Morten Gamst Pedersen
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| Morten Gamst Pedersen | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Morten Gamst Pedersen | |
| Date of birth | September 8, 1981 (age 25) | |
| Place of birth | Vadsø, Norway | |
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | |
| Nickname | Gamst'n, Van Gamsten, MGP, Pedders, Gamsters | |
| Playing position | Deep Lying Forward / Left Winger | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Blackburn Rovers | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1997 1998 1999 |
Norild Polarstjernen Norild |
|
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 2000-2004 2004- |
Tromsø Blackburn Rovers |
85 (41) 81 (19) |
| National team2 | ||
| 2004- | Norway | 28 (8) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
- For the Danish football player, see Morten Petersen.
Morten Gamst Pedersen (born September 8, 1981 in Vadsø) is a versatile Norwegian international football player who currently plays for Blackburn Rovers as a left winger/midfielder.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Gamst Pedersen was born in Vadsø in 1981. When Gamst Pedersen was 15 his father, Ernst Pedersen, a football coach, began to train him to use his left foot rather than his natural right foot in a bid to help him become a professional player, as there is less competition for left-sided roles within the sport.
[edit] Blackburn career
He had his breakthrough in the Norwegian premier league club Tromsø IL, scoring 7 goals in the 2004 season, before he signed with Blackburn with only half a season played by August. The fee was 1.5 million pounds, which could rise to anything up to 2.5 million pounds on the basis of future appearances. It was reported that Manchester United, Aston Villa, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur were also interested in the player. However, Gamst was required to fill the gap left by Damien Duff, who had left in July 2003 to go to Chelsea.
Gamst Pedersen, a Norwegian international, made his FA Premier League debut in a 1-1 draw against Manchester United on August 28, 2004, a match Blackburn were leading until deep into injury time.
Gamst Pedersen initially struggled to make an impact in the Premier League and had lengthy period of not being selected after Graeme Souness was replaced by Mark Hughes as Blackburn Rovers manager in September 2004. However he started the year of 2005 in style, scoring against Cardiff City on his return to side and going on to score three goals in his next three matches. He went on to finish as the clubs second top scorer for the season with eight goals.
2005-06 saw Pedersen make the left-midfield position his own and he has become well known for scoring many spectacular goals, such as a volley against Fulham in August 2005 which won BBC Match of the Day's Goal of the Month. The highlight of his Rovers career came in September 2005 when he scored both goals in a 2-1 victory against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
In July 2006, Gamst Pedersen was given permission by the English Premier League to change the name on the back of his shirt from 'Pedersen' to 'Gamst' - his mother's surname. This season, Pedersen was seemingly struggling for form and failed to live up to his performances the previous year. However, since the turn of the year, he has once again proved himself to be one of the most dangerous wingers in the Premiership. He has already scored six goals in all competitions in 2007, including two bullet headers and three direct free-kicks, the latter of which was a 92nd minute winner against Sheffield United on 3 February 2007.
(correct as of 3 February, 2007)
| Club | Season | League | Cup[1] | Europe | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | ||
| Blackburn Rovers | 2004-05 | 19 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 4 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 8 | 3 |
| 2005-06 | 34 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 10 | 8 | |
| 2006-07 | 28 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 8 | 6 | |
| Career totals | 107 | 26 | 16 | ||||||||||
[edit] International Career
He holds 28 caps for his country, scoring eight goals. He received the coveted Golden Watch award given to him by the Football Association of Norway on the occasion of his 25th appearance for his country. He has become one of the first names on the team sheet for Norway and their undoubted star.
In September 2006, in a match against Hungary, Gamst Pedersen, whose favourite player as a kid was Marco van Basten, scored a goal which was very similar to van Basten's famous goal in the final of the 1988 European Football Championship. Major newspapers Aftenposten, Dagbladet and Verdens Gang all dubbed him van Gamsten as a result of the goal.[2]
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 February 2004 | Belfast, Northern Ireland |  Northern Ireland |
4-1 | Win | Friendly (2 times) |
| 2 | 13 October 2004 | Ullevaal Stadion, Norway |  Slovenia |
3-0 | Win | FIFA World Cup 2006 Qual. |
| 3 | 16 November 2004 | London, England |  Australia |
2-2 | Draw | Friendly |
| 4 | 3 September 2005 | Celje, Slovenia | Slovenia |
3-2 | Win | FIFA World Cup 2006 Qual. |
| 5 | 16 August 2006 | Ullevaal Stadion, Norway |  Brazil |
1-1 | Draw | Friendly |
| 6 | 2 September 2006 | Budapest, Hungary |  Hungary |
4-1 | Win | UEFA Euro 2008 Qual. |
[edit] References
- ^ Includes FA Cup, League Cup and FA Community Shield
- ^ (Norwegian) (Dagbladet) (VG), Aftenposten, 3 September 2006, pg. 34
[edit] Trivia
- Gamst Pedersen was an extremely useful cheap purchase in Championship Manager 03/04 before he arrived at Blackburn and launched his professional career
[edit] External links
- Morten Pedersen Gamst career stats at Soccerbase
- Uefa.com Magazine interview
- Gamst pushes United back into the pack - The Guardian
- Only a Norwegian footballer - but he is more famous than his king - The Guardian
- Morten Pedersen Gamst at footballdatabase.com
| Blackburn Rovers F.C. - Current Squad |
|---|
|
1 Friedel | 3 Khizanishvili | 4 Todd | 5 Tugay | 6 Nelsen | 7 Emerton | 8 Savage | 9 Nonda | 10 McCarthy | 11 Bentley | 12 Gamst Pedersen | 13 Enckelman | 14 Reid | 15 Mokoena | 16 Henchoz | 17 Jeffers | 18 Gallagher | 19 Dunn | 20 Ooijer | 21 Samba | 22 Warnock | 23 Brown | 25 Berner | 27 Derbyshire | 28 Fielding | 29 Treacy | 30 Roberts | 31 Peter | 32 Nolan | 33 Gray | Manager: Hughes |
