 |
Date and Place of Birth 8th March 1977 - BERGEN, NORWAY
Transfers to and from Burnley from DUNDEE UNITED - 26th June 2008 released - 8th April 2010
First and Last Burnley Games BURY (a) - 12th August 2008 replaced by Michael Duff
CHELSEA (h) - 30th January 2010 replaced by David Edgar
Other Clubs SK BRANN, ASANE, SOGNDAL, SK BRANN, DUNDEE UNITED ---------------------------------------- SK BRANN |
Burnley Career Stats
| Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Others | Total | |||||
| apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | |
| 2008/09 | 21 | 1 | 4 | - | 2(1) | - | 3 | - | 30(1) | 1 |
| 2009/10 | 3(3) | - | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | - | 5(3) | - |
| Total | 24(3) | 1 | 5 | - | 3(1) | - | - | - | 35(4) | 1 |
Profile by Tony Scholes
The signing of Christian Kalvenes was one of the surprise captures during the summer of 2008 as Burnley started to spend money and build the squad ahead of what would prove to be a promotion season.
News of just about all the signings that summer became common knowledge well in advance of the deals being struck, but the news on Kalvenes only appeared via a Norwegian web site on the day before he completed the move and signed a two year deal.
He was the third of four signings in a week in June, following Martin Paterson and Kevin McDonald, and coming a day before the work permit was granted for Diego Penny.
Kalvenes was just about to retire from football and head back to Norway but admitted he couldn't pass up the opportunity to play in England.
He'd spent all but two years of his career in his homeland prior to becoming a Burnley player. The Bergen born Kalvenes started that football career with SK Brann but he failed to make the breakthrough there and played only one first team game.
He moved to Åsane in 1998 where he spent three years before signing for Sogndal for whom he played for two years. During that five year period he played just over 100 games before re-signing for Brann.
Again he failed to establish himself and in a further three years there played just eleven first team games so it was something of a surprise in the summer of 2006 when Dundee United took him to Scotland in a £50,000 transfer.
I suppose if you are going to make an impact at a new club then there is no better way of doing it than scoring a goal, and Kalvenes did just that on his debut, and against Rangers at Ibrox in a 2-2 draw.
It was one of only three goals he scored for them but in two years he went on to play over fifty league and cup games for the Tannadice club and during the 2007/08 season he was voted the best left back in Scotland.
However, in the spring of 2008 he revealed that he would be leaving at the end of his contract and would return to Norway and that was confirmed in early April when injury ruled him out for the rest of the season.
That's when Burnley boss Owen Coyle, on the recommendations of the Dundee United manager Craig Levein, stepped in and offered him a two year contract at Turf Moor.
Levein said: "Owen Coyle phoned me to ask about Christian and my reaction was to tell him to sign him straight away.
"He's a great lad and a fantastic player so I'm thrilled for him to get a chance to play at that level. I can't speak highly enough about him. He left us last season to go back to Norway but things have changed and this opportunity has presented itself to him. "I loved working with him and I'm sure he'll be a great addition to their squad."
With Stephen Jordan preferred at left back at the start of the season he wasn't in the team on the opening day at Sheffield Wednesday but made his debut for the Clarets three days later at Bury at the start of the Carling Cup run that took us all the way to the semi-finals.
His league debut came at Crystal Palace in the third game of the season and he went on to play in just under half of the league games during the momentous 2008/09 season and none of those appearances will be recalled quite like the one at Blackpool in March 2009.
He'd played just 10 of our 35 league games at that point in time but came back in for the injured Jordan for this game. In conditions that were just about farcical because of the high winds he scored his first, and what proved to be his only, Burnley goal just minutes from the end to give us a precious 1-0 win.
He kept his place for the remainder of the season, including all three play off games. He had a difficult night in the first half at Reading but recovered well and he had a good game at Wembley as Burnley won promotion to the Premier League, even though another referee might just have awarded a penalty against him.
Looking at the Kalvenes record for that season proves very interesting reading. He came on as a substitute for the injured Jordan in the Carling Cup semi-final second leg against Spurs, a game we won on the night.
His other 29 appearances in the 2008/09 season were all starts and we won 17, drew 10 and lost just 3. The defeats were at Watford and Cardiff in the league and at Arsenal in the FA Cup.
Following promotion he found himself one of three left backs at the club with the capture of Brian Easton from Hamilton, but it was an injury to Steven Caldwell that saw him in the side for our first ever Premier League game at Stoke.
With Jordan moved to the centre of defence, he came in at left back, but was not in the side four days later when we played Manchester United. By then Andre Bikey had signed with Jordan reverting to left back.
Kalvenes didn't start another Premier League game for Coyle, but did play in the cup games at Barnsley and Milton Keynes, the latter being Coyle's last game in charge. He made just three substitute appearances in the league, the last of them at Everton when he came on following the dismissal of Jordan.
Under new manager Brian Laws, with Jordan again injured, he got two starts against Bolton and Chelsea. He was replaced by David Edgar during the Chelsea game and the signing of Danny Fox that weekend signalled the end of his Burnley playing career.
He featured in some reserve games and I think he'll be delighted his appearance at Wigan in the Barclays Premier Reserve League didn't prove to be his last game in Burnley colours; he had something of a nightmare.
He played much better in the next game against Manchester United reserves at Altrincham but come the next game wasn't in the squad. He was out of contract at the end of the season and it emerged that he'd returned home to Norway early after the club agreed to allow him to do that. A couple of weeks later, on 8th April 2010, it was confirmed by the club.
There is no doubt that Christian Kalvenes more than played his part in helping Burnley reach the Premier League, and I don't think any other player in the squad during 2008/09 will have a better record in terms of results in the games played.
Despite not being considered first choice by either manager, he did get six Premier League appearances with three of them starts. On leaving he became the first member of the Wembley team to leave the club and he did so quietly, with no fuss, and with total dignity.
Burnley fans will forever remember Christian Kalvenes as a member of the team that took our club to the Premier League for the first time.
On 15th June 2010, Kalvenes signed a contract with his first club SK Brann, and a third spell with the club. He signed a deal until the end of the 2010 Norwegian Tippeligaen season with the club having an option on a further year.
Links