erik the viking

Gazza revolutionises gloves!
Gazza's pranks kept 'The Viking' entertained

Last updated: 11th December 2010
Gazza revolutionises gloves!

Thorstvedt: FA Cup winner

How do you get hold of an ostrich, which Gazza did, then put a Steve Sedgley over it and let it loose on the training pitch!

Erik Thorstvedt
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Over the last two decades, we here at Soccer AM have learnt that when Gazza's around there's simply never a dull moment!

Tonnes of footballers have sat on the orange sofas over the years to tell hilarious stories about the former midfield maestro, and on Saturday Erik Thorstvedt became the latest in a long list.

The former Tottenham shot-stopper, known as 'The Viking', played alongside arguably one of the most gifted footballers of his generation and couldn't wait to tell Helen and Max about his eccentric side.

"Gazza was an absolute looney who could do the craziest stuff, but worse than that was that he could get Steve Sedgley to do even worse things," he told Soccer AM.

"The discipline was very lax and some of the stuff that went on was extremely funny, but not everything."

Bowels

Needless to say but 'The Viking' was on the receiving end of his fair share of Gazza pranks, but one in particular stood out.

No doubt fully aware that a goalkeeper's gloves are his most prized possession, the White Hart Lane dressing room clown convinced Sedgley to empty his bowels inside Thorstvedt's gloves!

Luckily for them the 6ft 4in Norwegian saw the funny side of it, and he revealed it turned out to be a bit of a good luck charm!

He said: "I actually always thought that it was Gazza who did this, but Razor Ruddock told me yesterday that it was actually Sedge.

"The funny thing was that the grip was tremendous afterwards! It really improved. I didn't give a rebound for two years after that incident. So it's revolutionised the goalkeeping glove manufacturing market!"

They say what goes around comes around, but in Gazza's case it just kept on going according to the former Norway international.

"I mean how do you manage to bring in an ostrich into training!?" he continued.

"How do you get hold of an ostrich, which Gazza did, then put a Steve Sedgley over it and let it loose on the training pitch!

"He told me once that when he was in Italy he struggled with the language, they spoke Italian, he didn't know that beforehand!

"He was trying to order something in a restaurant with a massive fish tank. He was going to have that lobster, but they didn't understand him so he actually went in (to the fish tank), with his suit, went to the bottom and came up (with a lobster) and said 'I want this one'!"

Title

Having spent seven years at White Hart Lane between 1989-1996, the 48-year-old says the club still holds a special place in his heart.

But while he has been impressed with how well they have done in recent seasons, he believes talk of a title charge are premature.

"They're doing tremendously well," he said. "The size and the quality of the squad (is excellent), because they've had loads of injuries, but it doesn't seem to matter.

"Of course they can (win the title), but I don't think they will. If they can manage top four again that would be fantastic, but with Man City spending all that money it's going to be difficult to get passed them."