John Jensen nicknamed
Faxe, is a former
DanishDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
international
footballAssociation football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
er who is unemployed. He is known for his temper and is often outspoken in interviews. His playing career lasted over a decade, during which he played most famously for
Arsenal F.C.Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and amounted four goals in 69 caps for the
Danish national teamThe Denmark national football team represents Denmark in association football and is controlled by the Danish Football Association , the governing body for the football clubs which are organized under DBU...
, including a successful 1992 European Championship tournament, in which he scored the opening goal in Denmark's 2–0 final victory.
Biography
He started his career at
Brøndby IFBrøndby IF is a Danish professional football club based in Brøndbyvester, Brøndby, on the western outskirts of Copenhagen and is the biggest football club in Denmark with almost 2000 members. The club is also known as Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening, or Brøndby and BIF for short...
, and was an important part of the team which won several Danish championships in the late 1980s, crowned by a call-up to the Denmark national team and the Danish
Player of the Year award in 1987. Following a short stay with
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
team
Hamburger SVHamburger Sport-Verein, usually referred to as HSV in Germany and Hamburg in international parlance, is a German multi-sport club based in Hamburg, its largest branch being its football department...
in 1988, he was back with Brøndby in 1990 where he took part in the club's successful 1991
UEFA CupThe UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
campaign which reached the semi-final of the tournament.
Premiership move
After scoring in Denmark's 2–0 1992 European Championship final win over
GermanyThe Germany national football team is the football team that has represented Germany in international competition since 1908. It is governed by the German Football Association , which was founded in 1900....
, Jensen was signed by
George GrahamGeorge Graham is a Scottish former football player and manager. He is best remembered for his success at Arsenal, as a player in the 1970s and then as manager from 1986 until 1995.-Early life:...
for
ArsenalArsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
to succeed
Leeds UnitedLeeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...
bound
David RocastleDavid Carlyle Rocastle, nicknamed Rocky, was an English football player, who spent the majority of his career at Arsenal...
in central midfield, after a bid to sign
Geoff ThomasGeoff Thomas born Manchester, England is a former English footballer, who won nine caps for the full England team and captained Crystal Palace to the FA Cup final in 1990...
from
Crystal PalaceCrystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...
failed.
He was part of the 1992–93 side that won the
FA CupThe Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
and
League CupThe Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
in the same season, the 1993–94 side that won the European Cup Winners Cup (although he missed the final through injury) and the 1994–95 side that lost in the Cup-Winners Cup final. He was one of only 12 foreign players to play on the opening weekend of the
FA Premier LeagueThe Premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with The Football League. The Premier...
.a
He played 132 games for Arsenal, but he is chiefly remembered for the cult hero status he earned, somewhat akin to
Perry GrovesPerry Groves is a former English footballer, known chiefly for his time at Arsenal. He was a fast-paced player who usually played as winger, and occasionally as a striker...
before him. No matter how hard Jensen tried (and, for a defensive
midfielderA midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...
, he tried exceptionally hard), he could not score a goal. The Arsenal fans came up with a song, "We'll be there when Jensen scores!" and by 1994, Jensen's search for a goal was such a cult cause that whenever he got the ball, no matter whether he was inside his own penalty area or bearing down on goal, the Arsenal fans would implore him to "Shooooot!".
Solitary goal
Jensen finally got his first goal after 98 matches, on a cold and wet afternoon against
Queens Park RangersQueens Park Rangers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in White City, Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. As the 2010-11 Football League Championship champions, they now play in the top tier of English football the Premier League, for the first time in 15 years...
on 31 December 1994. Arsenal were losing 1–0, when Jensen picked the ball up just inside the penalty area near the left-hand corner, about 16 yards from goal. The crowd gave the obligatory bellow of "shoot!", and Jensen complied, curling a shot into the net, prompting wild celebration from the Arsenal fans. The fans sang
Johnny Jensen, Johnny, Johnny Jensen for the rest of the evening. However, a defensive error and then a goalkeeping error from
Vince BartramVincent Lee Bartram is an English former professional footballer, who played as a goalkeeper. He is now goalkeeping coach at Southampton F.C.-Career:...
resulted in Arsenal eventually losing the match 3–1. The goal is still remembered though and one can still see t-shirts around Highbury saying
I saw John Jensen score. During the years he spent at Arsenal, John Jensen actually managed to score two goals in 21 games for the Danish national team: one against Albania in 1993 and one against Belgium in 1994.
