Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reveals Carlo Ancelotti’s exact words on why he’d never take Man United job | OneFootball

Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revealed details of a moment he shared with Carlo Ancelotti, in which the current Brazil national team boss told him why he’d never take the Old Trafford job.

Solskjaer’s managerial spell at United

A United legend from his playing days, Solskjaer returned to the club in December 2018. He was named caretaker manager after Jose Mourinho’s dismissal.

He started his reign in exquisite fashion, winning his first eight games across all competitions. After a good run, he was made permanent boss on 28 March 2019, putting pen to paper on a three-year contract.

Solskjaer led United to a third and second-place finish in his two full seasons in charge.

The Norwegian took charge of 168 games. He won 91 of these, lost 40 and drew 37. He was sacked in November 2021 after a string of poor performances and results. Solskjaer’s final game in the United dugout was a 4-1 away defeat to Watford.

He sat down with BBC Sport and looked back on his time as United manager. He opened up about the relentless pressure of managing United, even revealing that Ancelotti once told him he could never take the job because of the constant noise and scrutiny around the club.

Solskjaer’s revelation

Solskjaer told BBC Sport, ” I remember one game, against Everton. I’m stood there in my technical area, fourth official next to me. [Everton manager] Carlo Ancelotti comes across, so he’s more or less in my technical area.”

“And the fourth official says: ‘Carlo, you need to get back into your technical area unless you want Ole’s job.’ Carlo, as Carlo is, he’s always got a comment and a smile. He said: ‘No, no, no. Too much pressure. That job is too much pressure.’ So he walked back to his technical area and I thought, ‘pressure is a privilege’. He always said that as well.”

“I felt privileged to be the manager of Manchester United, but of course it’s not the same as playing. As a player, you just do your job. Suddenly now you’re the manager, you’re the face of everyone. You think about all these supporters, players, everything surrounding Manchester United.”

“But that pressure is a privilege because I was allowed to do that and I was allowed to deal with it in my way. And that was having great staff around us, an environment in and around the club that was very positive. But in the end, it doesn’t matter if you enjoy coming to work every day, training sessions… you need results and we unfortunately had a very bad six -week spell and that’s too long at a club like Manchester United and they made a change, which is fine.”

“Reflecting back on it, it was sad. We lost to Watford of course, and I knew this was more or less the end. I drove my family to the airport, they went back to Norway, and I was going to work. I got a text – ‘Ole, I need to see you in my office’ – and I knew what was going to happen, so I rang my wife and said: ‘I’ll catch you up, I’ll probably be back home before you!'”

Asked whether a change was made too abruptly, Solskjaer answered, “Sudden but not surprising. If you don’t get results, you do make a change, that’s football. But I felt we had something going.”

In hindsight, Solskjaer oversaw one of the better periods at United since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement.

On whether he feels he is now getting the credit he deserves, the 52-year-old remarked, “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.”

United are next in action on Sunday when they meet Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

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