David Nielsen

David Nielsen

Nielsen in 2008
Personal information
Full name	David Jean Nielsen
Date of birth	(1976-12-01) 1 December 1976 (age 46)
Place of birth	Skagen, Denmark
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
1982–1992	Skagen
1992–1993	Frederikshavn
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1993–1996	OB	9	(2)
1996	→ Lyngby (loan)	13	(10)
1996–1997	Fortuna Düsseldorf	13	(1)
1997–2001	Copenhagen	108	(36)
2000–2001	→ Grimsby Town (loan)	16	(5)
2001–2002	Wimbledon	23	(4)
2001–2002	→ Norwich City (loan)	5	(5)
2002–2003	Norwich City	21	(3)
2003–2005	AaB	40	(17)
2005–2006	Midtjylland	30	(8)
2006–2007	Start	13	(5)
2007	OB	14	(3)
2008	→ Strømsgodset (loan)	23	(9)
2009–2010	Brann	33	(4)
2011	Fyllingen	0	(0)
Total		361	(112)
International career
1992	Denmark U16	3	(3)
1991–1992	Denmark U17	21	(14)
1993–1995	Denmark U19	18	(13)
1996–1997	Denmark U21	8	(3)
Managerial career
2011	Løv-Ham (assistant)
2011–2013	Nest-Sotra
2014	Strømsgodset (assistant)
2014–2015	Strømsgodset
2015–2017	Lyngby BK
2017–2022	AGF
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

David Jean Nielsen (born 1 December 1976) is a Danish former professional footballer and manager.

He played for a number of Danish clubs, as well as Fortuna Düsseldorf in Germany and English clubs Grimsby Town, Wimbledon and Norwich City. His greatest triumph was the 1997 Danish Cup victory, which he won with Danish club F.C. Copenhagen. He played 46 matches and scored 33 goals for various Danish youth national teams between 1992 and 1997, including eight games and three goals for the Denmark U21 national team.

Nielsen has attracted controversy at various times in his career for falling into serious gambling debt, assaulting a teammate and then, in November 2008, admitting matchfixing in a Danish game played in 2004.

Playing career

Born in Skagen, Nielsen started playing youth football in Skagen IK and Frederikshavn fI. He scored 17 goals in 24 matches for the Danish under-16 and under-17 national teams. He received offers from English club Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich in Germany, ^[1] but decided to stay in Denmark, as he was brought to OB in the top-flight Danish Superliga in May 1993, 16 years old. ^[2] Here he became known for his elaborate goal celebration, a round off stretch jump with a backtuck. ^[1]

He was loaned out to Lyngby FC in January 1996, where he got his national breakthrough with 10 goals in 13 league games. When his Odense contract ran out in the Summer 1996, he moved abroad to play for Fortuna Düsseldorf in the Bundesliga championship. He did not find playing success with the club, and after half a year in Germany, Nielsen moved back to Denmark to play for F.C. Copenhagen in a DEM 600,000 transfer deal in February 1997. ^[3] He played three and a half years at F.C. Copenhagen, with whom he won the 1997 Danish Cup. He was club top goalscorer in 1998, 1999 and 2000, and was elected 1999 F.C. Copenhagen Player of the Year.

He was loaned out to English club Grimsby Town in the second tier of English football, the English First Division in October 2000, as Grimsby had a hard time scoring goals. ^[4] When his loan deal ended in March 2001, Nielsen moved on to English club Wimbledon F.C. on a free transfer. He joined Norwich City F.C. on loan in December 2001, and scored five goals in five games during his loan spell, including one against his parent club, ^[5] prompting Norwich manager Nigel Worthington to pay £210,000 to Wimbledon to secure his services on a permanent basis. Whilst playing for Norwich City he was a member of the team that reached the final of the First Division play-offs in May 2002. However, he was unable to maintain his initial impressive scoring rate and left the club at his own request to return to Denmark in August 2003.

He signed with Superliga club Aalborg BK (AaB), where he rediscovered his goalscoring ability. Following a training ground bust-up with teammate Allan Gaarde in February 2005, Nielsen was fired by the club. Within days, he was hired by league rivals FC Midtjylland, to replace Egyptian striker Mohamed Zidan. He was let go by FCM in May 2006, and he moved abroad to play for Norwegian club IK Start. He became an immediate hit scoring seven goals in 21 matches, but left the club during the reign of manager Stig Inge Bjørnebye. On 20 July 2007, he signed a three-year contract with the Danish Superliga side OB. On 26 March he went on a loan deal with the Norwegian club Strømsgodset Toppfotball, for the rest of 2008.

