FORMER Celtic Star Tommy Johnson has enraged Henrik Larsson after pulling out of a deal which left the Celtic legend’s deal to take over at Southend in ruins.
The Southend chairman Ron Martin has been speaking about the dramatic events that unfolded yesterday and revealed that the King of Kings was left raging at his former teammate who appears to have pulled out after giving his word to Henrik Larsson.
The plan that had been agreed would have seen Henrik and fellow Swede Johan Mjallby – another former teammate and also a former Assistant manager at Celtic – take over with Johnson being the Head of Recruitment.
This was crucial to the League 1 club’s chairman who wanted someone with Johnson’s knowledge of working in the English game. Johnson had previously worked was a scout at various clubs south of the border including Nottingham Forest, Watford, Blackburn in England and Cardiff City in Wales.
Martin admits that he feels sorry for Larsson who he reckons has been badly let down at the last minute after putting a great deal of effort into the deal.
“All the contracts were agreed and he was Henrik’s man,” the Southend Chairman revealed in an interview today with talkSPORT.
“All the contracts were agreed.”
“When Tommy (Johnson) pulled out, you could have knocked Henrik over with a feather.”
“It just took the wind out of his sail and disappointed us all.”
Southend’s Ron Martin fills @JimWhite in on why a move for Henrik Larsson broke down. pic.twitter.com/XBRU8RjEEk
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) October 16, 2019
“When he pulled out I think you could have knocked Henrik over with a feather. He and I get on really well and he is a pretty cool customer but he was absolutely fuming when he got a call from Tommy.
“The rest is history. We did talk about who else could replace Tommy but he didn’t have anybody else in mind. It just took the wind out of his sails and it disappointed us all.
“Tommy is going to another League One club. I did say, ‘if it’s money, tell us what we need to do’.
“I then spoke to Henrik, and he said, ‘I couldn’t work with him’.
“I get that and that supports everything I think about Henrik, he is a principled guy and he didn’t want to work with a person who had just let him down.”
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