On this day in 2002, Tore Andre Flo showed that he would be a good signing, and prove to be good value for money, when he scored on his Sunderland debut against Manchester United...
Brought in to replace the ageing Niall Quinn, Flo was utilised as a target man which seemingly didn’t suit him (despite his height). Peter Reid wasn’t one to spend huge amounts of money on a player, so the Norwegian was assumed to be a deadline day panic-buy.
Despite scoring an equaliser against the Red Devils (the game where Roy Keane was sent off for elbowing Jason McCateer), he was unable to form a partnership with fellow striker Kevin Phillips, and when Peter Reid was replaced by Howard Wilkinson the Norwegian forward quickly fell out of favour. Flo was not even on the bench for Wilkinson’s first match!
Despite working his way back into the first team, Flo was not involved in any of the following manager Mick McCarthy’s first nine matches in charge. The striker was released in 2003 before becoming somewhat of a journeyman, joining clubs such as Siena and Valerenga before returning to England with Leeds United.
On the international stage, ‘Flonaldo’ became Norway’s fourth-top goal scorer with 23 goals in 76 appearances. In November 2021, he was named manager of Sogndal - the team he started his career with back in '93, and also retired with in 2012. A true hero's return.
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