Luton’s Ethan Horvath: Solskjaer’s influence, Haaland’s shirt and play-off lessons learned at Forest
Jessica Wood Ethan Horvath can tell you all you need to know about famous goalkeepers, having grown up in the United States watching former Premier League shot-stoppers such as Petr Cech and Edwin van der Sar.
His knowledge of strikers, however, was almost non-existent when he joined Norwegian club Molde as a teenager, where the manager at the time was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, a name that meant nothing to Horvath.
Advertisement
“Not for a while,” says the Luton Town goalkeeper — on loan from Nottingham Forest — when asked how long it took for him to realise he was being managed by a Manchester United legend.
“If you had asked me who Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was at the time, I wouldn’t have had a clue. And when it was explained to me, I remember thinking, ‘Oh, shit, he is a big-time guy’.
“At the time, Josh Gatt was the striker at Molde and he didn’t know who he was either. In my defence, I was a goalkeeper so I wouldn’t have been paying attention to Ole. I could have told you everything about Peter Schmeichel.”
Horvath and his family soon got to know Solskjaer, with the goalkeeper’s parents taking jobs that had them cleaning the manager’s office. “He was a top, top guy,” Horvath says. “I will always remember how he treated my parents with so much respect. He would always speak to them when he saw them and would always be asking if they needed anything. He is a genuine, down-to-earth person who looks out for everyone.”
Horvath says Solskjaer has excellent man-management skills and expects the Norwegian will return to the dugout before too long. The pair have stayed in touch and when asked for a standout memory of their time together, Horvath gives one without any hesitancy.
“I was about to turn 18 and Molde were playing in the Europa League,” he says. “I didn’t travel to all the games, but one of the final group games was Stuttgart away and I’m in the elevator on my own and it stopped on one of the floors.
“Ole got in and it was just me and him in there together. I will always remember he looked at me and said: ‘Get used to this because you will be playing at stadiums this big one day’.
“He just casually dropped that into conversation and that will always stay with me.”
Horvath’s journey has so far taken him from Colorado to the Championship — via Norway, Belgium and the Champions League — and now he has a chance to be part of consecutive Championship play-off-winning sides after Nottingham Forest’s success in 2021-22.
Advertisement
The US international joined Luton Town on a season-long loan last summer and played a pivotal role in their third-placed finish, which has set up a two-legged tie with Sunderland for a spot at the Wembley final later this month.
Horvath’s ties to football — or ‘soccer’ — run deep. His father, Peter, played as a forward for the Denver Avalanche in the Major Indoor Soccer League and was a high school PE teacher. Horvath’s mother, Deana, also has a background in football and both his parents have flown to the United Kingdom to watch Luton Town’s push for promotion.
“Soccer, basketball and baseball were my sports growing up,” says Horvath. “(But) I don’t think there was ever a doubt that it wouldn’t be football. I was seven years old when I decided I wanted to be a goalkeeper.
“I would always be hanging around the goalkeeper group. My dad was a striker, my mum a defender and my uncle was a defender. My two cousins also played, but I was the only one who wanted to be a goalkeeper.”
For a reason unknown to Horvath, the United States has developed several goalkeepers who have made an impact in England. “It made me think that if they can do it, then there is no reason why I couldn’t do the same,” Horvath explains. “When I was around 13 years old and trying to learn and develop in the position, I would be watching Kasey Keller, (Tim) Howard, (Brad) Guzan, (Brad) Friedel.”
Horvath’s first break came when he was playing for Real Colorado, his local team, at a showcase event: “There was this one gentleman who would just scout the academy games and he knew an agent who was over in Austria, and they were putting together a team of people he thought might be ready for a chance in Europe.”
“I went on this two-week tour, which was based in Austria, and all these scouts and clubs would come and watch. We were playing teams from Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Clubs would watch training and the games and that is when one of the Molde scouts saw me.”
Advertisement
DeAndre Yedlin, the former Newcastle and current Inter Miami player, was on the same tour. One of the benefits of being there for Horvath was receiving a DVD of his highlights, which his grandfather, being close friends with someone in Bristol, England, sent to Bristol City. An invite to spend a week training with the club duly followed.
“At the time, David James was still there,” he says. “That was my first time in England and it was really cool. I loved every bit of it. I remember playing small-sided games with the first team and David being in the other goal.”
After that, Horvath told his parents that he didn’t want to go to college. “That trip still sticks out in my head as the time I decided this is what I want to do with my life,” he says. Aged 16, he was invited to train with Molde.
“After the first training session, I came back, had lunch and was called into the office where they said they wanted to sign me,” Horvath recalls. “But because I was so young, nobody was sure how to do it.
“We went back to the hotel. There was a seven-hour time difference and I had to wake my parents up by calling them on Skype to explain what was happening. I stayed for the week and flew back to Colorado. The next day was my first day of junior high school. It was all a bit surreal.”
To gain more experience, in January 2012, Horvath visited England to train with Manchester City and Stoke. His mother joined the then-teenager on the trip to homeschool him.
“These weren’t trials,” he says. “I was just training to get used to the level. I spent three months at Stoke and I enjoyed that time 100 per cent more than I did at Manchester City.
