His name is Tom Arne Lund – and to this day is still just called Tommy in Romerike, where he lives – and has always lived. The latter is a not unimportant point here. In a few days he will turn 72. Most of them he has kept away from the public. Nevertheless, many believe that he is the Norwegian footballer of all time. That combination would never be possible today. Erling Braut Haaland is around 50 years younger than Tom Lund. At 21 years old, he is already a phenomenon. On the football pitch, but also in the media. Well, Haaland still has less than 5 percent of Cristiano Ronaldo’s followers on Instagram. But those curves are going to cross each other sooner than anyone realizes. Because no player in the entire world attracts more attention as of September 1, 2022, than a Roglander working in Manchester. Something like this has never happened before. Brilliant on the pitch, cloud off it In 2022, no footballers are stars only on the pitch. Erling Braut Haaland is not a phenomenon without it also appearing in his social media accounts. Something like this was never relevant for Tom Lund. Or is. Without checking, I would be surprised if Tom Lund even has a Facebook profile. For Lillestrøm’s great hero, who has long since been immortalized on a statue outside Åråsen, is as public cloud as he was brilliant in his active career. LUND: Homegrown football genius who refused to take over from Johan Cruijff in the world’s best football club Photo: SCANPIX / NTB Only on very rare occasions does he allow himself to be interviewed by the local newspaper or the club’s own media channels. Instead, he has spent his time selling sportswear or training talented trotting horses. I still venture the claim that none of the many horses he has been a breeder for have had Tommy’s steps. Then they would have won the big races that are to be won. Because where Erling Braut Haaland moves with a brutal explosiveness, Tom Lund reminded more of a ballroom dancer in his moves forward. Tom Lund had a powerful elegance which he combined with sublime timing and ball control. A timing and speed in the dribbling that Norway has never seen before. A talent the nation never saw its equal in the 20th century, no matter what people say in Bodø, Bergen or Trondheim. Didn’t want to take over from Cruijff But Tom Lund had a quality that will forever make him a mixture of a myth and a tale of unfulfilled potential. He had a fear of flying. It may make you a queen, but it doesn’t make you a world soccer star. Tom Lund was the player who was earmarked to take over for superstar Johan Cruijff at Ajax, which at the time was the world’s best team, when Cruijff went to Barcelona. But Tommy from Lillestrøm said no and instead chose to make the parent club the best in Norway, which would never have happened without his enormous presence. Tom Lund was the genius behind what is still one of Norway’s most legendary matches, namely the victory over England at Ullevaal in 1981. But Tommy never wanted to go to England. Or the Netherlands. And drove the car all the way when he played away international matches or the European Cup with his beloved Lillestrøm. Brilliant naturalness HAALAND: The football genius who is breaking records in the world’s best league Photo: CRAIG BROUGH / Reuters Tom Lund retired at 32. And as a myth. You can scour the internet or news’s archives and find clips of a player doing things with the ball that no one else was close to. Like scored goals from angles no one else could think of. A bit like Erling Braut Haaland is doing today. In a completely different way. But with the naturalness that only the most brilliant in the art of football can do. Norske Haaland is currently the greatest of his time, as another former striker, Jan Åge Fjørtoft, puts it. Tom Lund never gave himself the opportunity to get there. But one of the most analog football legends of all time lives on in the cyber discussions. Where we can still say something about who was actually the best. There you can also discuss Erling Braut Haaland’s choice of private jet. Exactly that would never have happened to Tom Arne Lund from Lillestrøm anyway.
ttn-69
Biggest in its time – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
