Thomas Gravesen

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Thomas Gravesen
Personal information
Full name Thomas Gravesen
Date of birth March 11, 1976 (age 30)
Place of birth Vejle, Denmark
Height 5'10"
Nickname Graver (Digger)
El Ogro (The Ogre)
Mad Dog
Tommy
Position Midfielder
Club information
Current club Celtic
Number 16
Youth clubs
Vejle Boldklub
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1995-1997
1997-2000
2000-2005
2005-2006
2006-		 Vejle Boldklub
Hamburger SV
Everton F.C.
Real Madrid
Celtic		 58 (10)
94 (6)
141 (11)
34 (1)
6 (4)
National team**
1998-2006 Denmark 66 (5)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 12:02, 26 November 2006 (UTC).
** National team caps and goals correct
as of September 23, 2006.

Thomas Gravesen (born March 11, 1976) is a Danish professional football (soccer) player who operates as a midfielder for Scottish Premier League club Celtic. For the Denmark national football team, Gravesen was capped 66 times and scored 5 goals, from his debut in August 1998 until he ended his national team career in September 2006. He represented Denmark at the international Euro 2000, 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004 tournaments.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Born in Vejle, Gravesen's career started in 1995 with hometown club Vejle Boldklub (VB) in the Danish Superliga, alongside a handful of youths making it through the VB youth scheme, including good friend Kaspar Dalgas. At VB, Thomas Gravesen would play both as a sweeper and defensive midfielder, and after he won silver medals in the 1996-97 Superliga season, Gravesen moved to German team Hamburger SV in 1997.

[edit] Moving abroad

While playing for Hamburger SV, he debuted for the Danish national team in a 0-1 friendly match loss to the Czech Republic on August 19, 1998. Gravesen was selected to play for Denmark at the 2000 European Championship (Euro 2000) by coach Bo Johansson, despite concern from Johansson that he was not "psychologically stable" (stabil i sin psyke) enough.[1] Following the Euro 2000 tournament, he went to English club Everton F.C. where he quickly became a favourite amongst the fans.

While at Everton, new Danish national team coach Morten Olsen would fully support Gravesen and made him one of his pivotal players in the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004 campaigns. Especially his display in the 2002 World Cup qualifying game with Iceland, where Gravesen scored two goals in a 6-0 win, was so impressive that American boxer Mike Tyson asked for his shirt[2] and wore it throughout his stay at Denmark. He played all four of Denmark's matches at the 2002 World Cup, though Gravesen and his partner in the Danish midfield duo, Stig Tøfting, would justify their pit bull images when they ganged up to play a prank on teammate Jesper Grønkjær at a World Cup training session.[3] He missed the first group match at Euro 2004, as he was suspended due to a sending off in the last qualifying match before the tournament but he played the remaining three games before Denmark were eliminated.

[edit] The Real deal

Gravesen played a key role in Everton's rise to the upper reaches of the 2004-05 Premiership table, from his position as an attacking midfielder. As his contract was due to expire in the summer of 2005, which would enable him to leave on a free transfer, Everton sold Gravesen to Real Madrid for a fee of £2.5 million, on January 14, 2005.[4] At Real Madrid, he looked to fill a hole in the defensive midfield, a position somewhat different from his time at Everton.[2] He found immediate playing success at Real Madrid, as he scored in one of his first games, a 4-0 win against RCD Espanyol.[5] However, Gravesen would eventually find himself benched. Following public outcry over his tough style of play and the sacking of Real coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo and sporting director Arrigo Sacchi, who were in charge of acquiring Gravesen, he looked ready to leave Real Madrid in the winter of 2005, especially since Manchester United from England showed interest.[6] However, new coach López Caro would revive Gravesen's career at Real, picking him regularly, using him in the holding role in the new 4-1-4-1 formation Real adopted. Towards the end of the season, Gravesen once again found himself out of the team, and in May 2006 a number of clubs were reported to be interested in him.[7]

In August 2006, a scuffle erupted at a Real Madrid training session, following a hard tackle by Gravesen on teammate Robinho, who retaliated by hitting Gravesen.[8] Fabio Capello, the recently appointed Real Madrid manager, said about Gravesen: "The way he is, we won't have problems with him. He's just a little bit particular. I don't mess with him, he works well tactically. His behaviour is like this, and I don't like it, everything has to be done like he wants it to be done".[9] Gravesen looked likely to leave Real Madrid before the start of the 2006-07 season, with his agent John Sivebæk confirming that a number of clubs - including Newcastle United in England[10] and Scottish club Celtic[11] - were interested in signing the midfielder.

