‘Don’t tell anyone!’ – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reveals what Sir Alex Ferguson said to make him stay at Man Utd
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER has revealed what Sir Alex Ferguson said to him to keep him at Manchester United.
Despite receiving many offers over his glittering career the Norwegian spent the majority of his playing days at Old Trafford.
Solskjaer joined Sir Alex Ferguson‘s United in July 1996 for a transfer fee of £1.5 million.
In the summer of 1998 Solksjaer had an offer from then-Tottenham owner Alan Sugar of £5million which was signed by ex-United chief Martin Edwards.
But Solskjaer revealed he turned down the offer on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by SkyBet, as Fergie convinced him to stay.
He said: “The gaffer asked me to stay. He said ‘you’re not going to be the first choice but you will play enough’. And I thought ah okay.”
And what a remarkable season it was for the ex-Norway star to stay.
Solskjaer was well known for coming off the substitute bench to score late goals.
And in added time at the end of the 1999 Champions League final, he scored the winning last-minute goal against Bayern Munich, leading United to win the historic Treble.
But Solskjaer revealed that Fergie ordered him to “not tell anyone” he’d told him to stay because the club “really needed the money”.
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The striker, who went on to become boss of the Red Devils, remained a regular player for the side until a serious knee injury sustained in 2003 permanently plagued his playing career.
Failing to recover from the injury, Solskjaer announced his retirement from football in 2007.
Nicknamed “the Baby-faced Assassin”, he played 366 times for United and scored 126 goals during the club’s golden years.
Then in late 2018, the Red Devils appointed Solskjaer as caretaker manager, taking over from Jose Mourinho for the rest of the 2018–19 season.
And three months later in March 2019, having won 14 of his 19 matches in charge, Solskjaer signed a three-year contract to take over permanently.
He was sacked by the club in November 2021 following a poor run of performances during the 2021–22 season.