Nielsen was sold to the Norwegian club Brann as a part of a deal were Njougu Demba Nyren went in the opposite direction in January 2009. ^{[6] [7]} During his stay in Brann, Nielsen has spent most of his time as a substitute and when he has been playing he has had the role as a facilitator for the other striker Erik Huseklepp. ^[8] After his contract with Brann expired in June 2010 Nielsen planned to stay in Bergen and together with Per Ove Ludvigsen and Kjetil Knutsen offer organized soccer practice for kids through a company called Max Fotball. ^[9]

Controversies

By April 2004, David Nielsen and fellow AaB teammate Jimmy Nielsen had racked up a debt of €201,000 with bookmakers in Aalborg. ^[10] AaB director Lynge Jacobsen decided to help out financially and arranged for gambling addiction counselling.

In his 2008 autobiography, Nielsen admitted playing to deliberately lose a Superliga match between AaB and his former club F.C. Copenhagen in May 2004. As AaB had lost the Danish Cup final to F.C. Copenhagen earlier that year, winning the Superliga would propel F.C. Copenhagen into the UEFA Champions League and hand their UEFA Cup-berth as the Danish Cup winners on to the losing finalists from AaB. Nielsen was also motivated by his gambling debts, ^[11] as UEFA Cup qualification would wield him a personal DKK300,000 bonus. ^[12] AaB and F.C. Copenhagen drew the match, and F.C. Copenhagen eventually won the 2003–04 Superliga championship by one point.

In February 2005, Nielsen was sacked by AaB when he physically attacked teammate Allan Gaarde during a training session, leaving him with a concussion. ^[10] Nielsen later explained in his autobiography that Gaarde was "pretentious... talking loudly about wine in Italian. "I told him: 'The next time you speak Italian I will break you in half. You're not f***ing Italian – you spent eight months there.' So when he did it again I decided to break his shitting legs like sticks. I jumped at him and bang. Jackpot. Felt good." ^[10]

During the pre-season of 2010–11, in a friendly against English side Leeds United, he made a 'shocking high-footed' tackle against winger Robert Snodgrass, who was injured and missed the start of the campaign. ^[13]

Managerial career

Nielsen was appointed assistant manager of Løv-Ham on 27 May 2011. ^[14] Later that summer, he was appointed manager of Nest-Sotra. ^[15] After saving the club from relegation from the 2. Divisjon in 2011, he led them to a 4th place in 2012 and promotion to the 1. division in 2013.

On 11 November 2013, he was appointed assistant manager of Strømsgodset. ^[16] After just seven months, he was appointed manager, when Ronny Deila left for the vacant managing position at Celtic. ^[17] On 26 May 2015, Strømsgodset announced that Nielsen would step down as manager in mutual agreement with the club. ^[18]

On 17 June 2015, he signed a three-year-contract as manager for Danish 1st Division club Lyngby Boldklub. ^[19]

On 30 September 2017, he signed a three-year contract as coach for Danish Superliga team AGF. ^[20]

Personal life

David Nielsen was born in Denmark to a DR Congolese father, and a Danish mother. ^[21]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
OB	1994–95	Danish Superliga	8	2			8	2
	1995–96		1	0			1	0
	Total		9	2			9	2
Lyngby BK (loan)	1995–96	Danish Superliga	13	10			13	10
Fortuna Düsseldorf	1996–97	Bundesliga	13	1	2	1	15	2
F.C. Copenhagen	1996–97	Danish Superliga	14	1			14	1
	1997–98		31	11			31	11
	1998–99		30	15			30	15
	1999–00		26	8			26	8
	2000–01		7	1			7	1
	Total		108	36			108	36
Grimsby Town (loan)	2000–01	First Division	17	5	2	1	19	6
Wimbledon	2000–01	First Division	11	2	0	0	11	2
	2001–02		12	2	1	0	13	2
	Total		23	4	1	0	24	4
Norwich City	2001–02	First Division	23	8	3	0	26	8
	2002–03		33	6	4	0	37	6
	2003–04		2	0	1	0	3	0
	Total		58	14	8	0	66	14
AaB	2003–04	Danish Superliga	24	11			24	11
	2004–05		16	6			16	6
	Total		40	17			40	17
FC Midtjylland	2004–05	Danish Superliga	10	2			10	2
	2005–06		20	6			20	6
	Total		30	8			30	8
Start	2006	Tippeligaen	13	5	2	3	15	8
	2007		8	2	1	1	9	3
	Total		21	7	3	4	24	11
OB	2007–08	Danish Superliga	14	3	0	0	14	3
Strømsgodset (loan)	2008	Tippeligaen	23	9	3	2	26	11
Brann	2009	Tippeligaen	23	4	2	2	25	6
	2010		10	0	0	0	10	0
	Total		33	4	2	2	35	6
Fyllingen	2011	Third Division	0	0	1	0	1	0
Career total			402	120	22	10	424	130