[edit] Celtic switch

On August 28, Gravesen attended Celtic Park in Glasgow for a medical examination and, on August 30, he signed a three year deal (with the option of a fourth year) with the club, for a speculated fee of around £2m. There was a period of uncertainty as to whether Gravesen would sign for Celtic, after false rumours of a failed medical and an eleventh-hour bid by Newcastle arose.[12] On September 15, 2006, Gravesen announced his decision to end his international career for the Danish national team. He had been a constant part of the Danish team since the appointment of Morten Olsen in 2000, but Gravesen cited a declining energy surplus as the reason to solely focus his efforts for his new club Celtic.[13]

He scored his first goal for Celtic against arch rivals Rangers F.C. on September 23, 2006. He then went on to score the first hat-trick of his professional career,[14] when Celtic won 3-1 against Paisley side St Mirren F.C. on November 12, 2006.

[edit] International goals

Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 2001-10-06 Copenhagen, Denmark Iceland 3-0 6-0 2002 World Cup qual.
2 2001-10-06 Copenhagen, Denmark Iceland 4-0 6-0 2002 World Cup qual.
3 2003-03-29 Bucharest, Romania Romania 2-2 5-2 Euro 2004 qual.
4 2003-04-30 Copenhagen, Denmark Ukraine 1-0 1-0 Friendly match
5 2003-06-11 Luxembourg, Luxembourg Luxembourg 2-0 2-0 Euro 2004 qual.

[edit] Honours

[edit] References

  1. ^ Klaus Moe, "Psykisk for ustabil", B.T. article, April 19, 2000
  2. ^ a b Oliver Kay, Real yearn for steel of Gravesen, The Times article, January 13, 2005
  3. ^ (Danish) Lars Møller, Thomas Gravesen i billeder, Danmarks Radio, 2005
  4. ^ Gravesen completes switch to Real, BBC Sport, January 14, 2005
  5. ^ Real Madrid crush Espanyol 4-0 to make it six in a row, Daily Times, February 7, 2005
  6. ^ Andy Hunter, United weigh up a January move for Gravesen, The Independent article, December 8, 2005
  7. ^ Wednesday's gossip column, BBC Sport, May 31, 2006
  8. ^ Gravesen lashes out at Capello, World Soccer, September 8, 2006
  9. ^ (Spanish) El Madrid abre la puerta a Gravesen, Marca, August 2, 2006
  10. ^ Alex Livie, Grav likes look of Magpies, Sky Sports, August 13, 2006
  11. ^ Simon Fudge, Grav considers Bhoys, Sky Sports, August 16, 2006
  12. ^ Celtic complete Gravesen capture, BBC Sport, August 30, 2006
  13. ^ (Danish) Lars Berendt, Thomas Gravesen stopper på landsholdet, DBU, September 15, 2006
  14. ^ (Danish) Lars Jørgen Andersen, Hat trick af Thomas Gravesen, TV 2 (Denmark), November 12, 2006

[edit] Further reading

  • Thomas Gravesen, told to Kurt Lassen, "Min version" (My version), Denmark, 2005, ISBN 87-91693-51-9

[edit] External links

Denmark Denmark squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Denmark

1 Sørensen | 2 Tøfting | 3 Henriksen | 4 Laursen | 5 Heintze | 6 Helveg | 7 Gravesen | 8 Grønkjær | 9 Tomasson | 10 Jørgensen | 11 Sand | 12 N. Jensen | 13 Lustü | 14 C. Jensen | 15 Michaelsen | 16 Kjær | 17 Poulsen | 18 Løvenkrands | 19 Rommedahl | 20 Bøgelund | 21 Madsen | 22 Christiansen | 23 Nielsen | Coach: Olsen
Celtic F.C. - Current Squad

1 Boruc | 2 Telfer | 3 Naylor | 4 Virgo | 5 Caldwell | 6 Balde | 7 Żurawski | 8 Thompson | 9 Miller | 10 Vennegoor of Hesselink | 11 Pearson | 12 Wilson | 14 Riordan | 15 Sno | 16 Gravesen | 18 Lennon | 20 Jarošík | 22 Marshall | 25 Nakamura | 29 Maloney | 37 Beattie | 38 Quinn | 41 Kennedy | 42 McGlinchey | 43 O'Carroll | 44 McManus | 45 O'Brien | 46 McGeady | 48 O'Dea | 49 Cuthbert | 51 Riley | 53 Ferry | 54 Conroy | Manager: Strachan
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