Man United hall of fame: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
11 years after his 1996 debut against Blackburn at the Old Trafford, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer called time on his eventful playing career at Manchester United in August 2007. 11 years later, he would go on to become the club’s manager taking over from Jose Mourinho.
On the pitch, the Norwegian embodies the famous United Way. The never give up till the end spirit which characterised the group’s late goals and the Fergie Time. Off the field, Solskjaer was disturbed by a recurring injury which led to him bowing out of the game.
His career highlights vary from scoring the all-important goal in the 1999 Champions League final (which remains unarguably the best highlight of his illustrious career) to finding the net four times in 12 minutes after being brought on as a substitute in a match against Nottingham Forest which the Red Devils won 8-1.
Despite scoring 126 goals in 366 appearances for United, the 1999 UCL goal is the one no United fan will ever forget. It is even made more legendary as it was against an Oliver Kahn Bayern Munich side. Visitor of best au online casinos believed Kahn was the finest goalkeeper in the game at the time.
Ole didn’t totally leave United after the end of his playing career. He stayed on to coach the club’s reserve team which included the lies of Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard at the time.
In 2011, Ole returned to Norway spending three years at Molde before going back to the Premier League where he took charge of Cardiff City. He would later leave the Welsh Club in 2014 after they went out of the EPL.
The Norwegian took charge of Molde again before being called to manage Manchester United in December 2018. Following Jose Mourinho’s departure from the Theatre of Dreams, the Red Devils needed an interim manager who would lead the team for a the short term as they sought a new manager.
However, Ole would exceed expectations at the helm of the club. He didn’t just defeat PSG in the knockout stages of the UCL, he also miraculously led United to a fourth place finish.
The Norwegian was able to string together a couple of wins that would make United supporters all over the world forget about the sad experiences of all their managers post-Ferguson.
In March 2019, Ole was offered the role of the manager permanently, signing a three year contract with the club.