The big interview: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – "At first I wasn’t mean enough. My teams weren’t solid – now I’ve learned a lot"

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Standfirst: 

As the Manchester United hero takes charge of the Red Devils, we raid our archive for the Norwegian's brilliant career reflective. What does he exxpect as a boss? Did he mind being called a super-sub? And does he still play Football Manager?! 

Ole Gunnar Solskjær

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Manchester United

Molde

Norway

Clausenengen

The Big Interview

FourFourTwo

Cardiff City

Longform

Feature type: 

Interviews

Pull quotes: 

At United, we came to Carrington and worked our bollocks off, but we never felt like we went to work

I was on my own in the playground, commentating: ‘He’s going through one-on-one with the goalkeeper!’ and thinking: ‘If I hit the back of the net now, we win; if I miss, we lose’

I never celebrated lucky goals. Once, against Ipswich, I was going to cross for Quinton Fortune but the ball bounced up and it went into the top corner. I was embarrassed

People like Marcel Desailly, [Paolo] Maldini, [Fabio] Cannavaro and Tony Adams never kicked you out of the game – they were the clever ones

I can never stray away from the way I want my teams to play football – with creativity and imagination, just as I learned under Sir Alex Ferguson. Is United still the dream job for me? Every Manchester United player who goes into management has that ultimate dream

Fact files: 

FACT FILE

• Full name: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
• Date of birth: 26/02/1973
• Place of birth: Kristiansund, Norway 
• Height: 5ft 10in
• Position: Striker
• Clubs: 1990-95 Clausenengen 109 games (115 goals); 1995-96 Molde 42 (33); 1996-2007 Manchester United 366 (126)
• International: 1995-2007 Norway 67 (23)
• Clubs managed: 2010-14 Molde; 2014 Cardiff City; 2015- Molde
• Playing honours: Premier League 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2006-07; FA Cup 1998-99, 2003-04; UEFA Champions League 1998-99; Intercontinental Cup 1999
• Managerial honours: Norwegian Premier League 2011, 2012; Norwegian Cup 2013

MORE ONE-ON-ONES

• Carlo Ancelotti, One-on-One: "Once, I kicked a box and it landed on Ibrahimovic’s head. He didn’t react"
• Eidur Gudjohnsen, One-on-One: "I’ve only been to Iceland once... I didn’t buy anything"

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Chris Flanagan

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