Jan Age Fjortoft joined Swindon Town from Rapid Vienna before the opening of Town’s only season in the Premier League.
Jan Age Fjortoft joined Swindon Town from Rapid Vienna before the opening of Town’s only season in the Premier League.
Fjortoft was and still is the clubs most expensive signing costing a healthy £500,000. He was worth it though. Town knew they needed a decent player to stand a chance of staying in the Premier League. Fjortoft was capped 41 times for Norway prior to joining Swindon.
Fjortoft became a fan favourite right away scoring a hat trick for Town during their pre season friendly against Inter Turku, however when league play began Fjortoft struggled.
Fjortoft eventually found his scoring boots and continued to be a crowd favourite with his fly past salute everytime he scored.
Fjortoft’s best month’s came after relegation from the Premier League was confirmed. Fjortoft went on to score 25 goals thats season, with most of them coming in the Coca Cola cup competion.
Fjortoft scored a memorable hat trick against Charlton in in the away leg to overturn a 3-1 deficit on aggregate which paved the way for Town to reach the semi finals of the competition.
After Swindon’s defeat to Bolton in the Coca Cola Cup then manager Steve McMahon decided to sell off any hopes of Swindon avoiding relegation to the second division by selling Fjortoft for £1.5 Million to Middlesborough.
It soon became apparent that Fjortoft and McMahon did not see eye to eye. Fjortoft was voted player of the season by the fans with his hard work and determination but McMahon failed to see the value Fjortoft brought to the club by saying ‘Who voted for him? his Mum and Dad?
Fans still to this day talk of the good old days of Jan Age Fjortoft and how hard he worked.
