Few clubs in Scandinavia have names which evoke memories of mythical European nights and triumphs.
IFK Gothenburg are the only side from the region that have won one of the major international trophies, defeating Hamburg and Dundee United in the UEFA Cup finals in 1982 and 1987. Since then, there can be no doubt which Scandinavian team have made the biggest impact on the European stage.
From 1995/96, Nils Arne Eggen's Rosenborg qualified for the Champions League group stages for eight consecutive years, a record until Manchester United surpassed it in 2004. What makes that achievement truly exceptional is that, on 10 of the 11 occasions they reached that stage, they were required to go through at least one qualification round first. When they got there, they made an impression, too. AC Milan were knocked out in 1996, the Serie A club beaten at the San Siro before the Norwegians succumbed to Juventus in the quarter-finals; Borussia Dortmund were humbled 3-0 in Germany in 1999/2000.
Yet when Eggen stepped down before the 2003 season, a slow decline set in. Mind you, their struggles are all relative; since their championship-winning streak stopped in 2005, they have won the league three times, qualified for the Champions League groups stages once more in 2007 and twice reached the equivalent stage in the UEFA Cup / Europa League, their latest appearance coming last season.
The obvious lacking ingredient has been stability. Since Eggen left, Rosenborg have had nine different coaches, culminating in Per Joar Hansen, who helped the national under-21 side reach this year's European Championship in Israel before leaving to return to a post he departed in 2005.
His side have been largely convincing during the first half of the season and are undefeated in all competitions since April, overtaking league leaders Stromsgodset last weekend to reclaim top spot in Tippeligaen.
There is a lot of potential in his Rosenborg side but they are not yet close to fulfilling it. A blend of internationalists and a range of very exciting Norwegian youngsters give them a depth and quality that should be too much for St Johnstone. However, there have been stumbles in the league, and they also went behind to Crusaders in the first leg of their previous qualification round. This will be a big test, and St Johnstone can take comfort from the fact that the foundations being laid for new great era are still shaky.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article