Former Celtic defender, Vidar Riseth, has told the Bropod podcast that he was put off playing football in Britain due to the drinking culture and lack of professionalism that he witnessed during his spell with Luton Town in the mid 90s.
Riseth arrived at Luton from Rosenborg, where things were much more regimented. In an interview with the podcast, he recalls the horror he witnessed after winning on the road with his new London club:
“I had played for Rosenborg, who are such a professional club, and when I went to Luton I thought they would be professional too. But there was a different culture. For example, we won an away game on Saturday and took the bus back to Luton and the players would drink and drink and drink. They wanted to party and the coach would just say ‘it’s no problem. Some of the players would not even go home – they would just go straight to training on Monday! They were so unprofessional at this club at the time.”
Riseth only played 12 matches for Luton Town before he decided it was time to move on. “There were great people who worked for Luton, I loved the club, but with the team there was just too much alcohol and that’s why I took the decision to leave,” he said.
The Norwegian made quite the change, joining LASK Linz in Austria. There, he settled in wonderfully and played on a regular basis, before participating in the World Cup at France in 1998. Riseth played all four games for Norway, the highlight being an immense performance against Cafu, during a 2-1 victory over Brazil.
It wasn’t long before other clubs came calling and Celtic were one such team looking to secure his services. His compatriot Harald Brattbakk was a player with the Hoops at the time, so he knew Celtic took things more seriously than his former employers in England. Henrik Larsson also spoke with the defender, who confirmed the professional approach at Parkhead.
“I knew enough about Celtic to make my decision because of my friend Harald Brattbakk, who was there,” Vidar said. The Norwegian continued: “I spoke with him and Henrik Larsson. They told me how professional things were at Celtic – the club, the people, the coach. I knew it would not be the same as Luton Town and I had almost decided to go there before I even spoke to Celtic. That was a big dream for me.”
Vidar Riseth signed for Celtic for £1.5m in September ’98. He was deployed everywhere from left midfield to right back and served as a useful utility man for Dr Jozef Venglos to turn to. He made over 50 appearances for Celtic, winning the League Cup, but struggled to nail down a regular place, particularly when John Barnes took over at Parkhead. He was promptly loaned out to TSV 1860 Munich in November 2000, where his deal was made permanent for £1m in March the following year.
Support Celtic Youth Development
Help raise money for Celtic Youth Development by joining the £1 weekly lottery and you could win up to £25,000 – just click on any one of the photographs below to join. Lots of our readers have already done so and they’re now doing their bit to help fund Celtic Youth Development that can deliver the stars of tomorrow and beyond. And you might even win a few bob too! And a special thank you to all The Celtic Star readers who have already signed up and are now supporting youth development to give us the Celtic Stars of the future…
