Ole Gunnar Solskjaer slammed his former Manchester United stars as ‘snowflakes’ and said many players would not have survived in the dressing room during his playing career. The Red Devils icon has hit out at the type of personality that modern football now has to offer.
Solskjaer played alongside the likes of Roy Keane, Gary Neville, Nicky Butt and Ryan Giggs during his Old Trafford playing spell. It was an unbelievably successful time for the club under Alex Ferguson, with Solskjaer winning six Premier Leagues, two FA Cups and a Champions League.
The Norwegian was unable to replicate that success as manager during a near three-year stint. Finishing as runners-up in the 2020-21 Europa League final was as close as his United team came to winning a trophy.
However, Solskjaer has appeared to partially lay the blame at the feet of his squad. He claimed that some ‘snowflake’ stars would bring their families or agents into the training ground if they felt hard done by.
Comparing the players he played with to the ones he managed, Solskjaer is quoted by The Athletic, during a forum with supporters, as saying: “The lads in that dressing room were absolutely fantastic. Keano was the leader, the one everyone looked up to.
“David May was the joker, the clown. Gary (Neville) is still the busiest and was the busiest back then as well. Nicky (Butt) and Giggsy (Ryan Giggs) were the entertainers.
“It was just a fantastic dressing room. Winners, who hated losing. They had a few fights, like you should do, after bad games. You had to shake each other up.
“If you do that to the boys now, they will get their dad, or their mum, or their agents… snowflakes. Not many of today’s lot would have survived in that dressing room.”
Solskjaer had to deal with plenty of big personalities during his time as manager. In his final summer transfer window, the 50-year-old added Cristiano Ronaldo to a squad that already included the likes of Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard.
The former striker also took aim at the club’s owners, the Glazer family, for their ‘neglect’ of Old Trafford and the Carrington training base. United remains up for sale and Solskjaer seemed to favour the bid of British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe.
“[The takeover] needs to be done,” Solskjaer said. “Old Trafford is neglected. The training ground has been neglected. We need to catch up with the other teams.”
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