Gary Neville has finally managed to get Ole Gunnar Solskjær on The Overlap and the Manchester United legend turned manager has finally shed some light on just how close he came to singing the likes of Jude Bellingham, Erling Haaland and Declan Rice.
Appearing alongside Stick To Football regular and former teammate Roy Keane as well, Solskjær arguably one of the biggest looks behind the curtain since he was sacked from Man United back in 2021, detailing everything from the state of the dressing room to how he fit into the hierarchy around the club.
Perhaps most interestingly, the one-time ‘baby-faced assassin’ also spoke on his attempts to bring Premier League stars Haaland and Rice to Old Trafford, as well as another one of England and Europe’s most exciting talents: a then-teenaged Jude Bellingham, now shining at Real Madrid.
Explaining the player recruitment set-up in more detail than most Reds will have ever heard before, Ole insisted that while he was consulted and did get to say ‘yes or no’ from a list of players, he did bring all three of these names to the table but they didn’t work out for one reason or another.
🇳🇴 Stick to Football: Solskjaer 🇳🇴
🔴 Manchester United Exit 👀 Haaland, Bellingham, Rice ✍️ Signing Cristiano Ronaldo 🏆 Winning The Treble
The episode is available now on YouTube and all major podcast platforms!
Ole talks Rice, Bellingham, Haaland, the Ronaldo deal and more on Stick To Football.
Starting with Rice before he went to Arsenal, he said that although it “would’ve cost some money, we could and should’ve gone for him” at the time, as well as going on to reveal that they managed to get Bellingham in the building to meet legends like Sir Alex, Cantona and Bryan Robson.
ADVERTISEMENT
However, while he insisted that they tried to sell him the project as best they could, he said that even at his age “he knew what he wanted: x amount of minutes in the first team… he had it planned out”, adding that he was “the most mature 17-year-old I’ve ever met in my life”.
As for the matter of his fellow countryman Haaland, who he had already managed back home in Molde as a youngster, Solskjær said that after roughly two seasons of coaching him he “rang the club and said, ‘You’ve got to sign this boy’, he’ll be absolutely top class”.
ADVERTISEMENT
Unfortunately, United didn’t see fit to take a chance on his recommendation even after he became manager, passing up the opportunity of signing him for just a £20 million release clause and then again for £60m after he started scoring for Salzburg. As fellow ex-pro and panellist Jill Scott put it: “Bargain”.
🇳🇴🗣️ Ole Gunnar Solskjær: "I had Haaland in Molde, for two seasons. The summer before I got here (to Man United), I rang the club and said: you've got to sign this boy. He’ll be top class."
"That was June, July 2018, and they said no. They had enough reports on players. Then I… pic.twitter.com/QM6XVqE7Iy
Ole also went on to discuss the process of bringing Cristiano Ronaldo back to Old Trafford, which despite claiming was “the right decision at the time” he admits “didn’t work out” for either of them, citing complaints when he wasn’t played as the wider impact on their desired playing style overall.
Beyond that, the 51-year-old reflected on players passing up the captaincy for certain games during his tenure, taking time away from management after being at United, his own playing career and how Erik ten Hag is fairing at present and more in the lengthy chat.
ADVERTISEMENT
You can watch Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s episode of Stick To Football in full down below:
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
6th March 2024 
