Eirik Bakke
 |
|||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Eirik Bakke | ||
| Date of birth | 13 September 1977 | ||
| Place of birth | Sogndal, Norway | ||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Sogndal | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1993–1999 | Sogndal | 99 | (18) |
| 1999–2006 | Leeds United | 143 | (8) |
| 2005–2006 | → Aston Villa (loan) | 14 | (0) |
| 2006–2010 | Brann | 82 | (8) |
| 2011–2012 | Sogndal | 38 | (1) |
| Total | 386 | (35) | |
| National team | |||
| 1996–1999 | Norway U21 | 34 | (1) |
| 1999–2008 | Norway | 27 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2015– | Sogndal | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 00:45, 20 December 2012 (UTC). |
|||
Eirik Bakke (born 13 September 1977 in Sogndal) is a Norwegian retired football player. He played on the right-hand side or centre of midfield.
Bakke played 99 matches for Sogndal. His father Svein formerly played for the team.
Bakke was bought by Leeds United in 1999 from Sogndal for £1.75 million. After an encouraging start to his career at Leeds in 1999 and 2000, injuries and poor form meant that he never quite became a mainstay of the Leeds squad, even after the club was relegated from the Premiership in 2004.
Bakke's career has been blighted by recurrent knee injuries. Patella tendinitis kept him out of the team for the start of the 2004-05 season and he was struck with a torn cruciate ligament on his return in January 2005. In August 2005, having recovered from his injury, Bakke was loaned to Aston Villa. The loan however was ended early after Leeds told Villa that they would only let Bakke go permanently, not on loan and Doug Ellis, Villa's chairman at the time, decided that it was not worth permanently acquiring his services.
Speculation continued as to Bakke's future when he was left out of the Leeds United squad for the match against Sheffield Wednesday on 27 August 2006 with some in the press and supporters speculating that this was due to an imminent transfer. A club statement was released on 29 August 2006 by Leeds United effectively stating that Bakke had played his last game in Leeds United colours. Bakke however stated he would like to stay at the club, and still trained with the club, despite not playing, not wanting to return to playing in Norway at that point in time. The problem arose due to his £23,000 a week wages and £4,000 appearance fees, which were originally agreed during Ridsdale's "Living The Dream" era, but which the club could no longer afford to pay in the league they were currently playing in. Leeds United tried to resolve the issue by attempting to meet Bakke half way so that the player could stay at the club on lesser wages but Bakke's agent stated he wanted the contractually agreed wage. The situation did not look good for Bakke, with Leeds chairman Ken Bates having already terminated Seth Johnson's contract due to excessive wages as part of a determined effort to make Leeds a successful and profitable club once more. Bakke left, being the third last 'O'Leary player' left at Leeds.
...
Wikipedia