What happened to… Espen Baardsen?

By: Gary | July 1st, 2008

Spurs offside bring you their first in a new series of features looking back at past players, and life after White Hart Lane…

The Norwegian came and went from N17 like a puff of smoke.

He began life at Spurs in 1992 wherre he would come to England to train with the club on a yearly basis. After showing potential, he was handed a full-time contract in the summer of 1996. With the deaparture of fellow young gun Chris Day, Baardsen was immediately installed as the club’s second choice keeper.

He was shipped in from the continent as a long-term solution to the club’s lack of goalkeeping depth.

He burst onto the first team scene a year later as a raw 20-year-old. He was thrown straight into the deep end making his Tottenham debut at Anfield, coming on as a half-time substitute to replace the injured Ian Walker.

With Spurs trailing 1-0, Baardsen played his first 45-minute spell in a blinding fashion keeping the Reds at bay – but it was not enough to earn a toothless Spurs a share of the spoils.

A year later and the highly-rated custodian earned his international debut too, appearing in Norway’s Euro 2000 qualification match against Latvia. Despite never having lived in Norway, Baardsen still established himself as a regular in the national squad.

It looked as if the Scandanavian was in for a bright future at White Hart Lane and on the international scene after a series of impressive displays for club and country. But just three years after making his first team debut and with only 23 Spurs outings to his name, he was moved on to Watford deemed surplus to requirements by then boss George Graham.

His departure from Spurs prompted his exit from the national stage too and Baardsen faced a task to re-ignite his career which had began with such promise.

His £1.25 million switch to Vicarage Road looked to be the perfect tonic for the towering stopper.

He went on to play 41 games for the Hornets before being dislodged from the first team by Alec Chamberlain.

Banished to the bench, Baardsen cut his losses with a move to Merseyside in 2002, hoping life at Everton would bring more success. Limited to just one game in a disappointing two years at Goodison Park, the Norwegian returned to USA retiring from football, aged 25.

The former Tottenham man is now a Managing Director for an asset management fund called Eclectricaa, enjoying life outside of the game.

Magic Moment: Baardsen boasts a rare Spurs cleansheet away at Arsenal in the 1997/98 season. The Norwegian played in our hard fought 0-0 draw at Highbury that season. Only one Spurs keeper has since held the Gunners to a blank on their own turf.

Miserable Moment: The realisation his days in football were numbered. In a seven-year spell in the Premier League, Baardsen managed just 65 appearances, an average of just under nine per season.