Wednesday, February 26, 2014

26 February 1973 - I'll Bet He Made A Late Appearance Here, Too

On 26 February 1973, Manchester United supersub and current Cardiff manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær was born in Kristiansund, Norway.

Nicknamed "the babyfaced assassin" for the combination of his youthful appearance and deadly finishing, the striker began his professional career in 1990 with his hometown club Clausenengen in the Third Division. In 1995, after scoring 116 goals for them in 109 appearances, he moved to the top flight with Molde, but spent only two seasons there before joining Manchester United in July 1996.

In his first appearance for United, he came on as a 65th-minute substitute in a Premier League match against Blackburn Rovers. United were losing 1-2, but Solskjær scored in the 70th minute to earn a point for his new team.  He continued to display late-game heroics throughout his career there, including scoring the stoppage-time winner in United's 2-1 victory over Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final.

He spent eleven seasons at Old Trafford, scoring 126 goals in 366 appearances across all competitions before a knee injury forced his retirement in August 2007.  In 2008, he moved into management, taking charge of the Manchester United reserves, then becoming the manager of Molde in November 2010, winning league titles in 2011 and 2012 and the Norwegian Cup in 2013.

He returned to the Premier League in January 2014 as manager of Cardiff City.

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