Ex-Bolton Wanderers boss Colin Todd exclusive: Great Danes, Jaaskelainen & Big Sam

The Bolton News caught up with him this summer to relive a time of excitement, controversy, promotions and relegations, as the club said farewell to Burnden and launched a new era down the road at the Reebok.

THE face of English football was changed forever after Euro 96, as the Premier League opened its doors and minds wider to foreign influences and the transfer market suddenly felt like it had global reach.

Those who had flourished in the tournament were suddenly hot property – Liverpool snapped up Patrik Berger, Manchester United Karel Poborsky and, erm, West Ham got Florin Raducioiu.

Arsene Wenger landed at Arsenal, which was bad news for ex-Wanderers boss Bruce Rioch, and brought with him two Frenchman, Manu Petit and Patrick Vieira.

But outside the top-flight, things were still decidedly meat and two veg. Ipswich and Barnsley had a smattering of Dutchmen, like Bobby Petta and Arjan de Zeeuw, Portsmouth had signed Swedish target man Matthias Svensson and Manchester City – lest we forget their pre-Emirates billing - had the Georgians Georgi Kinkladze, Mikhail Kavelashvili and Germans Ike Immel and Mikael Frontzeck, at least for a while.

Bolton were determined to get on board and diversify their own scouting network. Richard Sneekes and Fabian De Freitas had been a success, although the latter fell out with Colin Todd during the 1995/96 season and was quickly moved on. Icelander Gudni Bergsson – who had been plying his trade in England since the late eighties – was also very much part of the furniture.

Now Wanderers boss Todd was looking to tap a market that had already sent plenty of top class players to the Premier League, in Denmark.

“I had it in my mind that I wanted to look at Scandinavia and I spoke to an agent called Richard Cody, who has since passed away, and he was a good friend of mine.

“We wanted a certain type of player. Someone who could come in, work hard, get goals, and who wouldn’t need too much time to settle into the culture in England.

“Denmark was perfect, so I told him I wanted to go and watch a couple of games to get a feel of the quality of football.”

In theory, the plan was perfect. Euro 96 has distracted the top clubs, and those who did not feature on our TV screens might just be within reach.

Todd admits, however, he got a bit of a rude awakening in his first game.

“The first one we went to was Lyngby. I walked out after 20 minutes, and I said to Richard: ‘I can’t be watching this, it’s rubbish!’” he said.

“He took me to FC Copenhagen, which was about 20 minutes away, and we caught the second half – and that’s where I saw Michael Johansen and Per Frandsen. But in the 20 minutes I’d been at Lyngby, in fairness, I had spotted Claus Jensen and kept him in the back of my mind.

“I pursued Michael and Per, went to watch them in a couple more away games, and eventually convinced my chairman, Gordon Hargreaves, that it was the right thing to sign them. They weren’t cheap but, eventually, they played a major part in the football club, played a lot of games and gave enjoyment to the crowd.

“A year later I went and got Claus Jensen, who was a quality player, and we had the Great Danes. I think I had one disappointment, which was the boy Bo Hansen, who didn’t really settle. They had set big standards but he didn’t quite meet them.”

Todd would be the first Bolton manager to truly spread the transfer net far and wide.

He would later grab a relatively unknown Jamaican youngster called Ricardo Gardner from the Reggae Boyz’ World Cup squad and bring him to the UK for £1million, sign a South African defender from Lazio – Mark Fish – and also continue the Icelandic connection with a certain young striker, Eidur Gudjohnsen, who had been playing at PSV Eindhoven.

But an import of which Todd is especially proud came in the form of fresh-faced Finnish goalkeeper, Jussi Jaaskelainen, who had been on trial with Norwich City before Bolton made their move.

“I went out to watch an international game, I think it was Sweden v Finland, and the day before watched the Under-21s,” Todd recalled. “After the match I phoned my chairman and told him about this keeper we had to pursue. It was Jussi Jaaskelainen.

“I saw a goalkeeper who had very strong potential. He could come for crosses, he was commanding, alert, bright, and a good shot-stopper. I said to myself ‘he will be a keeper in the making’.

“His temperament was excellent. In fact, I remember going up to play Sunderland and staying in the Royal County in Durham and Jussi came down the evening before and said to me that he wasn’t very well.

“One the bus to the game he wasn’t happy but I made the decision to play him. I think that was the one time I ever saw him concerned about playing. I might be totally wrong and I know he didn’t perform well, we lost 3-0, but in general he was a very, very good keeper. I am sure he turned down big moves for £6million at one stage.”

Jaaskelainen would go on to become one of the Premier League very best goalkeepers and go close to Eddie Hopkinson’s all-time record for appearances at Bolton.

Todd feels disappointed, however, that signings like Jaaskelainen, Gardner and Gudjohnsen are often associated with his successor, Sam Allardyce, rather than himself.

“This is where it hurts me, sometimes,” he said. “Sam (Allardyce) tries to take the credit for that, and for players like Ricardo Gardner, and that is where I get bitterly disappointed with things in football because I made what I consider some astute signings there.”