I was a Norway teammate of Ole Gunnar Solskjær but now I am head of coaching education for the Norwegian football federation and it was absolutely marvellous and brilliant – as well as really surprising – that he got the offer to be Manchester United temporary manager last December.
Now, after he has done well for a couple of months, it is the same feeling having him as the permanent coach: it’s really fantastic. It will have a great influence on all of us in Norway: footballers, coaches, coach educators, everyone: it is a fantastic inspiration as we have never had a coach at the level of Manchester United before.
At the beginning of his career Ole Gunnar was not the big player we came to know. He was a tiny boy who had yet to grow fully and fill out as quickly as other players did. But he was very ambitious, very perfectionist-like. And among his biggest assets, it would be fair to say, were his cleverness and eagerness to practise what he thought he could improve on as an attacker and a goalscorer.
He was absolutely one of the best forwards when it came to being able to find the right situation in a game and to use the right option then. He was a perfectionist in the way he trained and could also transfer some of that approach to the matches.
He may have been only quite quick rather than the quickest but he was a really lethal goalscorer. Ole was not one of these strikers who has to have many chances created for him and when he attempts to convert them only some end up in goal. This was his prime asset on the field: he was a ruthless finisher.
When Ole moved to Manchester United from Molde in 1996 he found the change natural to him despite the Norwegian league not being at quite the same level as the Premier League.
It was not at all obvious that he would be able to do that but here another part of his talent showed: his ability to adapt. And how Ole did so was to ensure he made his qualities a part of the United squad and for them to be really useful to Alex Ferguson. Ole Gunnar created his niche there: he became vital to United as a goalscorer clever enough to make an impact when coming on as a replacement or when he was on the pitch as a starter.
We were international teammates, as I said, and of course he was a popular member of the Norway squad. If you are a Norwegian player moving to Manchester United, you will raise your popularity 100%. I think it is fair to say that Ole Gunnar is the nice guy with solid values who always kept his feet on the ground before and after the move to United and, even now: this is something we can all relate to.
But where we differ is musical tastes. I am into heavy metal but I have to say Ole Gunnar would not at all be. I can be sure of this because I have spoken to him about it and know from what Ole said to me. Also we have a mutual friend, Trond Anderson, [a defender] who was also a national team player and played for Wimbledon. He and Ole Gunnar are from the same little place in Norway – Kristiansund – and Trond was actually a guitarist and a heavy metal fan like me: I have the same music taste as Trond but not as Ole.
Would Ole be more into a band like A-ha? I think he would more go with the flow, listen to music played on the radio, easy pop music, that sort of sound.
Now the real question is whether Ole can, in time, win Manchester United a Premier League title. I think he has a chance to do that and that this is also the ambition of the United board and club. We all know they have fantastic opponents in the Premier League, so it will be really difficult. But they certainly have a chance under Ole Gunnar.
We know he has a three-year contract now but in top professional football you never know what can happen in a month, or three weeks, or half a year. But he has an opportunity. Where he is now is absolutely fantastic for him and for all of us Norwegians.
Dan Eggen won 25 caps for Norway between 1993 and 2001