Former Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has come clean and made startling revelations about some of his players during his time in charge at Manchester United.
Solskjaer has chosen to spill the beans on his time as manager at Manchester United, revealing that players “lacked the ambition” required at an elite club with the prestige and stature of the club.
Dismissed from his duties as manager in November 2021, Solskjaer fell short and was unable to win a trophy during his three years in charge at the club. The Norwegian has now felt it timely to disclose that certain players turned down the opportunity to captain the side for certain games during his tenure.
The 51-year-old finds it “petty” that those particular players never took the initiative to directly tell him about their reluctance to don the armband.
“No one said ‘No’ to being the club captain, it was just for certain games,” Solskjaer said on the Stick to Football podcast.
When further pressed on whether players said “I don’t want to be captain for this match”, Solskjaer went on to provide a baffling insight into the mindsets of his former players.
“Yes, but they didn’t want to say it themselves, they had other people come up to me and say it. It was disappointing. It’s a different generation, its Gen Z. It’s petty and shows a lack of ambition.”
The Norwegian then proceeded to highlight how the players in question would shy away from the spotlight during difficult times at the club while also fingering the individuals who were bold enough to be up front to face the tough questions thrown at them in pre-match interviews.
“Many players said no to doing the pre-match interviews, the three questions,” Solskjaer explained.
“You had the go-to’s, Bruno Fernandes always did it, Harry Maguire always did it, Victor Lindelof] did it, David De Gea did it, Luke Shaw did it. The others were worried about the questions, so preferred not to do it.
“You’re scared of the whole reaction maybe, but you also understand some of the players’ mental health.”
Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville then posed the question why certain players would be turning down the honor of captaining the club.
“It makes me feel worried for them [the players] in the sense that, what state of mind are they in to actually turn down one of the greatest accolades you could have?” Neville said on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet.
“I don’t think of it being weak, they must be in a bad place to be shrinking from the responsibility.”