A few months later, it was revealed that Jensen's transfer to Highbury was at least partly motivated by George Graham's involvement with agent
Rune HaugeRune Hauge is a Norwegian football agent.In English football, Hauge is best known as the agent who represented John Jensen and Pål Lydersen during their transfers to Arsenal in the early 1990s. This would lead to Arsenal manager George Graham becoming embroiled in allegations that Hauge paid him a...
, who had been giving Graham backhanders in exchange for signing players he represented. The first player involved in this '
bungBribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
' scandal was
NorwegianNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
defender
Pål LydersenPål Lydersen is a Norwegian former football player.A full back, Lydersen played for I.K. Start, until he was signed by English club Arsenal in 1991...
, and the second was Jensen. Graham was sacked from his job two months after the story broke, and he was subsequently banned from football for 12 months. Jensen played on for 18 months before he left Highbury in the summer of 1996, with only the solitary goal against QPR to his name from 138 competitive appearances for the club. He rejoined his old club, Brøndby IF.
Coaching career
He retired from full-time playing in 1999 and accepted the job of player/manager at Herfølge BK, a small Danish club, and immediately made a name for himself by winning the Danish Superliga on
his first attemptThe 1999–2000 Danish Superliga season was the 10th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association...
. However, Herfølge's success was short-lived, and they were relegated from the Superliga in the
2001 seasonThe 2000–01 Danish Superliga season was the 11th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association...
. Jensen's reputation with his old club was good enough to secure him a move back to Brøndby IF, as assistant manager to
Michael LaudrupMichael Laudrup is a retired Danish footballer, who works as a manager and last coached La Liga side RCD Mallorca. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of football. His most prominent run of football came with Spanish club Barcelona, with whom he won four straight La...
, a position he held until June 2006, when Jensen and Laudrup did not extend their contracts with the club.
When Laudrup in 2007 was named new manager at
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
side
GetafeGetafe Club de Fútbol is a Spanish La Liga football club based in Getafe, a city in the Madrid metropolitan area, founded in 1946 and refounded in 1983.In the top level since 2004-05, it holds home games at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez....
, Jensen followed him as assistant manager. Laudrup quit Getafe after only one season, taking Jensen with him. On 12 January 2009 Jensen started as manager of
Danish SuperligaThe Danish Superliga is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest association football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams to be relegated, which proves to be one of the...
side
Randers FCRanders FC is a Danish professional football team based in Randers, which plays in the top-flight Danish Superliga championship. Founded as a merger on January 1, 2003, the club builds upon the license of Randers Freja, a former three-time Danish Cup winning team...
. On 6 October John Jensen was sacked from Randers FC after a series of nine losses and two draws in 11 matches.
On 12 January 2011 he signed a 6 month contract with Blackburn Rovers to become assistant manager and work alongside
Steve KeanStephen "Steve" Kean is a Scottish football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League.-Playing career:...
.
On 23rd May 2011 he signed a new deal one-year deal to remain as Steve Kean's assistant at Blackburn.
On Thursday 29th September he left Blackburn Rovers.
Career statistics
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1986The 1986 Danish 1st Division season was the 41st season of the Danish 1st Division league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association....
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BrøndbyBrøndby IF is a Danish professional football club based in Brøndbyvester, Brøndby, on the western outskirts of Copenhagen and is the biggest football club in Denmark with almost 2000 members. The club is also known as Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening, or Brøndby and BIF for short...
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1st DivisionThe Danish Superliga is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest association football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams to be relegated, which proves to be one of the...
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1987The 1987 Danish 1st Division season was the 42nd season of the Danish 1st Division league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association....
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1988The 1988 Danish 1st Division season was the 43rd season of the Danish 1st Division league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association....
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|1988–89||rowspan="2"|
Hamburger SVHamburger Sport-Verein, usually referred to as HSV in Germany and Hamburg in international parlance, is a German multi-sport club based in Hamburg, its largest branch being its football department...
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BundesligaThe Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...
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|1989–90||15||0||||||||||||||||
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1990The 1990 Danish 1st Division season was the 45th season of the Danish 1st Division, and the last in which it was the country's top flight. At the end of the season the new Danish Superliga was formed as the country's new top division....
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BrøndbyBrøndby IF is a Danish professional football club based in Brøndbyvester, Brøndby, on the western outskirts of Copenhagen and is the biggest football club in Denmark with almost 2000 members. The club is also known as Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening, or Brøndby and BIF for short...
