Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Quotes, a complete collection

A look back at the greatest Ole Gunnar Solskjaer quotes including his comments on football and the biggest stars of the game.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is a Norwegian manager and former player who is currently working as a manager at his all-time club, Manchester United. Widely considered as one of the greatest football forwards of all time, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was a key player for the famous Manchester side which won the 1998-99 treble. He wrote his name forever in the history books by scoring United's memorable second goal in the Injury-time comeback against Bayern Munich in the 1999-2000 Champions League.

During his illustrated career, Solskjaer won almost every major title at the club level including 6 Premier League and 2 FA Cup titles as well as the 1999 Intercontinental Cup and the 1999-2000 Champions League. Solskjaer was a member of the Norway national team for almost 12 years and scored 23 goals in 67 games.

Solskjaer retired from football in 2007 after scoring 260 goals in 356 games. He started his managerial career as a coach at Manchester United academy in 2008. After a brief and successful spell at Cardiff and the Norwegian club, Molde, Solskjaer was appointed as Jose Mourinho's successor as the Manchester United's new coach in 2018. He has guided the Red Devils in the past three seasons. In the following article we present you with a complete collection of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer quotes.

Best Collection of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer quotes

We present football fans with the Best collection of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer quotes which includes his quotes about his personality and career as well as his comments on Messi and Ronaldo.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer quotes about his character, childhood and personal life

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was born into a family of athletes. His father was a well-known Greco-Roman wrestler, a sport Ole tried his luck at as a child. He started his amateur football career at the age of seven. Solskjaer is a family man and has been married to his wife, Silje for around two decades. He has three children, two of them have followed his footsteps. It is certainly interesting to know more about Ole Gunnar Solskjaer quotes on his own personality and personal life.

My dad used to be a Greco-Roman wrestler, and he was Norwegian champion six years on the bounce from 1966 to 1971. But I never saw him wrestle. I've only read the clippings.

The more mistakes you make, the more you learn.

The only way I know to get out of disappointment is to work hard, keep doing the right things, and don't make any rash decisions.

I like people. I like to speak to people, engage with people.

It's not my job to rate myself and judge myself. That's up to someone else.

I've got to do it my way. I can't compromise and be someone else.

I am not a city guy; I like peaceful surroundings and maybe a walk around a lake.

You cannot outperform your ego. You can never set the bar too high.

Everything isn't exactly what it seems from the outside.

When you get disappointments, you bounce back.

I was a boring man but a reflective man.

I was always the 'boring' type. I was into the stats and spending hours and hours and hours studying them. I was always more a manager than a player.

I work to plan long-term and try to earn results short-term.

Confidence is not something you store in the fridge and pick out. You earn it by your performances, by your training, how you feel.

When people doubt me, I love it.

When your kids disappoint you, you tell them off; you don't give them some chocolate, do you? You treat players similar to how you treat your kids, really.

I don't get distracted easily. I'm very focused.

I have always been a dad who is there because, in football, you have time.

I will show emotion with my players and fans when we do well. I am a professional man, and that is what I have to do.

I am not an emotional person, really. I am a realistic person.

I wouldn't be in football if I was nervous. You have to look forward to games.

I love working with people, trying to improve people. When you're here, you just want to go to bed at night and get up in the morning again.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer quotes about football and his playing style

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was famous for his ability to change the course of the games as a substitute. He was a cool finisher and always looked for opportunities to score goals. He was a key member of the Norway national team and Manchester United for many years and showed his strong personality in many key moments of his amazing career. The followings are the top quotes by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer about football and his own playing style.

Playing games is the best time of your life, and the more games you get, the better it is.

If you lose, you are out; if you win, you are the flavour of the month.

When you turn round games, that's the best feeling you have in games.

You can never be sure what is around the corner.

It's not about tippy-tappy, namby-pamby football. It's a battle, and we have to be ready for it.

When you win the title, you have a great few days, and then it's gone; you're already looking forward to the next season.

You will always miss chances, but you can't do anything about them once they've gone. It's always about the next chance.

In football, you never know what can happen.

When you are in a football club, you stick together. That's the key.

When my career is over, I want to say to myself that I've done whatever I could to be the best footballer I could be.

You never know the way your career takes.

My best ability was in just being ready when I was called upon. Then, I would be fit, and my legs would be light. If you sulk and are on the bench, and the gaffer calls you on, you are not ready because there's something going on in your head.

