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STRIKERS TODAY Duncan Shearer and Jan Aage Fjortoft lead very different lives, but in the space of five years at end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s, the pair occupied the talismanic role of centre-forward for Swindon Town. This month Swindon Advertiser readers voted the duo as their greatest ever front two, beating a host of fans’ favourites including Peter Eastoe, Alan Mayes, Sam Parkin, Harold Fleming and Steve White. Yesterday evening Fjortoft was due to front Norwegian TV station Viasat’s production of the Champions League quarter-final between Arsenal and Barcelona, but before he went on air he told the Advertiser how much the nomination meant to him personally. “It is a real honour,” he said. “I had a fantastic time there and to be recognised by the fans like this is really great.” Fjortoft recalled the move from Rapid Vienna to Wiltshire in 1993 as being something of a fantasy. “It was the dream of every Norwegian footballer to come to England and play,” he said. “We had Match of the Day on our TVs in Norway and saw a game every weekend and it just made us want to come and play. “I remember flying into Heathrow to meet John Gorman and it was a dream come true.” Duncan Shearer works for the Press Association in Scotland and coaches the Inverness Under 15 squad - a far cry from the day he led the line as Town overcame Leicester 4-3 in front of an 80,000 play-off final crowd, to reach the Premiership. And the Scottish hitman was equally grateful to Swindon fans for choosing him in their legends team. “It is absolutely an honour,” he said. “I loved playing for Swindon. It’s great to have won this and it’s great that the fans remember me like that. “It’s was a great team with a great team spirit and a good mix of families off the field.” Shearer, who is currently writing his autobiography, never had the chance to play alongside Fjortoft, but the striker believes the two would have been a potent mix for Town. “It would have been interesting to play with Jan,” he said. “I think he probably worked harder than I did. I tended to be more of a box player whereas Jan ran out to the wings more.” In response, the Scandinavian complimented his predecessor’s goal-getting abilities. “Duncan was a great striker with a terrific scoring rate and he was brilliant for Swindon,” he said. “He would have been great to play with.” Between them, the two frontmen managed 136 goals for Town at a strike rate of more than one every other game. Whilst Shearer banged in the goals for Swindon with little pomp and circumstance, the sight of Fjortoft’s outstretched arms and a beaten opposition keeper became a staple ingredient in the County Ground diet of the 1990s. And the former international revealed how an octogenarian fan was the reason behind his choice of celebration. “Once, when I just started doing the airplane celebration and I had been trying a few other ones as well, I came to the tunnel and saw an 80-year-old lady shouting ‘Jan, Jan’ and doing the same thing with her arms,” he said. “I thought, if she can do it then I must keep doing it.” Keep doing it he did, and despite featuring in the Robins side for two consecutive relegations, Fjortoft, much like Shearer, firmly stamped his name into Swindon Town folklore. HOW YOU VOTED WHAT YOU SAID |
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