with the Milton Keynes Dons.^[15]

International career

Flo made 76 appearances for the Norwegian national team and made his debut in a 0-0 draw with England. He scored 23 goals, making him Norway's joint-4th highest goalscorer, along with Ole Gunnar Solskjær^[16]. He gained the nickname Flonaldo (an obvious pun on Ronaldo, one of the world's best strikers) when Norway beat Brazil 4-2 in a friendly match^[17]. Flo played for Norway at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, scoring a goal in a 2-1 win over holders Brazil as they reached the second round. Flo chose to retire from international football in 2004, deciding to prioritise his family.

Career statistics

Playing Honours

Brann

• Tippeligaen: (Runner-Up): 1997

Chelsea

• FA Cup: 2000
• FA Charity Shield: 2000
• Football League Cup: 1998
• UEFA Super Cup: 1998
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1998

Rangers

• Scottish Cup: 2002
• Scottish League Cup: 2002

Leeds

• League One: (Play-Off Runners-Up): 2008

References

1. ↑ "Flo goes to Rangers". BBC. 2000-11-23. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/football/1033258.stm. Retrieved 2007-01-04. 
2. ↑ Guy Hodgson (2002-09-01). "Keane faces wrath of FA". The Independent. http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/premiership/article175449.ece. Retrieved 2007-01-04. 
3. ↑ "Past Players (D-G)". safc.com. http://www.safc.com/history/?page_id=6527. Retrieved 2007-01-04. 
4. ↑ "Road to Perdition". A Love Supreme SAFC fanzine. http://www.a-love-supreme.com/S%20and%20C%20archive/S&Carchive033.htm. Retrieved 2007-01-04. 
5. ↑ "McCarthy confident despite relegation". RTÉ Sport. 2003-04-14. http://www.rte.ie/sport/2003/0414/sunderland.html. Retrieved 2007-01-07. 
6. ↑ "Wilkinson warns Flo". BBC Sport. 2002-10-20. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/2344083.stm. Retrieved 2007-01-04. 
7. ↑ Andy Bull (2007-01-03). "Wednesday's rumours". The Guardian. http://football.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329675019-108972,00.html. Retrieved 2007-01-04. 
8. ↑ Kent Hedlundh (2007-05-01). "Flo set for Leeds exit". Sky Sports. http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=464328&plid=1697&clid=2&cpid=10. Retrieved 2007-06-22. 
9. ↑ Mark Buckingham (2007-06-10). "Whites plan to keep Flo". Sky Sports. http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=471145&plid=1697&clid=2&cpid=11. Retrieved 2007-06-22. 
10. ↑ Mark Buckingham (2007-08-20). "Flo out to repay Leeds". Sky Sports. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11715_2672116,00.html. Retrieved 2007-08-20. 
11. ↑ "- Det føles veldig riktig å gi seg nå". Dagbladet. 2008-03-11. http://www.dagbladet.no/sport/2008/03/11/529445.html. Retrieved 2008-03-12. 
12. ↑ "Dons set to go with Flo". MK News. 2008-11-19. http://www.mk-news.co.uk/mknews/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=367522. Retrieved 2008-11-19. 
13. ↑ "Flo agrees Dons deal". Milton Keynes Dons Official Site. 2008-11-21. http://www.mkdons.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,10420~1462157,00.html. Retrieved 2008-11-21. 
14. ↑ "MK Dons 0-0 Scunthorpe (agg 1-1)". BBC Sport. 2008-05-15. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/8038237.stm. Retrieved 2008-05-15. 
15. ↑ James Chard (2009-05-19). "Six players go in Dons clear-out". MK Citizen. http://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/sport/Six-players-go-in-Dons.5281078.jp. Retrieved 2009-05-29. 
16. ↑ "Norway - Record International Players". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/noo-recintlp.html. Retrieved 2007-01-04. 
17. ↑ Christopher Davies (1998-06-25). "Lone striker Flo earns praise for eclipsing Ronaldo". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1998/06/25/swnflo25.html. Retrieved 2007-01-04. 

External links

• Tore André Flo player profile at mkdons.com
• Tore André Flo career stats at Soccerbase
• Soccerway profile

Norway squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Grodås • 2 Halle • 3 Johnsen • 4 Berg • 5 Bjørnebye • 6 Solbakken • 7 Mykland • 8 Leonhardsen • 9 T. Flo • 10 Rekdal • 11 Jakobsen • 12 Myhre • 13 Baardsen • 14 Heggem • 15 Eggen • 16 J. Flo • 17 H. Flo • 18 Østenstad • 19 Hoftun • 20 Solskjær • 21 Riseth • 22 Strand • Coach: Olsen

Norway squad – UEFA Euro 2000 1 Myhre • 2 Bergdølmo • 3 Bragstad • 4 Berg • 5 Andersen • 6 Strand • 7 Mykland • 8 Solbakken • 9 T. Flo • 10 Rekdal • 11 Skammelsrud • 12 Olsen • 13 M. Bakke • 14 Heggem • 15 Riise • 16 Eggen • 17 Carew • 18 Iversen • 19 E. Bakke • 20 Solskjær • 21 Riseth • 22 Bjørnebye • Coach: Semb