I HATE to admit it but me and Wayne Rooney have got something in common.
As childhood Evertonians the chubster and yours truly had a common hero - Anders Limpar.
For me Limpar was something else.
Wilfully mercurial, quick-thinking, skilful and cultured, in other words - very Everton.
The little Swede, who joined us in '94 from Arsenal, used to set my pulse-racing whenever he got the ball.
In hindsight he wasn’t perfect, but back in the day he was a streak of class I loved to watch cause mayhem on the wing.
I’ll never forget his jaw-dropping 40 yard goal against West Ham for us (sadly overshadowed when Beckham scored from further away against Wimbledon that season) or his run from our half which led to Rideout’s winner in the '95 FA Cup Final.
I was gutted when I heard Anders had been flogged to Brum for a pittance in 1997 and I don’t think we had a player with as much natural talent until a certain Senor Mikel Arteta first graced Goodison almost eight years later.
I also have an odd but true Limpar story.
One school holiday morning I headed to Bellefield to watch the player’s leave after training.
This particular Thursday they were waiting outside for the coach to an away game in East London.
I noticed Limpar straight away, sat on the garden wall of the house next door to Bellefield happily flicking through a copy of Razzle much to the delight of Graham Stuart who was watching in stitches.
Lost in a world of his own, the porn-loving legend only stirred when the team coach arrived and the driver beeped him.
Anders retired from footy in March 2001 at the age of 35 and is now the youth team coach at Djurgårdens IF.
He also opened a bar, The Limp Bar, in central Stockholm.
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Alanio wrote...
what a player ... my abiding memories of the little Swede are his goal in the 5-0 cup demolition of Norwich in '95, cut inside and wallop! and his 50 yard, inch-perfect pass to Amo for a goal one Friday night v Newcastle towards Spring '95 ... although I do know he was moved on for the right reasons mate: 95/96 at home to Brum, Joe Royle heard him 'geeing up' the Brum players in the tunnel at half time (anders was a sub and stretching in the corridor)saying we were shite (!) ... great blog mate,
al
Posted by: Alanio | July 17, 2007 9:56 AM