Olof Mellberg - A Bearded Legend

By: Phillip Boran
Soccer City FC

Wednesday, July 18th, 2001, a truly great day for all fans of Aston Villa, as they signed Swedish international centre-half Olof Mellberg from Spanish club Racing for a fee of £5 million, which has been regarded as the best £5 million spent by then manager John Gregory. Many fans also believe that he plays better with a full grown beard than he does clean cut or with stubble. Mellberg’s beard also has legendary status with the club.

Proved to be an instant success, his partnership with Alpay Ozalan, better known as Alpay, showed to better the former partnership of Southgate and Ehiogu of years before. From the years 2003 to 2006, Olof Mellberg captained the Villans to mid-table finishes even with such a small squad. During that time, he was only on the bench once when fully fit. A decision that was proven by the manager to be a mistake.

On his last season with Villa, it has proved to be a very successful season for both Mellberg and the club, as they pushed and finished in the top 6 in the English Premier League. In the final rivalry match against Birmingham, where Aston Villa won comfortably 5-1, many will remember the Bearded Legend being substituted off as he received the best sending off for a player being substituted. He showed the energy back as he threw his fists in the air, parading around proudly.

The last home match for Olof Mellberg, even though losing 2-0 to Wigan, was to be seen as the greatest tribute to a player to wear Claret and Blue. Everyone attending the match were seen wearing Viking helmets, fake (or real) beards, Swedish National Team kits, and to top it off, his name was sung through-out the match. The honor of Man of the Match went to none other than Olof Mellberg.

Mellberg’s last match, which came to a 2-2 draw against West Ham, truly a glorious day for any Villa fan attending the match at Upton Park as he bought 3,000 mixed home and away kits from the 2007/2008 season and handed them out to the traveling supporters.

Olof Mellberg,

All fans of Aston Villa wish you the best of luck in your dream to dominate Europe.