26 Aug 2021 11:45:09
25 years today since we signed a certain Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, I watched all of his goals again the other day and what a striker he was for us. I always tried to model my game on him and used to watch his technique on finishing for years to improve my own. So many times the commentators mentioned how good he was and how he just couldn't stop scoring. Some of his goals were truly phenomenal finishes as well, I think people forget that.

Just to note, this post is about Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the United playing legend, I have deliberately not mentioned anything since then.

1.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 12:04:04
Okay. Well continue enjoying all his goals then because that's the only thing of significance that he will be remembered for during his time at United.

2.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 12:10:25
My fav player as a teenager 👌🏻.

3.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 12:37:12
He did well and was a good servant he was a good squad player i'd put him in the same bracket as o shea butt Phil neville. Scored some lovely goals and was a decent finisher. Could perhaps have achieved more with the talent he had bit of a nearly man like David fairclough at Liverpool or wiltort at arsenal.

4.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 13:04:10
Jesus Ken, Wiltord at Arsenal! It’s clear Ole has upset you but take your blinkers off! A fantastic player for us, won us the European cup and an absolute gem of a striker!

5.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 12:34:43
One of my all time favourite players - and I was a huge George Best fan . Really didn't want him to take the managers job as i thought it was way too big for him.

Superb player, one of SAF s best ever buys.

6.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 13:36:17
ken you don't half make me laugh.


i get you don't like the guy but he was more than a good squad player in my opinion

as a player he is up there with the likes of yorke cole


he was a major part in the clubs success through out the 90s and if you check he was playing 25 games plus regular maybe more were sub than starting.

saved us in the fa cup against liverpool and you know just won us the little UCL.

i respect your opinion but he was more than a squad player. miles above the likes of oshea and p neville.

7.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 13:48:32
Haha Ken, never fail to amaze me.

Wiltord scored 31 goals for Arsenal, Fairclough scored 34 for Liverpool, Ole scored 91 goals for united, just for clarity.

Maybe go and watch his goals, you’ll see he was a lot better than you give him credit for. Injuries towards the end of his career stopped him from getting to 100 for the club really.

Love_united, he scored a lot of goals and won a lot of trophies with the club so if that is what he is remembered for then fantastic, I thought the post would bring out the haters but thought it might be a few posts down rather than the first response, I deliberately said it was about his playing career to try and stop that kind of response.

8.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 13:49:51
Chris, must have been one hell of a player then Ole if he won us the European Cup all by himself. Must have been great in goal, defence, MF and striker all in one. Schmeichel, Keane, Beckham, Cole, Scholes etc take note. What were all you there for?

Ole, a good man to come off the bench when the team needed a goal. Much like Chicharito was for us.

9.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 14:00:57
Ole was a very good striker, excellent finisher and fantastic work rate. Gave everything he had for our club, and injuries probably stopped him achieving more. He was a fantastic player.

10.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 14:06:26
he actually played a lot of games earlier in his united career, came 2nd or 3rd in the charts one season behind shearer if i remember.

11.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 14:12:32
he was a great player for us, what a goal scorer. His winner against Liverpool in the FA cup was one of my favourite moments.

I didn't really won't him to be the utd manager because I thought it would tarnish the memory of him as a player. Now he is the manager, I will support him as much as any player who pulls on the utd shirt, as that is what fans should do.

12.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 14:34:01
bolger2 he was a good striker but be realistic: in the same breathe as shearer really!
detest AS but he scored 30 + goals season after another and the man played with dodgy knees for 4-5 years.
Ole was/ is probably a better person but as said earlier a very good impact player off the bench.
I think some supporters fail to remember that when looking at his managerial carreer at the club.

13.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 16:03:35
91 goals in how many seasons 8 or 10? Not a great return . Goals per game wiltord? V ole?

14.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 15:20:34
i said he finished the charts one year behind shearer not that he was as good as shearer come on.

just stating he was more than an average squad player

shearer was different class to ole

this post had nothing to do with his career as manager.

