| Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was born in Kristiansund, Norway on 26 February 1973.
After playing part time Third Division football in Norway for Clausenengen FK, he moved to Premier League Molde in 1995. His performances earned him a place in the International 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 almost a permanent fixture in the first team, scoring on his first team debut, and ending the season as top scorer with nineteen goals, eighteen of them in the League.
A firm favourite with the United faithful, his performances during this season prompted his old manager at Molde to claim that if he had known he was going to be that successful he would have asked United for more money!
In his first full season at United he won a League Championship medal 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.
At the start of the 1998/99 season it was rumored that Solskjaer would be on his way out of Old Trafford after the £12 million signing of Dwight Yorke. It is to Solskjaer's credit and the supporters' relief that he decided to stay with United and fight for his place, and although he has been limited to substitute appearances it has not kept him out of the headlines. Grabbing a dramatic winner against Liverpool in the fourth round of the FA Cup, Solskjaer rightly gained the glory and the limelight, with the tabloids calling him United's super sub!! Two weeks later Solskjaer rewrote the record books, again coming on as a substitute against Nottingham Forest at the City ground, he scored four times in an emphatic 8-1 victory, to create a new Premiership away record.
His personal feat of four goals scored in thirteen minutes had historians, statisticians and supporters alike scratching their heads as to whether this had been done before. No one has yet come up with any answers, thus assuming that Solskjaer has indeed created a new football record. Despite this feat his starting opportunities continued to be scarce. He did make the starting line-up for the FA Cup Final victory over Newcastle but returned to 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. Now the supporters were able to change their song to
"Who put the ball in the Germans' net......?"
A firm favourite with the Old Trafford faithful, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is also a full international, who was included in the Norwegian squad for the 1998 World Cup finals in France where they reached the second stage.
The 1999/2000 season was no different for Solskjaer, with fifteen goals netted from just 20 starts and 21 substitute appearances, but his form inevitably led to talk of him moving away from Old Trafford. Spurs and Leeds showed an interest in the Norwegian International striker, but at the end of the 1999/2000 season he expressed his desire to stay at the Club until he's 33.
Solskjaer won his fourth Premiership winners medal in 2000/2001, with only three goals from his thirteen in 47 appearances coming after he came off the bench.
After a bit of confusion, Ole finally scored his one hundredth goal for United in the opening match of the 2002/03 season. UEFA had awarded him a goal against Bayer Leverkusen in the ill-fated Champions League semi-final the previous season, but then took it away from him, deciding it was an own-goal after all. Ole made sure with a strike against the Baggies on Saturday 17 August that took him into triple figures during his Reds career.
Ole is father to two children - a son called Noah and a daughter named Karna, who was born on 3 March 2003 to Ole and his wife Silje. The good news came at the end of a disappointing goalscoring season by Ole's high standards, but his versatility and willingness to play for the team were highlighted by a number of great performances on the right of midfield.
He still managed nine Premiership goals, though, as the Reds overtook leaders Arsenal to claim their fifteenth League title - Ole's fifth - in the closing weeks of the season. |
Norway