WHATEVER HAPPENED TO…THOMAS ROGNE?

When Tony Mowbray signed Thomas Robinson on a free transfer from Norwegian club Stabaek in January 2010, it was thought that he was a player for the future. Three weeks after coming in Scotland, the 19-year-old 6′ 4in center-back who had signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with the Parkhead team, was surprisingly given his first-team debut.

Rogne made his debut as a second-half substitute for Glenn Loovens in a 2-0 win over Hearts at Parkhead on February 10. The teenager did enough to convince his manager to give him his full debut 10 days later in a 1-0 victory over Dundee United.

Two games, two wins and no goals conceded was an impressive start, but it didn’t take long for the harsh realities of football life to kick in. A week after his second appearance, he pulled a hamstring in a 2-0 loss to Rangers.

Mowbray was sacked the following month after a humiliating 4-0 defeat to St Mirren in Paisley and Neil Lennon took over in a caretaker capacity. Injury continued to hamper Rogne in a season to forget for the Norwegian and the club.

The defender still struggled for peak fitness as the 2010/11 season kicked off and had to wait until late October for a first-team outing as the visitors thumped St Johnstone 3-0 in Perth. He remained in the line-up for the next game, a resounding 9-0 romp against Aberdeen in Glasgow, but he was not celebrating at the end.

Regretfully, with the Hoops leading 3-0 at the half, the player was sent off by referee Alan Muir for a professional foul shortly before the break.

Four days before Christmas, Rogne returned to the team after his obligatory suspension and scored his first goal for the team in a 1-1 draw against Kilmarnock. In the opening match of 2011, at Ibrox, he maintained his spot in a 2-0 victory over Rangers.

In the League Cup Final, he again played the Govan club; however, this time, Lennon’s team lost 2-1, and the young player was substituted early in the contest.

The consistency of Charlie Mulgrew and Daniel Majstorovic kept Rogne out of the first team for most of the remainder of the campaign.

The Norwegian fought back into Lennon’s plans the following season and he claimed a memorable headed goal against the Ibrox outfit, but, unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to rescue the Hoops from a 3-2 loss. Injuries blighted his stay at Parkhead and Rogne left at the end of his contract in June 2013.

After relocating to Wigan, he didn’t play much there and two years later, he joined IFK Gothenburg. He was moved to Polish team Lech Poznan in August 2017.

Rogne set off once more on January 4, 2022, this time to play for the Greek team Apollon Smyrnis. However, he only stayed for six months before moving to Helsingborg in Sweden, where he signed a deal that would last until the end of 2024.

“Celtic is sort of like a place where, if you got the chance, you should stay there for the rest of your career,” Rogne said years after leaving Parkhead.

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