He was a quite good in his playing days. Played for Blackburn as well as Man U.
As a manager he has worked under difficult owners before and done decently well too.
He is passionate and knows the club very well. Below is the write-up from a Norwegian fan about him. Very detailed and well written.
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I'm a Rovers supporter from Norway, however I do follow Lillestrom (LSK) much closer than I follow Rovers. As an LSK and Rovers supporter I have obviously followed Berg for quite some time, since before he joined Rovers as a player.
The reports that Berg did not do too well with LSK are not very insightful in my opinion. Of course the club has higher ambitoins than being in the bottom half and fighting to avoid relegation. LSK is a club with long traditions in Norway, but when Berg came in the club was in big trouble. Berg saved us from relegation by winning a fantastic home game vs Rosenborg in 2008 when he replaced the interim manager for the last two games following a sacking mid-season.
The state of the club was dramatically poor. The squad was among the oldest, highest paid in the league. Consisting of over the top players and never had beens and football invalids. The former management had been on a spending spree resulting in this miserable squad as well as being mismanaged by the previous manager. The club was running with deficits and could almost not afford to pay the daily invoices.
Berg and the new director of sports were to rebuild the squad without any finances. They did this through selling off the old ones, letting contracts expire and sign promising youth players from Norway and Africa. The team was transformed from an old and poor team to a young and promising team in the summer of 2011.
Among the fans Berg gets high credit for keeping us in the top flight despite the odds, keeping our Norwegian record continously improving, last relegation in 1966, top flight since 1975.
In the start of the 2011 season we played fantastic football and were outsiders to the title. The squad was still small and we were dependent on key star players. Berg had not been allowed to sign the players he wanted during the last pre-season. When half way through our two offensive stars were sold and the third one was injured for the season we were left with a squad of very few players. The club once again slumped down to the relegation battle. The team now consisted of teenagers and 34 year olds, because we couldnt afford any other players those years. Before 2012 new players had to be signed, or relegation would be unavoidable.
It became public then that Berg and the investor were no longer on the same page. Berg was critisised for being too negative in the media. At the end of the season the investor demanded that the board sacked Berg if he was to again invest in players. They did. Reports also say that several people in the club had fallen out with Henning.
Fans were - and still are - divided on that decision. It had been three though years and I think the relation had grown sour and that we needed a change. But most that would fire him still agree that he did a very good job given the resources and his mandate. He left the club in a much better shape economically and saved us for three years almost without any quality players.
This season, after Berg, we have signed 18 new players, 17 of them being Bosman. A lot of quality players. The team is still fighting to avoid relegation. A massive disappointment. Several fans wonder what Henning could have achieved with these resources.
His failure was to make enemies with the investor and people in the club. Football wise he did well.
I am excited to see him take on the position as manager at Rovers and hope and think he will succeed. He's definitely not a yes man.
The best of luck to Henning!
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He could do a decent job - Promotion wouldn't be easy though.
Hm, at first I was not as happy with this coach but your info excites me. Berg will come into a good club anyway so lets see where he goes. A new chapter begins this weekend.
Exactly! I had the same feeling . That why sometimes it is nice to get opinions from local fans before drawing our own conclusions.
Wish him and the Club great success. They do have some pretty decent players; add in pacy winger or two in Jan and they may get promoted or even win the Championship
dwill be nice for us Indian fan to have BB Rovers back to the EPL.. Hope the Rao's by now have learnt their lesson and not meddle in tht functioning of the team... set a fair target to the coach, monitor the performance and back him up..if there are very clear goals set and eveyone is clear about it , then we should not have d fiascos of d last 2 years
Comments
He was a quite good in his playing days. Played for Blackburn as well as Man U.
The reports that Berg did not do too well with LSK are not very insightful in my opinion. Of course the club has higher ambitoins than being in the bottom half and fighting to avoid relegation. LSK is a club with long traditions in Norway, but when Berg came in the club was in big trouble. Berg saved us from relegation by winning a fantastic home game vs Rosenborg in 2008 when he replaced the interim manager for the last two games following a sacking mid-season.
The state of the club was dramatically poor. The squad was among the oldest, highest paid in the league. Consisting of over the top players and never had beens and football invalids. The former management had been on a spending spree resulting in this miserable squad as well as being mismanaged by the previous manager. The club was running with deficits and could almost not afford to pay the daily invoices.
Among the fans Berg gets high credit for keeping us in the top flight despite the odds, keeping our Norwegian record continously improving, last relegation in 1966, top flight since 1975.
It became public then that Berg and the investor were no longer on the same page. Berg was critisised for being too negative in the media. At the end of the season the investor demanded that the board sacked Berg if he was to again invest in players. They did. Reports also say that several people in the club had fallen out with Henning.
Fans were - and still are - divided on that decision. It had been three though years and I think the relation had grown sour and that we needed a change. But most that would fire him still agree that he did a very good job given the resources and his mandate. He left the club in a much better shape economically and saved us for three years almost without any quality players.
His failure was to make enemies with the investor and people in the club. Football wise he did well.
I am excited to see him take on the position as manager at Rovers and hope and think he will succeed. He's definitely not a yes man.
The best of luck to Henning!
Hm, at first I was not as happy with this coach but your info excites me. Berg will come into a good club anyway so lets see where he goes. A new chapter begins this weekend.
Exactly! I had the same feeling . That why sometimes it is nice to get opinions from local fans before drawing our own conclusions.
Henning Berg unveiled as new Blackburn Rovers manager
www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&hl=en&client=mv-google&v=XEBb5zNdX_4
dwill be nice for us Indian fan to have BB Rovers back to the EPL.. Hope the Rao's by now have learnt their lesson and not meddle in tht functioning of the team... set a fair target to the coach, monitor the performance and back him up..if there are very clear goals set and eveyone is clear about it , then we should not have d fiascos of d last 2 years
Blackburn Rovers vs Birmingham City Live tonite on Ten Action at 8:30 pm
> nameWTHeld said:
> Blackburn Rovers vs Birmingham City Live tonite on Ten Action at 8:30 pm