Peter White on Rovers' new signing

THE lure of the lire - Turkish lire - might have proved too tempting for a professional footballer with simple mercenary tendencies on his mind.

But Egil Ostenstad landed at Ewood Park with his thoughts more on silver than gold - in the shape of trophies.

Not even the presence of Fenerbahce vice-president Necdet Ersoy at The Dell on Sunday, to go with the £4 million fee the Turkish giants were understood to be offering Southampton, could dissuade Brian Kidd's new striker from heading North instead of East.

So, when the chance came to join Blackburn Rovers, the Norwegian international grabbed it with both hands.

And the fact that he is more than comfortable with his decision is easy to detect in a man who displays a ready sense of humour, despite the pouring rain which greeted his arrival.

"I could probably have gone to Turkey if I had wanted to and, if I was only thinking about money, I would probably have gone there.

"But I have been in Istanbul playing once with the Norwegian under-21 team and I think it's enough playing one game in Turkey. "It's not something you want to do every week...." he said with a knowing smile which suggested he will feel more at home nearer to Intack than Istanbul!

The football environment is clearly most important to the new man who has his sights set on winning something during the five-year contract he signed at Ewood yesterday.

"I have moved to a club which is, of course, bigger than Southampton in all areas," he explained.

"It was a drop down in division but it was a big step up when you look at the size of the club.

"So it wasn't a very difficult decision to make.

"I haven't won anything in Southampton and I think it is unrealistic to win anything there.

"So the chances of winning something are much bigger now.

"The most important thing now is to get back up there (into the Premiership), because it is the place to be and I am sure everybody in Blackburn, fans, players and everyone connected with the club realises that.

"That's the ambition." Rovers have, in the past, been linked with Ostenstad on at least two occasions and he is certainly a player they have monitored.

Ostenstad himself is aware of all that.

"I heard rumours when Roy Hodgson was here linking me with Blackburn and there were stories in the summer before he came.

"But there has never been anything serious like now."

When it finally did happen, he might have consulted international team-mates such as Henning Berg and Lars Bohinen but there simply wasn't time, as he got the call on Monday and completed the deal early Tuesday afternoon.

"It happened very quickly so I haven't had the chance to speak to them," he said.

"But they always talked very positively about Blackburn. "And I have spoken to Stuart Ripley and James Beattie a lot at Southampton and I have never heard anything bad about Blackburn Rovers.

"In that way it wasn't very difficult to make the decision either.

"I have been impressed by everything here and, although things happened very quickly, it's like that in football.

"Suddenly you sign and and then you get time to sit down and think about it.

"But I am 100 per cent sure I have made the right decision."

No worries either about swapping the relatively sunny South coast for the damper climes of the North West.

"I am from the West coast of Norway," said the former Viking Stavanger man. "And I don't think it's raining as much here as there - so the weather will be no problem!"

See, I told you he had a sense of humour.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.