Ole Gunner Solskjaer

Birthplace:  Kristiansund, Norway 26/02/73 - Position: Forward - Apps : 365 - Goals: 126 - International caps: 64 - Goals: 23

After playing part time Third Division football in Norway for Clausenegen FK, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer moved to Premier League Molde in 1995. His performances earned him a place in the national team, and it was not long before he started to attract the interest of bigger clubs throughout Europe. He was also dubbed the Norwegian Alan Shearer. In the summer of 1996 Alex Ferguson paid a £1.5m fee for Solskjaer's services. Not expecting to be playing for United until the new year, Solskjaer found himself an almost permanent fixture in the first team, scoring on his first team debut and ending the season as top scorer with 19 goals, 18 of them in the League. A full international for Norway, he won a League Championship medal in his first season and helped United to the semi-final of the European Cup, finding the net in the second leg of the Borussia Dortmund game, only to find his goal ruled out when the referee spotted a 'mystery' foul. In addition to this he was also recognised by his fellow professionals, being short listed for the 1997 PFA Young Player of the Year Award. Ole represented Norway at the 1998 World Cup finals, playing three matches as the Vikings reached the second round, only to be knocked out by Italy. Although he was mainly limited to substitute appearances, he could not be kept out of the headlines during the 'treble-winning' season. Grabbing a dramatic winner against Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup, Solskjaer rightly claimed the glory and the limelight, with the newspapers calling him United's super sub for the first time. Two weeks later Solskjaer rewrote the record books, again after coming on as a sub, against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground. He scored four times in an emphatic 8-1 victory to create a new Premiership record for an away win. His personal feast of four goals scored in 13 minutes had historians, statisticians and supporters alike pondering as to whether this had been done before. No one has yet come up with any answers, so we assume that Ole Gunnar has indeed created a new football record. Despite this feat, Solskjaer's starting opportunities continued to be scarce. He did make the first XI for the FA Cup Final victory over Newcastle United and was again on the bench for the Champions League Final against Bayern Munich. There was a sense of deja vu about the sensational end to this game. Once again Ole Gunnar was called from the bench and produced a last gasp winner. The United supporters attending the final in Barcelona promptly struck up a new song of "Who put the ball in the Germans' net?" On 4 December 1999, Ole became the first player to score four goals in two separate Premiership matches. Following his exploits at Forest in February, Solskjaer netted four times against Everton in a 5-1 victory at Old Trafford. That prolific scoring was spread throughout the title-winning season. Fifteen goals for a man who usually starts on the bench was a terrific return from just 20 starts and 21 substitute appearances, but his form inevitably led to talk of him moving away from Old Trafford. The 2000/2001 season did little to halt the usage of his 'supersub' tag. After bringing back memories of the Nou Camp by scoring late to beat Real Madrid in the Bayern Munich pre-season tournament, only three of his thirteen goals in 47 appearances were scored after coming off the bench. But as all three were either the winning strike or the goal that wrapped up a victory, the nickname continued to haunt the man who doesn't think of himself just as a substitute. Nowhere better was his skill at getting up to pace in game after coming off the bench demonstrated than against Charlton in April 2001. The scores were locked at 1-1 before Ole came on and won the game for the Reds with eight minutes to go. Ole's Premiership winners' medal in 2000/2001 was his fourth since joining United, to go with his FA Cup and European Cup winners' gongs, and he finished the season having just broken the 200-mark in appearances. He won the Norwegian Player of the Year Award in the 1995-96 season. He scored on his debut for Manchester United, the 87th player to do so. He is known as the ‘baby faced assassin’, because of his youthful looks. A nickname he personally dislikes! He played 19 games and scored 13 goals for the Norwegian under-21 team. Unfortunately Ole sustained a serious knee injury in 2003 which took most of the this season to recover from. He regained his match fitness in pre-season 2006 and is once again available for selection. Having proved his fitness he has come on as a sub in United's first premiership games and topped it with both goals against Newcastle (1/10/06) to put United top of the table. He then suffered an ankle ligament injury but came back to score again and prove his worth to the team. United have extended his contract for another season. Despite having another op on his knee he is expected to be ready for pre-season training.
During the last season Ole decided he was not physically able to play for 90 minutes and decided to retire from the game. However the club decided to offer him a job a Reserve team coach and he is proving to be more than able. His first game in charge at the start of the 2008/9 was a winning one, He was rewarded with a testimonial against Spanish side Espanyol (1-0) in which he played 25 minutes and received a standing ovation. 
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