Björn Runström
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| Björn Runström | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Björn Sandro Runström | |
| Date of birth | March 1, 1984 (age 23) | |
| Place of birth | Stockholm, Sweden | |
| Height | 6'1" / 1.86m | |
| Playing position | Striker | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Luton Town (on loan from Fulham) |
|
| Number | 9 | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1990-1996 1996-2000 |
Enskede IK Hammarby IF |
|
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2006 2006- 2007 |
Bologna AC Chievo Verona ACF Fiorentina Hammarby IF Fulham → Luton Town (loan) Overall |
0 (0) 1 (0) 2 (0) 57 (18) 1 (0) 7 (2) 68 (20) |
| National team2 | ||
| ? | Sweden U21 | ? (?) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Björn Sandro Runström (born 1 March 1984 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish footballer who currently plays as a striker for Luton Town on loan from Fulham and Sweden U-21.
Contents |
[edit] Club career
Björn grew up in the southern suburbs of Stockholm and went to Enskede school as a child. He started playing football for Enskede IK at the age of 6 years old, Björn's time in Enskede went well and at the age of 12 years he was rewarded with a move to a bigger club; Hammarby. Björn developed at a fast speed and when he was 16 he left Hammarby for Italy and Bologna. He stayed in Italy for 3 years and led Bologna to their first Italian Youth Championship in 19 years in 2001. At 17 he was part of Bologna's first team but only made the bench in Serie A and Coppa Italia. In 2002 he was transferred to Chievo Verona and after that to Fiorentina. His stay in Florence was not what he had dreamed off and when rumours spread in late 2003 that Fiorentina wanted to trade him for the Swedish international Kim Källström of Djurgårdens IF (Former club Hammarby's greatest rivals) he was outraged and declared that it was a transfer he would never accept. "Me playing for Djurgarden would be like Di Canio going back to Italy to play for A.S. Roma, it won't happen, if I go back to Sweden the only club that I could think of is my old club Hammarby”. Runström did return to Hammarby soon after and played three more seasons scoring 18 goals in 57 matches, this record attracted the attention of Premier League club Fulham (he had the chance to join the Cottagers in the January transfer window but declined saying "I didn't want to go on a free transfer in January even though I had an offer from Fulham already then, Hammarby have meant much to me and I wanted them to be well paid"). On 30th January Bjorn moved to Luton Town on loan for a month.
[edit] Personality
- He is known to be a friendly man and is very popular with the women in Sweden.
Following Luton's home defeat to Ipswich on Saturday 17th March 2007 a false interview with Runström was published on a Swedish fansite about him. Derogatory quotes attributed to him included:
- "I wouldn't bet a penny on them (Luton Town) staying up. They dug their own grave when they sacked Newell and put me on the bench. An iceberg would have a greater chance of making it in Hell than Luton have of staying in the Championship. Against Ipswich, we played the same as we have lately - like shit. I prefer the bench to going out on a pitch where half my team kick the ball as high and far as possible and the other half run away to avoid getting a pass. Some of the guys would be good American football kickers. The others should get out of football. I hope I don't stay here and be humiliated. For the fans' sake, I still hope for a win. But with these clowns for coaches, I doubt it"
- "Our defenders can go out and buy a hot dog during the game. He is completely harmless. He's scored one goal in around thirty games in the Championship. On the other hand, that happened while the opposition were out buying a hot dog!" Talking about former Luton Town teammate Warren Feeney
Immediately after hearing about the false quotes, Runström had them removed from the fansite and an apology was published. However it wasn't before the quotes were picked up by journalists, and on Tuesday March 20th the quotes appeared in The Sun newspaper under the headline 'Just call us Luton Clown'.
On Wednesday March 21st The Sun printed an interview with Luton defender Sol Davis, reacting to Runström's 'comments', and he was quoted as saying the following about Runström:
- "Runström is spineless, gutless, he is a maggot of a man. He is a coward on and off the pitch. He's not fit to lace Warren Feeney's boots"
On Thursday March 22nd Björn Runström issued a statement on the Luton Town official website to clear the matter up. He said:
- "I was shocked and upset to see the quotes that were attributed to me in The Sun newspaper.
I have a website run by a fan in Sweden, which I am regularly interviewed for, but the words that appeared on the site were not mine and I immediately made sure that they were removed. Unfortunately it was not before they had been seen by a journalist who printed them without clarification from me. I have only started playing in this country this season and I have a huge amount of respect for everyone involved in the game over here.
I came to Luton to play football and to gain invaluable experience playing alongside some good players, and for them to think I would refer to them with such disrespect is deeply distressing.
I hope that I can return to Luton with good feelings from the Manager, players and fans, and I hope that in the short time they have known me, they would believe that this is a cruel practical joke played by someone, as it would never be something that I would say."
However, the news of the denial clearly didn't reach everyone as Plymouth Argyle manager Ian Holloway criticised Runström in his BBC column:
- "If I was at that club the first thing I would have done was knock him out when he walked into training. It's not like he's buzzing and setting the Premiership alight - so if I was him I'd shut up, stop talking a good game and start playing one." .[1]
[edit] External links
| Luton Town F.C. - Current Squad |
|---|
|
1 Beresford | 2 Foley | 3 Davis | 4 Coyne | 5 Perrett | 6 Underwood | 7 Spring | 8 Robinson | 9 Runström | 10 Feeney | 11 Morgan | 15 O'Leary | 16 Emanuel | 17 Langley | 18 Brković | 19 Parkin | 20 Boyd | 21 Keane | 22 Stevens | 23 Idrizaj | 24 Ross | 25 Barnett | 26 Heikkinen | 28 Bell | 29 Andrew | 30 Talbot | 31 Carlisle | 32 Asafu-Adjaye | 33 Brill | 34 Barrett | 35 Pendleton | Manager: Blackwell |
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Holloway Column", bbc.co.uk, 23 March 2007.