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1st DivisionThe Danish Superliga is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest association football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams to be relegated, which proves to be one of the...
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1991The 1991 Danish Superliga season was the 1st season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association.After about 33 years it had been decided to abandon the format where the league would follow the calendar year, therefore the first superliga season was a...
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SuperligaThe Danish Superliga is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest association football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams to be relegated, which proves to be one of the...
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1991–92The 1991-92 Danish Superliga season was the 2nd season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association....
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1992–93The 1992–93 FA Premier League was the first season of the Premier League, the top division of English football. The league was made up of the 22 clubs that broke away from The Football League at the end of the 1991–92 season. The new league was backed up by a five-year, £305 million deal with...
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ArsenalArsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
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1993–94-New league sponsors:From the start of the 1993-94 season, the FA Premier League was sponsored by Carling Breweries.-Promoted teams:Newcastle United and West Ham were promoted to the Premier League from the First Division as champions and runners-up respectively. The last promotion place was won by...
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1994–95-Promoted teams:Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest were promoted from the Football League First Division as winners and runners-up respectively. Leicester City won the 1993-94 playoff.-Controversial incidents:...
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1995–96-Promoted teams:Due to the decision to reduce the number of clubs in the Premier League from 22 to 20, only two clubs were promoted this season: Middlesbrough as Football League First Division champions, and Bolton Wanderers who won the 1994-95 playoff.-Transfers:...
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1995–96The 1995-96 Danish Superliga season was the 6th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association....
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BrøndbyBrøndby IF is a Danish professional football club based in Brøndbyvester, Brøndby, on the western outskirts of Copenhagen and is the biggest football club in Denmark with almost 2000 members. The club is also known as Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening, or Brøndby and BIF for short...
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SuperligaThe Danish Superliga is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest association football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams to be relegated, which proves to be one of the...
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1996–97The 1996-97 Danish Superliga season was the 7th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association...
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1997–98The 1997-98 Danish Superliga season was the 8th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association. It took place from the first match on July 25, 1997 to final match on June 1, 1998....
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1998–99The 1998-99 Danish Superliga season was the 9th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association. It took place from the first match on July 26, 1998 to final match on June 16, 1999....
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1999-00The 1999–2000 Danish Superliga season was the 10th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association...
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HerfølgeHerfølge Boldklub is a Danish football club founded in 1921. It is based in Herfølge, a southern suburb of Køge in the eastern part of Zealand. In 2009, the club shared it's licence, and merged it's professional football with Køge BK to form HB Køge....
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SuperligaThe Danish Superliga is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest association football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams to be relegated, which proves to be one of the...
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2000–01The 2000–01 Danish Superliga season was the 11th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association...
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Honours
Player
- Danish Superliga
The Danish Superliga is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest association football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams to be relegated, which proves to be one of the...
(7): 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991The 1991 Danish Superliga season was the 1st season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association.After about 33 years it had been decided to abandon the format where the league would follow the calendar year, therefore the first superliga season was a...
, 1995–96The 1995-96 Danish Superliga season was the 6th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association....
, 1996–97The 1996-97 Danish Superliga season was the 7th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association...
, and 1997–98The 1997-98 Danish Superliga season was the 8th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association. It took place from the first match on July 25, 1997 to final match on June 1, 1998....
, with Brøndby IFBrøndby IF is a Danish professional football club based in Brøndbyvester, Brøndby, on the western outskirts of Copenhagen and is the biggest football club in Denmark with almost 2000 members. The club is also known as Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening, or Brøndby and BIF for short...
- Danish Player of the Year : 1987
- Euro 1992
The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth European Football Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Eight national teams contested the championship, which was won by Denmark, one of...
, with DenmarkThe Denmark national football team represents Denmark in association football and is controlled by the Danish Football Association , the governing body for the football clubs which are organized under DBU...
- League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
: 1993, with ArsenalArsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
- FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
: 1993, with Arsenal
- European Cup Winners' Cup: 1994, with Arsenal
Coach
- Danish Superliga
The Danish Superliga is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest association football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams to be relegated, which proves to be one of the...
: 1999–2000The 1999–2000 Danish Superliga season was the 10th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association...
, with Herfølge BK; 2004–05The 2004-05 Danish Superliga season was the 15th season of the Danish Superliga league championship, governed by the Danish Football Association. It took place from the first match on July 24, 2004 to the final match on June 19, 2005....
, with Brøndby IF
- Danish Coach of the Year : 2000
External links