Manchester United: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's former Cardiff player lifts lid on "ridiculous" reign
Manchester United have recently sacked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - now Ben Turner has reported of what the Norwegian had to deal with in his last Premier League stint
Manchester United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had to deal with interference with his team while he was Cardiff manager, says former player Ben Turner.
Turner has been opening up about the "ridiculous" circumstances that Solskjaer had to manage in his previous role in the Welsh capital and says that the Norwegian "had no choice" with some of the players he had to pick.
“I just think that at that time, the people behind the scenes got too involved. After their relationship broke down with Malky [Mackay] then it seemed they were going to take more control with whoever came in next," said Turner.
"It got ridiculous, they were picking certain players to play and Ole had no choice. Sometimes we’d get called in and Ole would say ‘they want this player to play so one of you two can’t play. Last time this happened you didn’t play so this time you won’t play’ (to the other player)'.
“We played Villa on a Tuesday night in the league, at home and drew 0-0. I still think it’s the best I have ever played. We had Hull at home on the Saturday in a must-win game, if not must-win then must not lose if we wanted to stay in the relegation dogfight.
"We were called in and three of the back four had been changed, including myself, the only one who stayed was Steven Caulker. You’re annoyed because you think we played well as individuals and as a team, got a clean sheet and he’s changed it.
“He put Juan Cala in with Caulker at centre-half. Those two just didn’t get on together and we got beaten four something at home to Hull who were also in the relegation dogfight.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
"Even in that situation when you were being told you’re not playing, you’re annoyed personally but there’s an element of you that just thinks ‘f*****g hell, can’t they just leave you alone to manage the team?'”
Solskjaer was dismissed from Manchester United on Sunday, following a 4-1 defeat to Watford.
FourFourTwo was launched in 1994 on the back of a World Cup that England hadn’t even qualified for. It was an act of madness… but it somehow worked out. Our mission is to offer our intelligent, international audience access to the game’s biggest names, insightful analysis... and a bit of a giggle. We unashamedly love this game and we hope that our coverage reflects that.