You have got to be one step ahead, as a striker, to create that space you need. Apart from the ball, when you're a striker, it is space that's your best friend. You need space.

Throughout my life, ever since I played for Clausenengen back home, instead of listening to the teacher at school, I was writing down all the chances I missed in a book thinking 'I should have done this.' Scoring goals was all I thought about.

I realised when I was a striker that when I ended up wide on the left or right, it can be so much easier to get space and face defenders up.

The one way of getting better is by practising - both on and off the pitch.

Finishing is different to shooting. If you work at in in training sessions then you will just do it naturally during the game.

It's important players focus on what they have to do, while the fans keep believing and stay behind us.

When I was a player, it was important to target the first few friendlies and plant a seed in the mind of the gaffer.

In games, you have plans, you have strategies, and you follow them.

That's the most important thing in football: you need to take chances when you get them.

Clubs don't change managers unless there is something wrong.

You want all the money inside football. We do not have a bottomless pit of money. There are constraints. That's why some deals I have said no to because of the finances of them.

Top quotes by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer about famous football players and teams

In this part of our article on we will have a look at the top quotes by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer about other football great stars and teams, including his comments on Lionel Messi, Roy Keane and Cristiano Ronaldo.

On Sir Matt Busby:

He laid the foundation. You can see the way Sir Alex rebuilt the club was on to the values of Sir Matt, those beliefs and principles. It would have been his 90th birthday on 26 May 1999 for the Champions League final so, of course, I’m aware of Sir Matt’s legacy. I remember the story that on the Champions League final night, just before the game, his son and daughter were in the stadium and there were a couple of doves just flying up. They both looked at them at the same time and said ‘He’s watching…’ and I think he would have been.

On Lionel Messi:

I have to say Lionel Messi is top quality and he was the difference of course. At 2-0 straight after it was game over. He's a different class, he and Cristiano Ronaldo are the best players of the last decade, everyone agrees on that one. Messi showed his quality.

On Cristiano Ronaldo:

He's been the best player in the world alongside Messi for the past 10-15 years now, You'd take him in your team, for sure.

Don't forget I played with Cristiano and he's the best player in the world - so I wouldn't mind having him in my team too. I would like Ronaldo back to Manchester United.

On Marcus Rashford:

One of my favourite players is, of course, Marcus Rashford.

On Erling Haaland:

He came as a 16-year-old, of course you never know with injuries, he struggled really badly with bad knees when he came. But I could see someone with a personality. I remember him brushing off and putting our centre-back and centre midfielders, two big, massive lads, he put them on the floor and asked them to get up. He’s a winner.

He’s got a great personality, of course. He’s proving to everyone how good a player he is. We played against Zenit in the Europa League play-off and the referee came to me after and said, 'he’ll play in the Champions League soon.

He’s a top personality. I played with Alf [Haaland’s father], he’s a bit old school in that respect. He’s a winner.

On Mason Greenwood:

I'm very happy for him. He's mixing up his game. He goes inside and outside, he's maturing all the time. It's lovely to see, He's put the work in on the training ground and reaps the rewards. Last season he was young, now he's had almost two seasons in the first team. He's very creative but plays simple when he has to.

On Roy Keane:

I'd love the player Roy Keane, I'm not sure if I could manage him though. I'd sign him every day of the week, Roy was so influential.

On Manchester City:

It's always this thing about being the big brother and the little brother coming to try to overtake the big brother. That always happens in families and in clubs - the young player hoping to take the old player's position - and City are hoping to overtake United. I don't think they'll ever be able to, though.

On The FA Cup final:

The FA Cup final is such a fantastic final to play in. I played in the 1999 one at Wembley, and after having watched so many finals as a kid, to be able to make that long walk up from the dressing room to the pitch was fantastic.

On The Premier League:

Everybody wants the Hollywood glamour of the Premier League.

On Norway's domestic football:

Norway is a small environment. There are only three to four agents to deal with, just 15 other clubs, and that's it!

On The Super League:

When I thought about it, I didn’t like the concept anyway, it has to be on sporting merit I want to earn the right to play in Europe.

We know we’ve been pioneers and we’ve been in Europe for many, many years with the Busby Babes, so that’s one part of it and we want to be part of a successful European campaign again. One of my best matches and best nights have been something we’ve worked really hard towards but then to get that that fear of failure.

