Harald Brattbakk

June 22, 2013

Name: Harald Martin Brattbakk

DOB: 01/02/71

POB: Trondheim,
Norway

Position: Striker

Clubs: Kolstad, Rosenborg, Bodo/Glimt, Celtic, Kobenhavn

International Caps: 
17

The cavalier approach to goalscoring which Harald Brattbakk
adopted while in Scottish football will long live in the memory of anyone
witnessed it. The modern low-scoring striker excuses his meagre tally marks
with heavy industry outside the penalty area, or at lower levels onlookers will
sympathise with his lack of nous when it comes to positioning and predatory
instincts. Brattbakk was neither of these. He was a good old fashioned diddy
who would miss sitter after sitter. You know when you hear managers and pundits
say if you keep getting yourself into positions to score then one of them will
ultimately go in? Well, Brattbakk was the exception to that rule.

The strange thing was that there were no plausible
explanations as to why he couldn’t hit a barn door during his time in Scottish
football. The Norwegian league may not be the strongest in the world but there
is little difference in quality between that and Scotland’s top division, and
it was the setting for many prolific years as a striker for Brattbakk.

The club where he would eventually become a legend didn’t
think much of him during an initial one year spell; Rosenborg pinching the
young striker off Kolstad before releasing him from his contract one year and
14 games later. It would be up to Bodo/Glimt to showcase his talents, and with
ten goals in 22 games it was enough to convince his previous club they’d made
an error in judgement and the quickly resigned the striker, beginning the
prosperous relationship between the two.

In three years Brattbakk scored close to one goal every game
in the Norweigan Premier League, helping the club to a championship in each of
those seasons. His initial foray into European football was equally successful:
his first year in the Champions League saw two goals scored in the group stages
as the club narrowly avoided qualification to the knockout stages. He then tallied
the same number the next year but with a heightened importance. His winner in
San Siro provided the competition with one of its greatest ever shocks as the
2-1 away win for Rosenborg saw the unfancied minnows progressing to the
knockout stages at the expense of Milan.

Celtic enquired about the player after he had started the
next league season with the usual reliability in front of goal. The club was
firmly in the race to block Rangers pursuit of 10 league titles in a row and
manager Wim Jansen saw adding another striker as the final piece, particularly
with striker Darren Jackson missing for a lengthy period due to a brain
operation.

In the end Celtic got their wish, denying Rangers of
ten-in-a-row by beating St Johnstone on the final day of the season. Brattbakk
got the second goal and indelibly etched himself into the club’s history by
netting the second goal that sealed the win. However, it was undoubtedly the high point from his time in Glasgow. It just seemed that the nerves which
accompanied the move never left. Had one gone in off his backside on his debut
then everything might have been different. As it was the pressure mounted with
each miss and even when he did manage to get himself on the scoresheet the very
next week would see the same problem arising.

In January 2000, just over two years after arriving, he
returned to Scandanavia to join FC Copenhagen in Denmark. He played one successful
season, winning the Danish title and scoring close to a goal every second
league game before Rosenborg welcomed back their prodigal son with open arms.

His third spell with the club was not to be as successful as
the second, but he still managed an average of a league goal in every second
game and continued to be a force in the Champions League. When Rosenborg and
Celtic drew each other in the group stages of the competition in the 2001/02
season, everybody knew what was going to happen. In the end the victory was
inconsequential to their campaign, with no hope of reaching the knockout stages
by the time Brattbakk netted a double in a 2-0 home win, but it did deny his
former team a place in the last 16.

He won four successive titles from 2001 to 2004, including a
league and cup double in 2003, before age finally caught up with him and the
goals dried up. A brief loan stint back at Bodo/Glimt indicated it was probably
time to hang up the boots, which he did in 2006.

Where is he now? After giving up the game Brattbakk
announced his intentions to become an airline pilot; travelling to Florida and gaining the required
qualifications in which to do so. Since 2010 he has been working for Norwegian
Air Shuffle in this new line of employment.

Show: The Ballad of Bobby Madden