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BJORN TORE KVARME 1997/99 by Dave Usher Date of Birth - 17/07/72 Nationality - Norwegian Position - Defender Games - 54 Goals - 0 Club Hons (Lpool) - None Intnl Hons - Norway Caps Other Clubs - Rosenborg (twice), St Etienne, Real Sociedad, Bastia Bjorn Tore Kvarme arrived at the club as a replacement for the popular, but injury prone John Scales in January 1997. After selling Scales to Spurs for a fee of around £2.5mil, Roy Evans looked to have completed a shrewd piece of business by bringing in the tough tackling Norwegian on a Bosman transfer. Kvarme had impressed the reds coaching staff while training with the club during a visit to Merseyside to see his close friend, Stig Inge Bjornebye. Indeed, for the first few months he was at the club, many fans referred to him simply as "Stig's mate". The early signs were encouraging for Kvarme, who despite being a complete unknown in England before his arrival, took to the Premiership without any problems. His debut came at Anfield in a 3-0 win over Aston Villa, and he was outstanding on the right side of the reds three man central defensive system. He was many observers man of the match that day, and he continued to impress for the rest of that season. He was a popular figure with the fans, who really took to his no-nonsense approach to defending. Man marking was his best attribute, but his heading was weak, and in English football that type of weakness in a defender is always likely to be exploited, so during the off season whilst the rest of his team-mates were sunning themselves and getting pissed in various tropical paradises, Kvarme returned to train with his former club Rosenborg to work on his heading skills. Such determination and commitment were admirable, and it seemed certain that Kvarme would go from strength to strength as a Liverpool player. So his subsequent fall from grace is something of a mystery. It all started to go wrong for the Norwegian when he was caught in possession during a Merseyside derby at Goodison. Being robbed of the ball by Danny Cadamarteri and seeing the useless little bag of shite turn Neil Ruddock inside out before scoring at the Park End was something that Kvarme simply never recovered from. To make things worse, a couple of weeks later he made a carbon copy error at Anfield which allowed another useless bag of shite striker, Andy Cole, to also score against us. Committing two such vital mistakes against the reds' two main rivals destroyed Kvarme's confidence, and he was never the same player after that. When Roy Evans scrapped the wing back system to play 4-4-2, there was some hope for the Norwegian that he may be able to make the right back spot his own. That was in fact his preferred position, but the presence at the club of both Rob Jones and Jason McAteer meant that Kvarme had no route back into the first team, and despite showing some signs in the reserves that he was coming back to form, his days at Anfield were numbered. He joined French side St Etienne, where he enjoyed something of a renaissance and even forced his way back into the international arena with Norway before earning himself a lucrative move to the Spanish Primera Liga with Real Sociedad. More info on Bjorn Tore Kvarme: ++ / LFChistory.net -- Past Present Future