You can’t just be given it because your name is such and such, you have to earn the right to be there and to get the best possible performance. I’ve always felt and I’ve always believed stepping out of your comfort zone and being afraid of failure that spurs you on, living on the edge a little bit. That wasn’t part of this.

For me, I’m very happy that all the clubs that have admitted their mistake, that this was a bad idea and the way that it came out as well.

Best Ole Gunnar Solskjaer quotes about his time as a player and manager at Manchester United

We wrap up our article on the Best Ole Gunnar Solskjaer quotes with a collection of his most famous comments about his time as a player and as a manager at Manchester United.

I had a fantastic time at United. I have been back to watch games. It was over 14 years of my life. It is a third of my life I spent at Old Trafford. That's a lot of time, and it feels like home.

A Man United team should never be outworked.

When you're at Manchester United there are a set of demands, and one is to be a team player, and I don't think anyone has been on the bench more than me!

If you are a regular at Manchester United, I think you should grasp the opportunity to stay here and become part of the history.

That comes when you sign for Man United - you know you're going to play in front of the best fans in the world.

I'm proud of my career as a player.

When I scored on my debut, it was a brilliant feeling.

There are two things I will always remember. First, a shot against Derby that hit the inside of the post but didn't go in, and we could only draw 2-2. And then the really big chance against Bayer Leverkusen, two minutes from the end of the Champions League semi-final, when I shot over the bar. That hurt a lot.

I've seen [the goal] so many times. I cannot remember exactly what I felt because I was so focused on my job. I think it was bigger for everyone else around. I just did my job as a striker, something I'd done so many times before. It was just being in the right position at the right time.

Mountains are there to be climbed, aren't they? We can't lay down and say this is over. We're going to have to go down there, believe in ourselves, play a good game.

Manchester United have always stood up again and bounced back; it's just in the DNA.

It's not my job to rate managers. My focus is on me and my team.

Every manager dreams of managing Manchester United.

It's down to the players, but when you're at Man United, there isn't a lot of greener grass on the other side. You are at the best place.

If I had been at any other club but United, then I think I would have gone to the manager and asked to leave. But I want to stay here and win things.

I’d rather have a hole in the squad than an a**ehole. Personality is so important. We’re a team in a team environment. You want players to have a bit of ego and edge but they have to be able to adapt.

You need to knock the house down, you don’t just start with the roof, we’ve had some rainy days and wish that roof was on, but we can’t hide.

I've been here as a player 11 years. I've been here as a coach for three-and-a-half years, so it's the best part of 15 years of my life. It feels like home. Man United fits me very well, because it's in me. It's in your personality, it's ingrained in you. I understand the club. (On coming back to United)

It's about getting every player to be their very best. It's about getting your philosophy through and principles of how we want to play. At Man United, we play without fear, we play with courage. Go out there and express your skills. Be the kids that love to play football and go out and play in front of the best fans in the world.

Whenever the training session and team sessions are done, I'll make sure I get time to work with the boys. There is one way of getting better and that is practising – on and off the pitch. We can sit for hours and hours and hours talking about finishing practices and scoring goals because that's always been my passion.

It comes to playing style and how we want to look in one, two years’ time. It's about finding players with the Man United identity and DNA.

As a player, I gave everything I had. Now walking out, leading the team, just being part of this team, it’s very, very special. We're playing for the supporters, we're playing for our pride, we're playing for the club's history

You go into every single game at Manchester United as a player or a manager, thinking you're going to win. That's just the nature of this club. The next one is always the important one.

You don't panic because you've lost a game, or change everything because it doesn't change the mindset at all. We need to keep working on the way we want to play football. The way we approach games will always be in an attacking positive mind.

Everyone thinks I'm looking for attacking football all the time. But the foundation is how you defend - keep a clean sheet, and you have a decent chance to win a game of football.

I understand there are so many managers who would love to be manager of Manchester United, and I am one of them.

The attacking philosophy is in the walls of Man United. That's tradition; that's history. That's how we play and want to play.

Every single player needs that eye-to-eye connection, I'm sure. They want to know what is expected of them, but it's not just me telling them what to do. It's about asking, 'What are your strengths? What do you feel? What can you give to the team?'

So here was our article on the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer quotes. Which part did you like the most? Any quotes you want to add to the list? Let us know in the comments section.