Jan Åge Fjørtoft, on Norway + England's Nadir

It Was What It Was : The Football History Podcast

The Overlap

History, Rob Draper, Jonathan Wilson, Football, It What Was What It Was, The Overlap, Football History, Premier League, Four Four Two, When Saturday Comes, English Football, The Blizzard, Stick To Football, Sports, Soccer

4.9 • 667 Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2026

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Welcome back to It Was What It Was, the football history podcast. Today co-hosts Jonathan Wilson and Rob Draper are joined by a very special returning guest - Jan Fjørtoft! In this episode, we will explore Norway’s remarkable rise in the early 1990s and their famous 2–0 win over Graham Taylor’s England in 1993. Fjørtoft explains how Egil “Drillo” Olsen took a previously struggling national team and built belief through a disciplined, direct style, carefully defined roles, and detailed match analysis using hand-written stats and video. The episode breaks down the key tactical choices that unsettled England, revisits both Norway goals, and follows the qualifier run that took Norway to their first World Cup since 1938. Norway will return to the World Cup this summer for the first time since 1998. This episode will be followed by a three part special on Graham Taylor.

01:12 Norway before the rise

04:09 Olsen arrives and stirs

06:47 Direct football philosophy

14:31 Stats and analysis

20:05 Defined roles and system

23:40 Beating England

28:12 Tactical switch

31:33 Gascoigne fitness factor

32:50 Olsen’s Selection Mind Games

37:20 Two Goals Breakdown

42:41 Road to USA 94 Sealed

45:45 Poland Night and Wild Celebrations

48:46 Heroes Welcome in Norway

52:04 World Cup Heat Prep Fiasco

59:59 Egil Olsen Legacy

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to It Was What It Was with me, Rob Draper. I'm here with Jonathan Wilson and today we are starting what we think is a really exciting four-part series on an iconic team and an iconic moment in English football history.
0:22.7	We are in fact celebrating Norway who have qualified for the World Cup.
0:27.1	We think that's a good enough reason to do this really brilliant series, we think,
0:32.2	on the Norwegian team of the 1990s because of course it coincide with one of England's most iconic defeats
0:40.1	against Norway. The do I not like that, Graham Taylor defeat. And that will lead us into a
0:45.4	little series on Graham Taylor and his time at England. As you know, we love Graham Taylor on a show
0:51.3	and I love him. But this was probably his nadir,
0:54.3	but very interesting time to take a look at. And to do all of that, we've got a super, super
0:59.1	guest coming on the show, who's totally involved with this England-Norway game that kind of
1:05.2	went down in history. And that guest is Jan, Agueff, Jan, welcome to the show.
1:10.9	Thank you very much, and it's a pleasure to be on. So if we could go back, we're going to talk today about Norway, about that great period Norway had in the 90s under Regal Olson. But if we could sort of set a bit of context, I mean, you made your international debut when you were 19, in 1986. What is the state of Norwegian football then? I mean, Norway haven't been at a World Cup since 1938.
1:30.9	Todd Grip has managed,
1:31.9	who people may remember as Sonia and Erickson's assistant for a long time.
1:36.1	And those Euro qualifiers,
1:38.7	you end up finishing bottom of the group behind Iceland.
1:42.2	Then you have World Cup qualifying for Italian 90 under Inglash
1:45.7	Stathheim and you finished fourth of five. So when Egel Olsen comes in, the situation, at least on the
1:52.7	face of it, doesn't look promising. But what did it feel like at the time? Where did you place
1:57.4	Norwegian football before Egel Altson? Well, I'm born 67, and so my heroes are Norwegian football, we had our heroes from abroad.
2:06.0	Then again, we saw European Championship of the World Cup.
2:09.1	So the Norwegian players were my heroes.
2:11.6	When I got older, then I started, wow, they're all the bottom of the group.
	...

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