15.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 16:15:25
Ole averaged 10 goals per season. I think martial has that. His numbers are well below average for a top striker at a top club
Made less apoearances than o shea and butt.
Strikers often get remembered for magic moments that often clouds peoples memory.
Ronaldo would not make it into my top 10. Nor would Rooney Cantona just about. People see different things. I see 91 goals over 9 season. 235 appearances over 9 seasons. Over 70 of this as a sub.
Not an all time great for me. Cl final aside he did score some good goals but not even in the same zone as the likes of big Pete or Edwin for me.
Compare those numbers to Rooney shearer Henry kane aguero they are/ were great strikers. Ole was a good squad player like his numbers prove.

16.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 16:31:30
Probably easier to do it by minutes played Ken as you mentioned yourself Ole came off the bench a lot so minutes played / 90 to create a full game gives a better picture obviously.

Ole played 154 full league games and scored 91 so a goal every 1.69 games, pretty good record if you ask me.

Wiltord played the equivalent of 80 full games and scored 31, a goal every 2.6 games, also a good record but not close to Ole’s.

When you say 8-10 seasons it’s more like 7 because of injuries towards the end meant he didn’t really play. I know you’ll find a way of arguing with the stats above but maybe it’s time to accept he was a very good player, an amazing finisher and perhaps just not a great manager, otherwise you’re starting to come across very bitter about him which I don’t quite understand.

17.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 16:36:31
Funky,

Match going reds have been putting him in the same breath as Shearer for the last 25 years, “Alan Shearer was f***ing dearer, please don’t take my Solskjaer away”.

Probably Ole’s 2 best seasons were the ones after 99, 99/ 00 and 00/ 01, some of his goals in them seasons were phenomenal and it surprised me that he scored 60%+ of his goals for us after the winner in 99. I definitely recommend giving the goals a watch, brought back some great memories.

18.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 17:14:06
I know you are an accountant but that's the worst representation of numbers I've seen in a while.
If you take out the games he didn't start you must remove the goals he scored as a sub🤣🤣 pretty dence.
He was a sub so often because the manager thought others deserved to play more because they gave more to the team i'm sure.
Averaged 25 games a season or about 17 starts a season so he started less than a third of our games on average.
You can't say he was only here for 7 because he was injured. All players suffer injuries.
His numbers are below average for a striker at a top club for 9 years.
But they are decent numbers for a squad player which is exactly what he was.
I actually thought he had 1 great season playing in place of becks on the right for a time. He could cross well on the run.
17 starts on average plus 8 as a sub average. 10 goals a season average.
As I say decent squad player stats well below what you would expect from a top cf at the best team in England for most of his time here and in Europe for 1 year.
He did not win us the cl. He scored a winning goal. How many mins did he play in the competition that year?
You think he was fantastic that's your perogative but the numbers say very much the opposite and that's how I remember him. I was at the 99 final I cheered him like everybody else. That was his moment. Just like when wiltord scored the goal to win arsenal the league.

19.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 17:34:18
gds2 - I have shouted that at ot god knows how many times fella. lol
My reply to bOlger was that he simply wasnt the same standard as AS in terms of continued seasonal goals scored- very few were although as said its widely regarded that shearer as a person is far from well liked: respected but still an arragant So and so.

20.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 17:41:56
I remember him score 4 goals as a sub in 13 minutes. Only reason he didn't scored more goals was that he played mostly as a sub and united played with 4 strikers on a rotation. Its hard to believe this is a Manchester united page.

21.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 18:31:29
Ole was a very good striker who suffered from some bad luck.

He had the Yorke/ Cole partnership keeping him out of the line up for 3 seasons.

Then the club signed RvN and switched to a single striker system. Ruud was just phenomenal at scoring and you just couldn't keep him out of the line up.

By the time Ruud left Solskjaer's knees were pretty much knackered and he was fit for maybe 10-12 games a season and couldn't be relied on.

His final 2-3 years he only scored a few goals due to how limited his playing time was due to the constant injuries.

He scored:

19 in 96/ 97
9 in 97/ 98
17 in 98/ 99
15 in 99/ 00
14 in 00/ 01
25 in 01/ 02
15 in 02/ 03
1 in 03/ 04
11 in 06/ 07

He spent most of the 03/ 04 season out injured and the same in 04/ 05 and 05/ 06 which is why he didn't score in those season's.

