Past Players - Eirik Bakke

In the summer of 1999 a young Eirik Bakke arrived at Leeds, his signing came as a surprise to most as we were mostly looking for young English talent at that time and he was relatively unknown.  It appeared our then manager David O’Leary had been watching him for a number of months and stated his signing as an investment.

As Bakke wasn’t considered a key signing and due to our already stable midfield, it would be hard to see where the Norwegian would fit in. A golden opportunity arose for Bakke when two of our important midfielders, Batty and Hopkin picked up injuries. This was his chance to make an impression and did as he went on to become an integral part of our 1999-2000 season making 38 appearances and scoring 8 goals.

His greatest spell for the club probably came during our Champions League run which ended in defeat in the semi-final to Valencia. He’s a player you wouldn’t think much of during that campaign, but he played a great deal in our success and it was only when David Batty returned from injury he found himself out of the side.

Bakke’s most notable traits would be his touch, skillful on the ball, a powerful runner, pace and was strong in the air. He played most comfortable in the centre of the park or on the right hand side. The negative about Bakke would definitely be his proneness to injury.

The cult hero went on to play in 8 seasons for the whites and his career here came to an end due to our financial mess in 2006.

Bakke is now managing his hometown club Sogndal and I wish him the best there. He certainly hasn’t forgot about Leeds as he’s recently backed the fan ownership campaign. (see video below)