Managerial statistics

As of 21 May 2022

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				M	W	D	L	Win%	Ref.
Nest-Sotra		13 July 2011	11 November 2013	72	41	10	21	056.94	[22]
Strømsgodset		7 June 2014	26 May 2015	33	14	5	14	042.42	[23]
Lyngby		17 June 2015	30 September 2017	92	47	17	28	051.09	[24]
AGF		30 September 2017	22 May 2022	184	73	51	60	039.67	[25]
Total				381	175	83	123	045.93	—

Honours

As player

F.C. Copenhagen

• Danish Cup: 1997

Individual

• F.C. Copenhagen Player of the Year: 1999

As manager

Lyngby BK

• Danish 1st Division: 2015–16

References

1. Larsen, Torben (20 May 1993). "Ingen kan juble så smukt". B.T (in Danish).
2. Rasmussen, Leif (4 May 1993). "Ob skærer i truppen". Ekstra Bladet (in Danish).
3. Thye-Petersen, Christian (26 February 1997). "Skiftedag hos FCK". Jyllands-Posten (in Danish).
4. Dam, Steffen (12 October 2000). "En ny start for David Nielsen". Jyllands-Posten (in Danish).
5. "Norwich 2-1 Wimbledon". BBC Sport. 22 December 2001. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
6. "OB køber Demba-Nyrén" (in Danish). Ob.dk. 21 January 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
7. "Sportsklubben Brann – Ekte lidenskap har et navn" (in Norwegian). Brann.no. Retrieved 26 January 2009.^{[ dead link ]}
8. Pamer, Anders (5 May 2010). "Nielsen legger opp". Bergens Tidende (in Norwegian). Bergen. Archived from the original on 8 May 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
9. Pamer, Anders (7 May 2010). "Lanserer private treninger for barn". Bergens Tidende (in Norwegian). Bergen. Archived from the original on 9 May 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
10. "PLANET SOCCER – The Irish Times – Mon, Nov 03, 2008". The Irish Times. 3 November 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
11. "David Nielsen har ikke betalt sin gæld" Archived 24 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine Nordjyske.dk. 26 May 2004
12. "David Nielsen ville tabe med vilje" (in Danish). Jyllands-Posten. 30 October 2008. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
13. Hansen, Ole Jonny Eriksrud (27 July 2010). "Becchio senket Brann". Nettavisen (in Norwegian).
14. "David Nielsen blir Løv-Ham-trener". www.ba.no. 27 May 2011.
15. Svendsen, Roy Hilmar (10 October 2013). "David Nielsen forlater Nest-Sotra". NRK.
16. "Nielsen er klar for Godset". www.dt.no. 11 November 2013.
17. "Fast ansatt som hovedtrener". www.godset.no. Strømsgodset Toppfotball. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
18. "David Nielsen fratrer som trener". Archived from the original on 26 May 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
19. "David Nielsen bliver ny cheftræner i Lyngby" . Retrieved 17 June 2015.
20. "Riddersholm fyret - David Nielsen ny cheftræner i AGF". DR (in Danish). 30 September 2017. Archived from the original on 30 September 2017.
21. "David Nielsen: Jeg var aldrig blevet cheftræner, hvis jeg havde haft en far i mit liv". DR.
22. "Nest-Sotra: Matches". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
23. "Strømsgodset IF: Matches". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
24. "Lyngby BK: Matches". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
25. "Aarhus Gymnastikforening: Matches". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 8 November 2022.

Further reading

• Nielsen, David; Ankersen, Jonas (2008), Sorte svin, Copenhagen: Turbulenz, ISBN   978-87-991918-1-9 .

External links

• David Nielsen at the Danish Football Association (in Danish)
• Danish Superliga statistics (in Danish)
• Ex-Canaries – Norwich City profile
• David Nielsen at fussballdaten.de (in German)
• David Nielsen at Soccerbase
• "David Nielsen". Norsk & Internasjonal Fotballstatistikk (in Norwegian). NTB . Retrieved 28 April 2009.