By Will Foster

In April 2001, with Town heading into the 4th Division of English football for the first time since 1968, Dave Flett wrote a special report in the Luton News with the headline of 'SOLD - a team that could have competed in the Premiership.'

In the article he opined that if previous owners had been in the financial position of current chairman Mike Watson Challis, that maybe Town wouldn't needed to have sold so many talented players over the previous 10 years. Indeed, they may have been heading to Old Trafford, Highbury and Anfield in the 2001/2002 season. As it was, trips to Moss Rose, Feethams and Gay Meadow lay ahead.

The names of the departed players invoke happy memories but also a sense of What-If? Kelvin Davis. Upson, Telfer, Hartson, Doherty. Some had left making only a handful of first team appearances. Some for million pound fees. Others, remarkably, had simply been unwanted.

Vidar Riseth belonged in the last bracket. Terry Westley’s Hatters were struggling at the wrong end of the 1st Division (now Championship) table when the tall 23-year-old Norwegian was signed for £100,000 in October 1995 from Kongsvinger. He wasn’t the only option considered to bolster the goal-shy forward line. Clive Allen had been offered a trial and David Pleat, now at Sheffield Wednesday, was contacted about the services of Guy Whittingham. However, with both moves coming to nothing, and with Riseth bagging a hat-trick in a specially arranged trial match, Westley swooped.

‘I could have signed for several Norwegian clubs, or gone to Germany, and the people in Norway are disappointed that I am leaving, but it is a very good move for me,’ Vidar said upon signing. He had been one of the leading scorers in Norway the previous season and was following in the footsteps of recent English-bound Norwegians such as Henning Berg, Stig Bjornebye and Jan Aage Fjortoft.

He was to make his debut against Charlton in a game televised by London Weekend Televsion (though not by Anglia, who chose to show Norwich v Tranmere instead). Coming on as a half-time substitute for the ill Ceri Hughes he showed some nice touches as Town were unlucky to lose 1-0 to Alan Curbishley’s side.

Westley was enthused about his new arrival, who had become the first Norwegian to appear for Luton. ‘He’s a good runner, comfortable with the ball, and has a decent touch.’

These talents weren’t to translate into goals however. The young striker could do little to help arrest Town’s miserable form and he failed to hit the back of the net in any of his 12 appearances. Worse still, he never even found himself on the winning side, with the Hatters drawing 6 and losing 6 of the games in which he was involved.

Within a month of Vidar’s arrival Westley was gone. Soon Vidar was too, first back on loan to Kongsvinger and then with a £90,000 move to LASK Linz in August 1996. After that Town supporters could only watch with some bemusment as Riseth’s standing in the game grew rapidly. Indeed, at the same time Town sunk in to England’s bottom tier Riseth, now playing in a deeper role on the pitch, was plying his trade in the Bundesliga at 1860 Munich.

LASK Linz had done well too, with Dr Jozef Venglos making the Norwegian his first signing for Glasgow Celtic in 1998 for £1.5m, the kind of money that would surely have been welcomed at Kenilworth Road at the time.

In all Vidar would win 52 caps for Norway in a long career, and in 2007 was given the man of the match award as his Rosenborg side held the multi-millionaires of Chelsea to a 1-1 draw in the Champions League. It was all a far cry from his year in Bedfordshire.

Flett's 'Premier League' team in full: Kelvin Davis, Chris Willmott, Steve Davis, Matt Upson, Paul Telfer, Paul Dickov, Graham Alexander, Mark Pembridge, Vidar Riseth, Gary Doherty, John Hartson.
Subs: Matt Jackson, Tony Thorpe, Ceri Hughes.

Below: Vidar Riseth battles during Town's 1-1 draw with Watford.