During a trophy-laden 11-year career at Manchester United, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer earned a reputation as one of English football’s greatest-ever ‘super-subs’.
No player in Premier League history has more than the 17 goals that the Norwegian scored after coming off the bench during his time at Old Trafford, while he also repeated the trick in Europe, notably in the 1999 Champions League final.
But despite his habit of changing a game from the bench, Solskjaer never settled for being named as a substitute and this was something Sir Alex Ferguson used to the Red Devils’ advantage.
“Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Scholes. I was down the pecking order, but I saw so many strikers come and go,” Solskjaer tells FourFourTwo.
“I just stuck up for myself, believed in myself, fought and proved that the manager should play me.
“Sir Alex knew that if he put me on the bench then I’d be angry, but also fired up and ready to give everything when I came on. Not every sub does that. A lot of subs are sulky and hopeless on the bench. I wasn’t, and nor was Alan Smith. We went on with the aim of proving the manager wrong.”
One of Solksjaer’s most remarkable sub appearances came against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground in February 1999, when the Norwegian plundered a remarkable four goals in an 18-minute cameo.
“The game was wrapped up, yet Ole scored four goals without breaking sweat,” team-mate David May previously told FFT. “Only one of them was a tap-in, too. They were difficult chances to finish. I was sat there, thinking, ‘F**k me, how does he do it?’. I was laughing at him in the dressing room afterwards. Laughing and shaking my head because he was a freak of nature. Ole just played it down.”
Solskjaer picks up the story of his role in the 8-1 victory.
“Coach Jim Ryan had a simple instruction: “We’re winning 4-1, please don’t do anything stupid – keep the ball and see the game out,” he said.
“That’s not the way I’m made. If you’re going forward, then you go for goal. If you score four, then why not five, six, seven, eight? Sometimes the ball just falls at your feet and you just must put it in the goal.
“A striker should be in the right position and remember, the goal never moves. I’ve still got the match ball at home.”
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