01/ 02 he had a great season. In all the other season's he played second fiddle and still scored respectable numbers.

I think he was a great player, who was a tad unlucky not to play more for us.

22.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 18:45:40
Wow, the level of disrespect for on here quite absurd, he was a fantastic servant to the club and like it or not a legend at our club. And ogs will be leaving the club in much much better shape than he found it, if indeed he falls short and leaves. I suppose some on here would like to be still signing Fellini’s, matic’s and rojos of the world.

23.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 19:23:04
Shappy according to records he scored 91 goals for the club. You and the dodgy accountant need to work on your numbers your a right pair like cannon and ball.
The united official site says he scored 91 goals his Wikipedia says he scored 91 goals but you come up with a different set of numbers altogether.

24.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 19:26:48
Imagine comparing ole to martial.

Ole. produced every week, scored big goals and produced against the big teams


I think some peoples hatred towards him as a manager has tainted their view on him as a player.

25.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 20:10:23
Ken, you just got third on your degree for using Wikipedia 😂

You shouldn't trust a source that can be altered by literally anyone. Also Wikipedia can't even be consistent. At the top of the page it says he scored 91 goals for United, then in the first paragraph it says he scored 126.

I'm assuming the 91 is league goals and doesn't include for example his goal in the UCL final in 99.

He has a career total of 126 goals in all competitions for United.

So my accountancy skills are just fine, your research skills could do with a brush up though 🤣.

26.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 20:31:14
Not at all bolger.
What more do you want he was a good player he played his role in the squad over his 11 seasons he never nailed down a starting place.
He played less than o shea and butt. None of that is hatred its just the facts. I class him the same as them as did our greatest ever manager in terms of the role they played in the squad. Very reliable when needed either for a 20 min cameo or for a sustained period of games. A good squad player in the best and dominant team in the country. No shame in that. His numbers are quite clear. 91 goals epl. There are loads of players that have broke the 100 barrier he is not one because he was never really 1st choice over 11 seasons. But he did well with the role he was given as a support player.
Yes he scored a couple of majorly vital goals but forwards do that. Butt may have stopped twice as many against but its not as in your face.
No hatred just my honest assessment devoid of emotion based on my reflection and the figures and stats.
If I were to list my top 10 players nobody would agree with my list or my reasoning as its my personal choice. Ronaldo wouldn't be in it nor would Rooney or rio but I don't hate them.

27.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 20:31:14
Not at all bolger.
What more do you want he was a good player he played his role in the squad over his 11 seasons he never nailed down a starting place.
He played less than o shea and butt. None of that is hatred its just the facts. I class him the same as them as did our greatest ever manager in terms of the role they played in the squad. Very reliable when needed either for a 20 min cameo or for a sustained period of games. A good squad player in the best and dominant team in the country. No shame in that. His numbers are quite clear. 91 goals epl. There are loads of players that have broke the 100 barrier he is not one because he was never really 1st choice over 11 seasons. But he did well with the role he was given as a support player.
Yes he scored a couple of majorly vital goals but forwards do that. Butt may have stopped twice as many against but its not as in your face.
No hatred just my honest assessment devoid of emotion based on my reflection and the figures and stats.
If I were to list my top 10 players nobody would agree with my list or my reasoning as its my personal choice. Ronaldo wouldn't be in it nor would Rooney or rio but I don't hate them.

28.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 21:23:24
The whole thread was referring to his 91 league goals shappy I've said epl goals in a post above.
Its not your accountancy i'm worried about. As I said above he played his role as a squad player well. Our greatest ever manager never really gave him a sustained starting berth. So he started about a rd of our games, less than the other strikers. He spent the vast majority of his career as a supporting player. That's just a simple fact. You might look back and think he was unlucky to have better players ahead of him I don't I think he found his niche and aborted preferred to be a squad player here rater than a no1 at a lesser club.
Who can blame him we were a successful team back in those days and he played his part in those days just not as often as butt and other for example but as a forward he got a few really special goals.

29.) 26 Aug 2021
26 Aug 2021 22:59:45
Anyway, good discussion guys and happy anniversary to one of our greatest ever strikers who will go down in our history, interesting that the people who dislike him as a manager didn’t like him as a player either, must be a coincidence.