Solskjaer sets out to rescue United again, now as coach

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is on another rescue mission at Manchester United, this time as manager.

The former striker who became a United great by conjuring up important goals typically as a substitute—most famously an injury-time winner in the 1999 Champions League final—was picked as the man to bring stability to the English club after the tumultuous 2½-year tenure of Jose Mourinho.

Solskjaer was hired as manager until the end of the season on Wednesday in a sentimental choice likely to prove popular with United’s increasingly disillusioned fan base.

His task: To resuscitate United after its worst start to a league season in 28 years, prompting Mourinho’s departure on Tuesday. The team is in sixth place in the Premier League, 19 points behind first-place Liverpool and 11 behind fourth-place Chelsea.

“Manchester United is in my heart,” said Solskjaer, who played for United from 1996-2007 and scored 126 goals in 366 appearances, “and it’s brilliant to be coming back in this role. I’m really looking forward to working with the very talented squad we have, the staff and everyone at the club.”

Solskjaer had been coaching Norwegian team Molde, who said it had agreed to “lend” him to United to “help to put Molde further on the football map.” He recently signed a three-year deal with the team.

“In football, you never know what can happen,” Solskjaer said. “We get proof of (it) time after time. This is an opportunity I had to take.”

The 45-year-old Solskjaer will surely have the backing of fans, who fondly nicknamed him the “Baby-Faced Assassin” when he was a player because of his boyish looks and lethal finishing.

He likes to play an attacking brand of soccer modeled on the sides of Alex Ferguson, who was his manager at United in that trophy-laden decade when the Norwegian won six league titles, two FA Cups and the Champions League. He has said on a number of occasions that coaching United was his dream job.