Egil Roger Olsen is a very strange guy born in Norway on April 22nd 1942. First a famous football player — capped 16 times as an international player — earning the nickname "Drillo" from his dribbling skills and technical ability. He then became the coach of the national football team of Norway from 1990 to 1998.

He is a totally atypical coach : an « intellectual » in a way, he read Sartre and created his own « football philosophy » (Min Fotballfilosofi) ; a real scientist who had memorised the precise height of every known mountain on the planet, and who uses data processing from computers to coach his football team : and so the Norwegian team won against Brazil in 1998 ; a committed Marxist of whom some people laugh and an aggressive anti-smoker who was seen running after smokers in the streets demanding they stop.

Then last but not least, he is a rubber boots fan who bestrode the touchline in Wellington boots (to prevent rheumatism, some people thought…). This eccentricity, added to his unconventional football ideas, was not well accepted when in 1999 he became the manager of the British Wimbledon football team. He appeared to eschew the trappings of the millionaire sport : he did not drive a car, but went on foot to the stadium in order to watch the squirrels on the way. "The mad professor", as he was nicknamed by the British tabloids wore only Wellington boots at the stadium, the tops of which, in the fashion of “Compo” (a sort of tramp in a British TV series), were folded over. In homage, the club shop at Selhurst Park stadium was soon stocking Wellington boots at £9.99 a pair. But the “Crazy Gang” (the Wimbledon team he coached then) finally got him in the year 2000 when, as someone said, they burnt two of his pairs of wellies in anger.

Next he coached the Iraqi National Team. Then again, since 2009 and still rubberbooted, the Norwegian National Team which rose from 59th in 2009 to 11th in 2011 in the FIFA rankings.