Back to the Stoneage for Norway as Olsen Gets the Gig

There's an old football-adage that says once you've been successful somewhere you should never go back, but then again it shouldn't surprise anyone that a pragmatic, scientific man like Egil "Drillo" Olsen doesn't put much stock into such things. Yes, in an unexpected and slightly bizarre turn of events, the 66 year old wellie-wearing weirdo is back in charge of the Norwegian national team.

Egil Olsen wants YOU (to play a 70-yard diagonal pass to a freakishly tall winger)

After failing to secure the services of any of their preferred top targets, the Norwegian football association has given the job temporarily to Egil "Drillo" Olsen, the man who previously guided the team to consecutive world cups in 1994 and 1998. He has been hired primarily for the three upcoming friendlies against Germany, South Africa and Finland, but unless the association's first choice for the long-term appointment (widely assumed to be Fc Copenhagen manager Ståle Solbakken) becomes available, chances are the 66 year old tactician will be in charge for the rest of the Wold Cup qualifying-campaign. 

The appointment has been meet with a positive reaction by Norwegians, fueled largely by nostalgia for those glory nights of the 90ties and a distinct feeling that after the disastrous year that was 2008 then it certainly can't get any worse. After a full calendar year without a win, one can easily forgive Norwegians for giving up on the idea of sexy football and just going with whatever might get them a result now and then. Media-reaction has also been largely positive, with Drillo's former disciples (most of whom now manage or work behind the scenes at various Tippeliga and Adeccoliga clubs) virtually queuing up to sing his praises and few other pundits having the cojones to go against the tide of public opinion.

A few have had the audacity to break ranks and criticise the appointment, most notably Aalesund-manager Kjetil Rekdal, who stuck his head out of the trench and told the media that re-hiring Drillo is a step in the wrong direction, that times have changed since the 90ties and that the people in charge of hiring a new manager are all incompetent. Which is all probably true, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and it appears that the Norwegian people are quite content with turning into the international version of Bolton Wanderers if it means putting a few wins on the board.

The decision to go back to Drillo is bizarre to say the least, as the hiring of Hareide in 2004 was supposed to mark a shift in direction for Norwegian football: Defensive long-ball thuggery wasn't seen as the way forward and even though it would probably mean less impressive results the federation wanted a national team that looked like it could string a few passes together. The hiring of Drillo for the short-term (and the assumed hiring of Solbakken for the long-term) indicates a return to the days of continually hoofing the ball forwards, the kind of football which famously caused midfield-magician Erik Mykland to retire from international football because his neck hurt from watching balls fly over his head. It's a remarkable u-turn, and one which probably wouldn't have been quite so welcome in the eyes of the public if they weren't quite so blinded by the horrific results of 2008. 

At any rate, it will certainly be interesting to see how Drillo, once a member of the now disbanded Norwegian Communist Party, deals with the bloated ego's of today's multimillionaire footballers, and how his footballing philosophies hold up in 2009. If nothing else, there are plenty of questions that will be answered one way or the other this coming season, and for Drillo, one of Åge Hareide's most vocal critics in these last couple of years, it's time to put his money where his mouth has been.