Tomas Brolin
Per Tomas Brolin is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a forward and midfielder.
At the club level, he had a successful period with Parma during the early 1990s, winning the 1992 Coppa Italia, the 1993 Cup Winners' Cup, the 1993 UEFA Super Cup, and the 1995 UEFA Cup. He also represented Näsvikens IK, GIF Sundsvall, IFK Norrköping, Leeds United, FC Zürich, Crystal Palace and Hudiksvall ABK during a career that spanned 1984 and 1998 years.
A full international between 1990 and 1995, Brolin won 47 caps and scored 27 goals for the Sweden national team and helped them finish third at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He was also a member of the Sweden squads that competed at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 1992, and 1992 Summer Olympics. He was the 1990 and 1994 recipient of Guldbollen as Sweden's best footballer of those years.
13 days before his 25th birthday in November 1994, he broke a bone in his foot leading to five months out of first team football. After returning from that injury he was unable to deliver the height of performance he had pre-injury. After struggles with form, injury, and weight he retired from football at the age of 28.
Club career
Early career
Brolin's first league match in an adult league competition was for Näsvikens IK in 1984 at the age of 14 against Kilafors, and he went on to make 36 appearances for the fourth division club. GIF Sundsvall, spotted Brolin and offered him a contract in which he could continue his education while developing his career. In 1986 Brolin enrolled at Fotbollsgymnasiet, the football academy in Sundsvall. He was subsequently signed by GIF Sundsvall, making his first team debut in 1987 against IF Elfsborg.After three seasons at Sundsvall, Brolin moved to IFK Norrköping where he scored 7 goals in 9 games during the 1990 Allsvenskan spring season.
Parma
Brolin was signed by Italian club Parma in 1990, just after the club had been promoted back to Serie A. He quickly formed an effective partnership at Parma with Alessandro Melli. The two together scored 20 goals, 13 from Melli and 7 from Brolin. Parma finished in joint fifth-place in their first season back in Serie A. It was the first time that the team qualified for Europe in their history.In the 1991–92 season, Brolin played in all 34 of Parma's Serie A matches, scoring four goals. Parma finished in sixth place and lifted the Coppa Italia. Brolin scored two vital goals in the Coppa Italia run: one in a 1–1 draw with Fiorentina, and the second in the 1–0 victory over Sampdoria in the semi-final. Parma beat Juventus 2–1 on aggregate in the final to lift their first trophy in the club's history.
In the 1992–93 season, after Parma won that season's European Cup Winners' Cup, the club purchased the Colombian Faustino Asprilla and the Argentine Sergio Berti. The addition of the two foreign players, however, meant the positions of Parma's three other non-Italian players – Cláudio Taffarel, Georges Grün and Brolin – were not guaranteed, as the club could only field three stranieri, or foreign players, in a match. Before Asprilla's arrival, Brolin had been playing up-front with fellow forward Alessandro Melli. Parma's coach Nevio Scala, however, benched Brolin in favour of Asprilla for most of the season. When Asprilla played, Brolin's number 11 was handed to Asprilla with Brolin playing either in the number 8 or 9 jersey. Brolin did help the club lift the European Cup Winners' Cup by defeating Royal Antwerp 3–1 in the final at Wembley Stadium.
The following season, the club signed duo Gianfranco Zola and Massimo Crippa for a total of £9 million from cash-strapped Napoli, putting Brolin's place in the team even more in the balance. Coach Scala, having seen the benefit of playing Brolin in midfield during the previous season, decided to play Brolin in a deeper position than his first three seasons at the club. He was handed Melli's number 7 jersey and played in a three-man midfield with Gabriele Pin on the right, Crippa on the left and Asprilla and Zola leading the attack. When the team was a goal down or in need of extra firepower up front, striker Melli came on as a substitute in place of Pin and Zola dropped into midfield, a tactic that was deployed by the coach during the 1993–94 season.
The club reached the final of the 1993–94 European Cup Winners' Cup, having beaten Ajax and Benfica on the road to Copenhagen, where they played English side Arsenal. Despite Brolin coming close to scoring in the first 15 minutes and even hitting the post, Parma lost 1–0.
Injury
On 16 November 1994 at the Råsunda Stadium in Stockholm, Brolin had broken his foot in a qualifier for UEFA Euro 1996. At the time of his injury, Parma were two points clear at the top of the 1994–95 Serie A league table. By the time he returned on 23 April 1995, however, Parma were eight points behind leaders and eventual champions Juventus. With Gianfranco Zola missing, Brolin was given his first full start after his injury on 7 May 1995, a week after he resumed playing for Sweden. His first start in nearly six months came against Genoa, and Parma needed a victory to keep the pressure on runaway leaders Juventus. Brolin lasted 62 minutes before he was substituted for Stefano Fiore as Parma drew 0–0 and slipped seven points behind in the title race. Brolin struggled the rest of the season to find his form and fitness, but nonetheless continued to make appearances. On the last matchday of the season, against Napoli, Brolin was sent off for the first time in his career in the 23rd minute.Departure
During the close season, Parma signed Hristo Stoichkov for £6.5 million from Barcelona as Brolin tried to get back to full fitness for the start of the 1995–96 season. Despite scoring in the Parmalat Cup against the United States and Boca Juniors, and participating in a friendly against Anderlecht during the club's pre-season, the coach felt that Brolin lacked the appropriate level of fitness to continue playing in the central midfield position.Brolin made his first league appearance during the 1995–96 season as a late substitute in a 2–1 home win against Inter Milan on 10 September. Four days later, in the first round of the European Cup Winners' Cup, Brolin made his first start against Teuta Durrë in Tirana, as well as made another start in the return match on 28 September. After a few more appearances, it was clear that Brolin would not have a chance to play regularly due to his lack of form. After five years at the club, Brolin decided he would leave Parma in search of more playing time.
