Gunnar Halle

Gunnar Halle (born 11 August 1965) is a Norwegian football manager and former player who played as a right back. He is the current head coach of Hønefoss. Halle is best known for his playing spells at Oldham Athletic and Leeds United, followed by his brief managerial spell at Lyn Oslo.

Gunnar Halle
Halle in 2009
Personal information
Full name Gunnar Halle[1]
Date of birth (1965-08-11) 11 August 1965
Place of birth Larvik, Norway
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Right-back
Team information
Current team
 Hønefoss (head coach)
Youth career
Nesjar
Larvik Turn
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1985–1990 Lillestrøm 128 (12)
1991–1996 Oldham Athletic 188 (17)
1994 → Lillestrøm (loan) 3 (1)
1996–1999 Leeds United 70 (4)
1999–2002 Bradford City 83 (1)
2002 Wolverhampton Wanderers 5 (0)
2002–2003 Lillestrøm 32 (1)
Total 509 (36)
International career
1987–1999 Norway 64 (5)
Managerial career
2004 Aurskog/Finstadbru (player/coach)
2005–2006 Lillestrøm (assistant)
2006–2008 Viking (assistant)
2009 Lyn (assistant)
2009–2010 Lyn
2010 Molde (assistant)
2012 Norway women (assistant)
2013 Strømmen (assistant)
2023– Hønefoss
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Halle played professionally in England and for the Norwegian national team. In total he was capped 64 times and scored five international goals, including a memorable hat-trick against San Marino, and was included in the squads for the 1994 FIFA World Cup and 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Playing career

Born in Larvik, Halle started his youth career in local club Nesjar.[2]

Halle started his Norwegian Premier League career in Lillestrøm in 1985 when he joined from Larvik Turn. He quickly became a team regular, and helped win the league titles in 1986 and 1989.

In the spring of 1991 he was sold to Oldham Athletic for £280,000, where he played over 200 matches and is regarded as one of the club's finest players during their Premiership days. He remains Oldham's most capped player, playing 25 times for Norway in his time there.

Halle joined Leeds United for £500,000 in the winter of 1996, where he competed with Gary Kelly for the club's regular right back spot. Halle had a successful time at Leeds under the management of George Graham and latterly David O'Leary. He spent three seasons at the club. In his final season, Halle helped Leeds finish fourth in the Premier League during the 1998–99 season and qualify for the UEFA Cup competition. However, in the summer of 1999, Leeds signed future England right back Danny Mills and Halle joined newly promoted local rivals Bradford City for £200k.

He spent a further three seasons at Bradford City, scoring twice against Darlington in the League Cup[3] and Portsmouth in the league.[4] A brief spell with Wolverhampton Wanderers concluded his stay in England. He returned to Norway with Lillestrøm in the summer of 2002.

Halle played one and a half seasons for Lillestrøm.

International career

In 1987 Halle made his debut for the Norwegian national team. He represented Norway in both the 1994 FIFA World Cup and 1998 FIFA World Cup's.

In total he was capped 64 times for Norway and scored five international goals, including a memorable hat-trick against San Marino.

Coaching career

Halle rounding off his playing career and began his coaching career as player-coach for Norwegian Third Division side Aurskog/Finstadbru in the 2004 season.

In the 2005 and 2006 seasons Halle worked as the Lillestrøm assistant coach, but was sacked on 13 November 2006 along with head coach Uwe Rösler. The pair were soon hired to coach Viking.

In December 2008, he moved to Lyn as assistant manager.[5] In August 2009 he stepped up to manager following the termination of Kent Bergersen's contract.[6] The club was relegated to First Division after the 2009 season and changed its name to FK Lyn before the 2010 season. On 30 June 2010 the club declared bankruptcy after several years of financial difficulty, forcing them to forfeit from the league.[7] On 30 August 2010, he was named the new assistant coach of Molde FK, again under Rösler. The duo coached Molde throughout the season.

In February 2012, Halle was named as the new assistant coach of the Norway women's national football team under Eli Landsem.[8] In 2013, he moved to Strømmen IF.[2] Since 2015 he has been manager of various Norwegian FA youth teams from under 15s to under 19s. In December 2022, he was appointed head coach of Hønefoss.[9]

Honours
Lillestrøm SK
Oldham Athletic

References
  1. "Gunnar Halle" (in Norwegian). Football Association of Norway. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  2. Bergem, Anne Christine (18 January 2013). "Gunnar Halle" (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  3. "Bradford steamroller past Darlington". BBC. 25 September 2000. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  4. "Bradford 3-1 Portsmouth". BBC. 12 January 2002. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  5. "Gunnar Halle fysisk trener i Lyn" (in Norwegian). Dagsavisen. 3 December 2008. Archived from the original on 21 May 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  6. "Halle ny hovedtrener" (in Norwegian). Lyn Oslo. 13 August 2009. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
  7. Bøthun, Gunnar; Bakkehaug, Wegard (30 June 2010). "Lyn slår seg selv konkurs". VG (in Norwegian). Retrieved 30 June 2010.
  8. Waagaard, Mari Stanisic (20 February 2012). "Halle ny assistenttrener for kvinnelandslaget" (in Norwegian). Football Association of Norway. Archived from the original on 1 December 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  9. "Gunnar Halle tar over Hønefoss". NRK (in Norwegian). 5 December 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
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