From football star to toiletfikser

– we Can make it a little short? I'll get right over and inspected some water pipes in a property, says Ivan Nielsen, as the Extra Magazine, the CRAFTSMAN meets him on Amagerbrogade.

The defensive rock from the 80's the closest to the fabled national football team has not scored less to look for since he as Denmark's-maybe best defender ever put the boots on the shelf.

As the fodboldkarrieren ended, he chose a profession, which is not exactly oozed glamour, the jet set and strandvejsvilla. The man with the moustache threw himself to the deed, he as a boy was trained to perform – namely, the plumbing profession.

– Why did you as a teen to become a plumber?

– Well, it was probably something with that if you can't be second, you can always become a plumber. No, I was tired of school, and then I came in to learn and found it fun. It was actually right here around the corner at, explains the now 55-year-old Ivan Nielsen, which hasnít changed much since he is flanked by Michael Laudrup, Morten Olsen, Preben Elkjaer and all the other fodboldhelte got the whole world to gape over the high explosives, Danish dynamitfodbold during euro 1984 and the 1986 WORLD cup.

the Moustache is intact, the hair is not dropped from the vertex, and the 190 cm tall body still seems to be able to send any probing attacks durk down in the grass.

Gad not football
A large number of football-the friends are now coaches, fodboldagenter, talentspejdere, experts on tv and the like, and Ivan gave also even the way a chance, before he turned back to the roots.

– When I stopped at the top, I tried the forces with trænergerningen and the role of the sports director. But you know... After having been in the game for many years, so I had not the patience to hold meetings with sponsors, board of directors and at the same time be a kind of educator for a squad adult people. So I chose to be a plumber – it I had been before I went abroad to play.

– you Could have pulled you back and lived of your football-money?

– Tjo, I could have enough good, but it has never been the case. I can damn well not go home. I am a labourer – I was also on the football field, so I had to go out and do something.

– What is the best thing about being a craftsman?

– It is just generally the best, I know. It is amazing. I love to meet new people and put things in order. It's more fun than spending time on the golf course.

Amagerdrengen driver now with his son Thomas, the company 'Ivan and Thomas Nielsen PLUMBING and construction company ApS', and there is enough to see to the man, which, because of its ability to perform spectacular sliding tackles, Michael Laudrup, was described as holder of the world's longest toes.

the Job must be done well
– It goes damn good for you. Full speed ahead. I work full time and more. We are six men in the company including me and my son, and we're doing everything within the plumbing. I like to go and make roofing contractors – dormers, gutters, towers, and the like. Of course, you can also see me sit and fix the toilets, but now I stand to divide the work, so it's damn the other, which gets the kind of tasks, tells Ivan and breaks out in his familiar, contagious laughter.

He will not deny that some of the company's success is due to his well-known name, but he is sure that it most have been in the beginning, for if the work was not in the top, would the name alone could not keep the business running.

I come from a working class family, where things were done properly, and the tradition I uphold. The work should damn well be in order, otherwise it is not fair to the customer.

On Wikipedia it says that you were an exceptionally skilled defender. Are you also a exceptionally skilled plumber?

– Yes, the bilder I en myself into. Maybe not exactly very skilled, but I am a good plumber. And I'm running a good company with good people who do their work properly.

Ivan Nielsen has two adult children and four grandchildren. He lives with his wife on the isle of Amager, and he don't miss the life as a football star.

– I have never seen myself as a celebrity, and the things I'm known for, is located far back. Right now I am enjoying my life to the full, but if I was young today, I would have been at the same level fodboldmæssigt, as I was then, he says, and breaks even a walk out in laughter.