“I was playing games for Stoke’s under-18s and the day I showed up we played Liverpool. I trained with the first team a couple of times. We were always at the first-team building, and this is when Peter Crouch was there.”
With his time in the UK over, he flew to California for a training camp with a “question mark” over his future. He was unsure whether another opportunity would arise in Europe or if he would head back to Colorado.
Advertisement
Molde, however, were still looking at ways to enable Horvath to join the club. On his passport, he could spend three months in Norway, so that was his next move. His parents, for now, stayed in Colorado.
“I would train with the first team in the morning, gym with them right after and then train with the second team in the afternoon,” he says. “That was my existence.”
Molde figured out that for his parents to qualify for residency, they would have to move to Norway, meaning the goalkeeper could apply for a family visa. The club offered them jobs at the cleaning company that had the contract for the stadium and training ground and sorted out an apartment for them to live in.
“My mum and dad sold everything, including their house and car,” Horvath says. “They were pretty much janitors, cleaning at the stadium. They would have to wake up at around 4am each morning to go and clean.
“They used to clean Ole’s office and the changing rooms. It was not the most glamorous job.”
Horvath left Molde for Club Bruges in Belgium in 2017, just when Erling Haaland, who had been playing for Molde 2, was about to step up to the first team. Their paths didn’t cross, but they had a friendly exchange years later.
“When I was at Brugge, we played Salzburg in the knockout stage of the Champions League and that is when Erling was there before his career really took off,” says Horvath. “The next year we drew Dortmund in the Champions League and we spoke after the home and away games. There was that Molde connection and I don’t remember what we spoke about, but we exchanged shirts.”
The shirt now resides with his parents in the United States, home to his collection, which includes jerseys from Manchester United’s David de Gea and Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois.
Horvath’s time at Club Bruges saw him play in the Champions League, where he kept clean sheets against Atletico Madrid and away to both AS Monaco and Borussia Dortmund in the 2018-19 group stage. He recalls his “goosebumps” when he heard the iconic anthem for the first time.
Advertisement
However, ahead of the 2019-20 season, the Belgian side signed Simon Mignolet, the former Liverpool goalkeeper, and Horvath’s playing time became limited. When his four-and-a-half-year contract ended in 2021, he joined Nottingham Forest. Again his minutes were restricted because Brice Samba was the club’s first choice ’keeper.
“In the beginning, we got one point from seven games,” Horvath says. “But when Steve Cooper came in, everything just clicked. We took off and we had momentum. We felt unstoppable and unbeatable.”
Horvath says Cooper, like Solskjaer, is very personable.
“He is not one of those managers who comes in, does his job and then goes home. He’ll come into the physio room, see what’s going on and have a joke with you.”
Before Nottingham Forest’s play-off final win over Huddersfield at the end of the 2021-22 season, Horvath had made 10 appearances and wasn’t expecting to make an 11th. But when Samba had to be substituted in the 89th minute with the game poised at 1-0, his afternoon dramatically changed.
“I remember being told to kick the ball 80 yards and all I was thinking was I could end up pulling my groin because I hadn’t warmed up. You never know what is going to happen in a few minutes of football, but it was a nice experience to have been on the pitch when the final whistle went.
“To have that little bit of feeling goes a long way because, at Luton, I know what we are going through now. Even if I didn’t come on, I had still been involved in a play-off final and I know what to expect from the day.”
After the highs of Wembley and Forest sealing promotion to the Premier League, Horvath wanted to play regularly, which led to his loan move to Luton. Before a ball has been kicked in the play-offs, he has racked up 48 appearances and kept 19 clean sheets.
“On a personal level, I think it has been a successful season for myself,” he says. “By the end of this season, with the play-off games, I’d have played 50-plus games this year.
Advertisement
“I have been really happy with how I have done and I hope I’ve shown England who I am and what I am capable of. I would love to play in the Premier League, whether that is with Luton, Nottingham, or another team that has seen what I’ve done this season.”
Horvath’s season for Luton led to a spot in Gregg Berhalter’s United States squad for the Qatar World Cup in December. “It is hard to put that experience into words because it is something you dream of as a kid,” he says
Before the World Cup, in November, a billboard in Denver, Colorado, was painted with a quote from Ted Lasso, the fictional coach, which read: “One thing I know rock solid, nobody’s gonna cross Mt. Horvath.”
World Cup is around the corner and @TedLasso sends his best wishes to Highlands Ranch’s own goalie Ethan Horvath @USMNT
— Dave Althouse (@davealthouse) November 15, 2022
Although he didn’t feature for the USMNT in Qatar, just being there felt like vindication for the sacrifices his parents made all those years ago by selling everything they had in Colorado to move to Norway.
“He used to be my goalkeeper coach back in the US,” Horvath says of his father. “It was me and him learning on the fly, which was really nice. We both didn’t know what we were doing. To sing your national anthem at a World Cup and see my mum and dad was such a special feeling.”
His long-term ambition is to earn a spot in the team for the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted across the United States, Canada and Mexico, with the goalkeeper predicting it to be “the biggest ever” edition of the tournament.
“It was special enough to go to Qatar and be part of a World Cup squad,” he said. “So, to host it is something in itself — and it is a big goal down the road.”
(Top photo: designed by Eamonn Dalton; photo by Tony Marshall via Getty Images)
