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Jan Molby |
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Danish international midfielder Jan Molby joined Liverpool from Ajax and made over 200 league appearances for the Merseysiders. In the 1995-1996 season, he spent a loan period with Barnsley making five appearances in the autumn including a 3-1 defeat at Carrow Road. Gary Megson brought him back to Norwich on loan at the end of 1995 with Jan making his debut in the 3-3 home draw with Reading. 2 more league appearances followed (Sunderland, Luton) as well as two Coca Cola Cup fifth round ties against Birmingham, Jan scoring in the 2-1 defeat at St Andrews. Jan then joined Swansea City as player-manager and took them to Wembley in the Third Division Promotion Play-Offs in his first full season at the Vetch Field. A poor start to the 1997/98 season that saw Swansea fifth from bottom of Division Three resulted in Molby being sacked on 8th October 1997. He was then linked with the manager's position at Carlisle. The Daily Mirror reported on 4th April 1998 that Welsh League side Rhayader have made a cheeky bid to Molby offering to pay him in meat not money for his playing skills. Rhayader club secretary Phil Woosnam insisted this was not a stunt and that as many of the Rhayader committee were farmers, they could pay him in steaks. Jan was also linked with the vacant manager's position at Norwich City following Mike Walker's departure. Although Jan kept himself busy with commentating for BBC's Five Live and his own radio show on Manchester's Century 105 radio station, he could not stay away from football for long. In June 1999, he took over as manager for Conference side Kidderminster Harriers. The Sunday People reported on 16th January 2000 that Jan's achievements in leading Kidderminster to the top of the Conference had seen him placed on the short-list to replace departed Tony Pulis at Bristol City. On 25th March 2000, Jan was so angered by rumours that he was to quit table topping Kidderminster for Norwich City that he issued an official statement that he was staying at Kidderminster. "I will not be applying for the Norwich job and will decline invitations to do so". Jan's Kidderminster side won the Conference title and thus promotion to the Football League at Easter 2000 after Rushden & Diamonds were unable to match the number of points obtained by Kidderminster. Jan was rewarded for his success with a new 4 year contract in June 2000. He was also named Conference Manager of the Year by the new Non League Paper. Jan's success has been noted at other clubs and he was linked with the manager's position at Wolves in December 2000 following the sacking of Colin Lee. He has also been connected with the vacancy at Barnsley and at Tranmere following John Aldridge's departure in March 2001. His reputation has spread further afield with his name suggested as a replacement for Roy Hodgson at FC Copenhagen following Hodgson's departure to Serie A to manage Udinese. In September 2001, he was linked with the vacancy at Coventry and was said to be flattered by the speculation. Molby was later linked with the vacancy at less glamourous Wrexham following the resignations of Brian Flynn and Kevin Reeves. He was also closely linked with the vacancy at Hull City in March
2002. He resigned from his position at Harriers at the beginning of
April 2002 and was then approached to take over at Hull which he accepted.
Harriers though thought Molby had been approached prior to his resignation
and so threatened legal action. However his stay at Humberside was
short with his being sacked on 10th October after just 16 games. Hull
chairman Adam Pearson had set Molby a target of a play-off position
by mid December when they move into their £43.5m new stadium.
However at the time of the sacking, Hull sat in 18th position. |
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