Putting the focus on those players who have had long and well-travelled careers in the game, but only made a brief stop off at Molineux.
This week, we focus on a Danish international midfielder who spent just three months with the Old Gold on loan from fellow English club Tottenham Hotspur – Allan Nielsen.
Before Wolves
Nielsen first started out with the youth set up of his hometown club Esbjerg fB, whom he joined from the academy of Saedding-Guldager Idraetsforening, before taking the leap and moving away from home to join German Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich at the age of 18. Although he featured regularly for the club’s B team, in his three years in Munich, Nielsen played only six minutes for the senior side, coming on as a substitute late on in a 7-3 win over Hertha BSC.
Having failed to make the breakthrough at Bayern, Nielsen left Germany in June 1991 and signed a deal with Swiss outfit FC Sion – however he never played a professional game for the club, and the midfielder swiftly moved back to Denmark where he joined Odense BK.
Nielsen spent two seasons in Odense, coming straight into the side for their Danish Superliga campaign, and scoring twice in his eight appearances in his debut season. During his second year with OB, the midfielder hit the ground running, scoring in an opening day 4-0 league win over Naestved IF, before helping the side to a second-place finish, but he enjoyed his first piece of silverware, as part of the team that won the 1993 Danish Cup.
He moved to league rivals – and 1992/93 champions – FC Copenhagen the following season, where he was made captain, although in his only year with the team, Copenhagen only managed a sixth-place finish. After his year in the Danish capital, Nielsen was called up for the Danish national team for the first time, making his international debut against Armenia in August 1995 where he scored within 45 seconds of coming on as a substitute in a 2-0 win.
He then moved to Brondby, who narrowly missed out on the title, and in his only season there, finally won his first Danish Superliga championship with Nielsen named as the club’s Player of the Year. Thanks to his appearances for Brondy, Nielsen was named in Denmark’s squad for Euro 1996 in England, where the midfielder scored in a 3-0 group stage win against Turkey – the reigning champions’ only victory in the competition.
Nielsen remained in England after Euro 1996, as he signed for Premier League outfit Tottenham Hotspur for a £1.65 million fee. While at Spurs, Nielsen played more than 100 times in all competitions, while also representing his country at the 1998 World Cup, scoring a single goal against South Africa.
However, the midfielder was pivotal to Tottenham’s 1999 League Cup success. In the dying moments of the final, with Spurs and Leicester City tied at 0-0, the Dane scored a diving header to give his side the victory, while also being named man of the match.
Wolves career
Just a year on from his League Cup success with Spurs, Nielsen dropped down into the First Division as he was loaned out to Wolves. The three-month move to Molineux came about after the Danish midfielder had fallen out with Tottenham manager George Graham.
No longer wanted by George, Nielsen desired regular football in a bid to make Denmark’s Euro 2000 squad, so moved down a league to step out in gold and black, where he joined Colin Lee’s side and stood out like a sore thumb, with Nielsen much too good to be playing in the First Division. It didn’t take the Dane long to make an impression at Molineux, being names man of the match on his debut as Wolves drew 2-2 at home to Stockport County.
Niesen netted for the first time for the Old Gold just two games later, helping Wolves to a 2-1 win in the Black Country over Blackburn Rovers, while in another man of the match display, he found the net as the team claimed a 3-0 victory at home to Fulham in his penultimate outing.
The last of his seven games for the club came away at Bolton Wanderers, but Nielsen was unable to stop Wolves from falling to a 2-1 defeat, which ultimately cost Lee’s side a place in the play-offs, having finished the season behind six-placed Trotters by just two points.
After Wolves
His time at Wolves was enough to see Nielsen picked for Denmark at Euro 2000, as well as securing a permanent move away from White Hart Lane as he joined Graham Taylor’s Watford for £2.5 million – which at the time was the Hornet’s record transfer fee.
In his first campaign at Vicarage Road, Nielsen dominated in the English second tier, scoring 10 times in the 2000/01 season, the best goalscoring season in his career, but his goals were not enough to secure Watford a place in the play-offs. He continued to find the net regularly for the Hornets as the team struggled in both the 2001/02 and 2002/03 seasons, finishing just 13th and 14th in the First Division.
With Watford struggling financially, Nielsen – who had made more than a century of appearances for the side – was one of several big-name players released by the club in the summer of 2003, as the midfielder returned to Denmark for the final years of his career. He initially joined Superliga relegation battlers Herfolge Boldklub in the role of player/assistant coach, but after a bad first half of the season, he was promoted to player/head coach as he teamed up with former national team colleague Michael Schjonberg, with the pair successfully guiding Herfolge to safety.
That was to be the midfielder’s final season as a player, as he started the 2004/05 season focusing exclusively on coaching, but his switch to full-time coach was to no avail as the team were unable to avoid the drop second time round. After relegation was confirmed, Nielsen announced his coaching days were over.
This article originally featured in Wolves' official 2023/24 matchday programme. Last season's programmes are still available to purchase online through retailers Curtis Sports.
