Ole Gunnar Solskjaer lifted the mood tenfold in the dressing room after becoming Manchester United manager in 2018, but he has now reflected on one major regret he has from his time in the dugout.
You will hear stories of admiration if you ask any Manchester United fan about Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, especially from his time as a player.
Solskjaer became a club legend as part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s team for 11 years. He moved to Old Trafford from Molde in 1996 and scored the crucial goal to complete the famous treble triumph three years later.
The Norwegian striker hung up his boots in 2007 before taking coaching roles in United’s academy as well as managerial roles at Molde and Cardiff City.
In 2018, Solskjaer returned to Old Trafford as interim manager to replace Jose Mourinho. He earned the role permanently and remained at the club until November 2021.
It proved to be an emotional journey for Solskjaer and United fans alike.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after Europa League final defeat
Photo by Kacper Pempel – Pool/Getty Images
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reveals biggest regret from managing Man Utd
Solskjaer was a United legend before spending three years as manager.
As a player, he scored 126 goals in 366 appearances for the club.
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However, as a manager, Solskjaer guided United to second in the Premier League and also the Europa League final in 2021. He was later sacked after a poor run of form and replaced by Ralf Rangnick.
Solskjaer has sat down with BBC Sport reporter Kelly Somers for an exclusive interview to discuss several topics, including his biggest regret from his time in charge at United.
It won’t come as a surprise that the one thing that annoys Solskjaer is the fact that he didn’t win any silverware, despite coming close to doing so in Gdansk.
“Not lifting a trophy for Man United that’s one of the things, as a manager, that is something that, it doesn’t play on my mind, but that’s something that I would have liked to have achieved,” Solskjaer said.
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United lost the 2021 Europa League final against Villarreal on penalties after the match finished 1-1 in regular and extra time.
Edinson Cavani scored early in the second half to make it 1-1, but David de Gea missed a decisive penalty in the shootout as Villarreal were crowned Europa League champions.
Solskjaer revealed a joke Carlo Ancelotti made about the United job in the same interview.
Worst time to be Man Utd manager
Although Solskjaer loved his time at United, he feels that it was the worst time to manage the club because of the competition that existed elsewhere.
Man City had Pep Guardiola and Liverpool were managed by Jurgen Klopp.
When asked if he feels he gets the credit he deserves, Solskjaer replied: “It’s not about getting the credit, but it was the worst time to be the manager of Manchester United. You have Jurgen Klopp with his Liverpool team and you have Pep Guardiola with his Manchester City team. Best managers in the world at the time and probably the two best teams in the world at the time.
“But we got second and third. So with the staff, we had something going but we couldn’t take the next steps. Hopefully we can get back as a club later on.”