Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Molde side are closing in on the Norwegian title in his first season in charge.
 
The team from the beautiful town of just 24,000 on the edge of a fjord in central Norway have never been crowned champions before, but with just five games to play, Molde enjoy a 10 point lead over Champions League regulars Rosenborg.
 
Solskjaer, 38, is assisted by Mancunian coach Mark Dempsey and the pair worked together with Manchester United’s reserves before joining Molde last year.
 
Reinforcing the United connection is one of Molde’s star players, attacking midfielder Magnus Eikrem, the Molde-born player who spent five years at Old Trafford before returning home with Solskjaer.
 
“I thought it would have been very hard for Ole Gunnar leaving the Manchester United bubble,” says Jan Age Fjortoft, the former Middlesbrough, Sheffield United and Norway striker who now hosts Norway’s Champions League television coverage.
 
“At United you are protected from the media and as a player you become used to winning in front of 75,000 most week. To go from that to a small town where the team have an average crowd of 8,000 is a big change, but Ole Gunnar has impressed me enormously.”
 
It’s not only good results which have won Solskjaer respect.
 
“Molde had a very important away game which they lost 1-0 after conceding a goal in the 93rd minute,” recalls Fjortoft. “The first thing Ole Gunnar did was walk onto the pitch and congratulate the opposing striker. That showed what a decent man he is.”
 
“In another game, Molde were well beaten. Ole Gunnar faced the media after the game and said: ‘I know my boys, I know they will come back next week.’ That will have inspired confidence in his players and they did come back the following week.
 
“Ole Gunnar is part of a new breed of young coaches like Villas Boas at Chelsea. He’s gone from being a rookie coach with United’s reserves to being one of the most promising coaches around.”
 
What’s more impressive is that he’s hardly spent any money at Molde.
 
“Ole Gunnar hasn’t made major changes at all,” says Fjortoft. “He took over a team which did well in 2009, but had then struggled in 2010 until they were saved from relegation by (former City striker) Uwe Rosler. Ole Gunnar also lost one of his best strikers to Copenhagen so he’s done a remarkable job and his team play good football.”
 
Solskjaer is a great student of football, something Fjortoft noticed at an early age.
 
“He was a sub when I was in the national team and he told me that he would watch me closely to see how I played,” he explains. “I thought he was taking the mickey out of me like footballers do, but he was always wanting to learn.
 
“I think that Ole Gunnar will manage Manchester United in the future,” adds Fjortoft. “ I don’t think he will replace Sir Alex Ferguson, but he’ll manage later on because he has the United spirit, the link with the club and the popularity with the club’s supporters. And I say that as a Leeds United supporter.”

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