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Personal
Fullname: Ulrik Rosenløv Laursen
aka: Ulrik Laursen
Born: 28 Feb 1976
Birthplace: Odense, Denmark
Signed: 1 Aug 2002
Left: 1 July 2005
Position: Defender, Left-back
Debut: Celtic 5-0 Dundee Utd, League, 17 Aug 2002
Internationals: Denmark
International Caps: 5
International Goals: 1
Biog
Dane Ulrik Laursen was brought to Celtic in the summer of 2002 in the hope that he could fill the problematic left-back berth.
Ulrik Laursen -who could also play at centre-half – originally arrived in Scotland in 2000 from OB Odense when he moved to Hibernian on a free transfer. He was a tall and solid performer for the Easter Road club and appeared to be athletic, strong and a neat footballer.
A Danish Under-21 international, Ulrik Laursen’s performances for the Edinburgh side caught the eye of Martin O’Neill who splashed out £1.5 million to take the player to Parkhead. However, the defender never really established himself as a regular starter and certain of his appearances – including the UEFA Cup final of 2003 – saw him come from the bench.
Despite making a big name with Celtic, as at Hibs (where he was a big favourite), Ulrik Laursen was dependable and a good squad player. Despite the failings in the defence in the UEFA Cup Final in 2003, he came out of it unscathed for many (and a yellow card).
He was liked and respected by a number of supporters who felt he deserved a greater run. In most of his games he gave his best, and was a solid defender. He even won high praise in a 2-1 Scottish Cup victory over Rangers, so he didn’t hide in the major matches and proved his worth.
A series of niggling injuries didn’t help Ulrik Laursen’s cause the following term in season 2003/04 (which led to prolonged periods on the treatment bench) but even when fit the player found himself on the bench while the right-footed Jackie McNamara was frequently preferred in the left-back slot. He didn’t hide his frustration at not being played more either. He lost out on a league title and Scottish Cup medal due to the absences.
He was back as a regular in season 2004/05 as Celtic stumbled and lost the league title in Martin O’Neill’s final season.
By the time of Gordon Strachan’s arrival in the summer of 2005, Ulrik Laursen had made an impressive enough 34 league starts over his time at the club. The new manager decided the Dane was surplus to requirements and allowed him to return to his native land in a £50,000 move to former club Odense.
Not all were happy with his departure. Celtic fanzine “NotTheView” believed that this whole hearted player should really have been kept on. In fairness, with a new manager coming in and the squad being handed over to him in a bit of a mess, a clear-out of the old guard was needed (although some reports claim that Strachan wanted to keep him).
He played for Odense and then FC Copenhagen in his remaining years, before retiring in 2010.
Since retiring from the game he moved into physiotherapy.
Playing Career
| Club | From | To | Fee | League | Scottish Cup | League cup | Other | ||||
| FC Copenhagen | 01/07/2008 | Signed | |||||||||
| OB Odense | 01/07/2005 | 01/07/2008 | Free | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 |
| Celtic | 01/08/2002 | 01/07/2005 | £1,500,000 | 34 (6) | 0 | 5 (0) | 0 | 3 (1) | 0 | 7 (2) | 0 |
| Hibernian | 06/06/2000 | 01/08/2002 | Free | 52 (1) | 3 | 8 (0) | 1 | 3 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 |
| OB Odense | 01/08/1998 | 06/06/2000 | No appearance data available | ||||||||
| Totals | 0 | ||||||||||
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||||
Honours with Celtic
Scottish Cup
UEFA Cup
- Runners-up: 2002-2003
Pictures
Articles
NotTheView
Apart from Jackie McNamara, Ulrik Laursen is a player who could possibly put up a case for being retained amidst the cull of fringe players going on just now. Given that we’re so short of defensive cover it might have made sense to keep him – reduced wages or not – until at least the January transfer window. But it’s not to be, and another of MON’s £1.5 million signings heads off into the sunset, or in his case back to Denmark to play for Odense.
Signed from Hibs in August 2002, Laursen never looked unduly out of place in the Celtic defence, certainly not at SPL level. A brawny big lad of the type that O’Neill seemed to favour, he usually filled in at full back, although it would have been interesting to see what kind of contribution he would have made in the centre of the defence (something he had in common with Valgaeren).
He will be remembered most fondly for the part he played during the Seville season and, who knows, had it not been for a run of unfortunate and prolonged injuries he might well have had more than a bit part to play during his three years at Celtic Park.
Another wholehearted player who leaves with our best wishes for the future.
Ulrik Laursen ‘˜turned down Rangers’ to join Celtic
Former Celtic star Ulrik Laursen has revealed that he turned down the opportunity to join Rangers in order to sign for the Parkhead club in 2002.
By The Newsroom
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/ulrik-laursen-turned-down-rangers-join-celtic-1454611
Monday, 6th March 2017, 11:40 pm
Updated
Friday, 24th March 2017, 11:09 am
The Danish defender made the revelation while reflecting on his career in Scotland on a recent episode of the Glasgow Is Green Podcast.
He had initially been persuaded to move Scotland with Hibs in 2000 by Alex McLeish after letting his contract with hometown club Odense expire.
When McLeish moved to Rangers as manager he tried to have Laursen follow him along the M8. However, the former boss was thwarted in his attempt when Old Firm adversary Martin O’Neill made his interest known.
Laursen would spend three seasons at Celtic Park after completing the £1.3million deal, and played in the club’s 2003 Uefa Cup final defeat against Porto. He moved back to Odense in the summer of 2005 after Gordon Strachan took over as manager following O’Neill’s resignation.
He said: “I knew there was interest because Hibs renewed my contract, but I wasn’t really interested in going anywhere because we had a nice live in Edinburgh, and we’d bought a beautiful house and had our friends close by.
“Then I heard that McLeish was wanting me to sign for Rangers, and an agent told me that O’Neill wanted me to sign for Celtic. It’s not everyday that both Old Firm clubs want to sign you.
“I thought Celtic was the better club for me at that time. I thought the team was better, I thought the players were better. So that’s why I chose Celtic. And also I’d enjoyed playing against Celtic than playing against Rangers, so that’s why I chose the club.”