Leeds United
Brolin turned down three Italian clubs before moving to Leeds United on 7 November 1995. On 17 November, he signed a two-and-a-half-year contract. Manager Howard Wilkinson saw Brolin as the perfect foil for the club's top scorer Tony Yeboah.A day after signing for the club, Brolin made his Premier League debut at St James' Park against Newcastle United as an 82nd-minute substitute for Mark Ford. They lost 2–1. Four days later, Brolin made his first start for the club as he contributed in the 2–1 win over Blackburn Rovers in the League Cup. Fans quickly dubbed Brolin as the "Baby-Faced Assassin".
Brolin scored his first goal for the club against Sheffield Wednesday on 16 December, in a match which they lost 6–2. It was a quite lucky goal, as a Sheffield Wednesday defender trying a clearance hit him in shoulder after he fell on the ground and let him score a goal. He continued, briefly, as a regular starter playing in a 2–0 win over Bolton Wanderers on 27 December, in which he scored his second goal for the club. On 13 January, Brolin hit two goals as ten-man Leeds, without Yeboah and Brian Deane, beat West Ham United 2–0 at Elland Road.
In the aftermath of a 5–0 defeat to Liverpool on 20 January, Brolin and Wilkinson clashed over the player's defensive abilities, with Wilkinson accusing Brolin of not pulling his weight. He played in a 2–1 defeat to Nottingham Forest on 31 January, but was dropped for the league match against Aston Villa despite Wilkinson missing nine first-team players through suspensions, injuries and international duty. Brolin was then listed as "injured" and missed the following three matches. He returned to the team as Leeds beat Birmingham City 3–0 on 25 February in the second leg of the League Cup semi-final to set up a final against Aston Villa.
On 1 April 1996, Brolin had to apologize to Wilkinson after an April Fool's Day prank backfired. He had told Swedish television that he was going to play out the season on loan to former club IFK Norrköping as a joke but the statement was then picked up by international media and re-reported as fact. He returned on 3 April, however, and played in the matches against Southampton, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest. He played his last match of the season at Stamford Bridge on 14 April, setting up Gary McAllister's goal in the 4–1 defeat to Chelsea, but was dropped for the following match against Manchester United. On 1 May, it was announced by the club that Brolin had returned home to Sweden to undergo surgery to remove scar tissue from his troublesome ankle, and was not fit for Leeds' last two league matches. Brolin's future at Leeds, however, was already in doubt.
In 2012, Brolin claimed in Swedish magazine Offside that his poor performance in the game against Liverpool that led to his being dropped had been a protest against Wilkinson playing him out of position on the wing, leaving him "to run up and down the right like an idiot" as opposed to the centrally lying playmaker role he believed that he had been signed for.
Loan to Zürich
In the middle of 1996, Brolin went searching for a club and was granted three extra days by Wilkinson to find a new club; however, no serious interest was forthcoming. On 19 August 1996, Leeds announced that Brolin was on the transfer market and were prepared to sell him for nearly £2 million less than the £4.5 million paid for him just a year earlier. Leeds manager Wilkinson had fined Brolin a week's wages around £12,000 for not turning up to pre-season training and announced he was seeking guidance from the Professional Footballers' Association on the legality of withholding Brolin's wages, and told the press that he would rather have any player in his team than Brolin. Leeds stopped his wages when he refused to show up for pre-season training and reportedly saved £72,000 by the time Brolin had joined FC Zürich on loan, where he received the minimum wage of £800-a-week for a player in the Natonalliga A.Brolin joined the Swiss club on 20 August 1996 and played three matches for Zürich in the Nationalliga A and one Swiss Cup match against lowly Uzwil, which Zürich won 10–0. Brolin wanted to stay at the club until their mid-season winter break in December to get back to full fitness, but Leeds' new coach George Graham wanted him back at Elland Road and refused to allow him to play for the club against St. Gallen on 9 October, after his loan spell ended on 30 September. Graham was quoted as saying, "We have heard nothing from Tomas Brolin. We have not even got a telephone number for him. All our correspondence with him has been done through his agent, Lars Peterson." Leeds gave Brolin an ultimatum to return to the club on 6 November or face legal action.