Solskjaer's friendship with controversial agent worrying?

"Arriving in British football with a strong managerial reputation thanks to his exploits with the Norweigan national team, Egil Olsen is a man now best remembered in this country for leading Wimbledon to Premier League relegation in his one year at the helm.

It was the beginning of their much publicised demise, which eventually led to the club as we knew it going out of existence. The manager, who was often referred to at the time as the “football professor”, due to his reliance on football science – something which was completely out of the norm back in the 90s – brought four fellow countrymen into the club: Tore Pedersen, Martin Andresen, Kjetil Waehler and Lyn Andreas Lund – two of which joined the Dons from Molde. Ring any bells?

Pedersen would spend four seasons at the London club, though the other three Norweigan misfits made a combined total of 32 appearances between them, with many Wimbledon supporters putting the club’s relegation down to Olsen’s failure to recruit the right players.

Vinnie Jones would famously go on to say that his only regret about the now 71-year-old’s departure from the club was the fact he “never got a chance to chin him”. While it was another Welshman, Ben Thatcher, that Olsen claimed was his favourite player at the time.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has received some criticism in the past few days following the signing of Jo Inge Berget – the Cardiff City manager’s third recruit from former club Molde. Berget joins Magnus Wolff Eikrem and Mats Moller Daehli in the Welsh capital, with goalkeeper Orjan Nyland also expected to make the move from the Scandinavian club before Friday night’s deadline.

Though they may be going down a similar route to the infamous Wimbledon side of the late 90′s, it would be unfair to criticise Solskjaer for bringing in players he is homely with. What is worrying, however, is the fact that all these players mentioned, including former Manchester United star OGS, share the same controversial agent: Jim Solbakken.

A quick Google search brings back rather ‘interesting’ results. “Solbakken investigated by FIFA”, the first returned article reads; “Is football agent Jim Solbakken a bandit?” another Norweigan publications asks. The latest, and most relevant piece, points to the fact that Solskjaer has now recruited 11 of Solbakken’s listed talents. All of these transfers have taken place over the baby-faced assassin’s three years in management.

Respected German journalist, Raphael Honigstein, wrote in his weekly Guardian column recently that Solskjaer’s halo was beginning to slip – not because of the fact he took up the opportunity to work with the equally controversial Bluebirds owner Vincent Tan, but because of the 40-year-old’s willingness to continue working closely with Solbakken.

The two men have never made a secret of their close friendship, which, in business terms, ended in 2008 when Solskjaer hung up his Manchester United playing boots. At the time, Ole Gunnar took the decision to sell his shares in the duo’s joint-venture Solution AS – shares which Solbakken reportedly bought.

The reasoning behind why Solskjaer sold these shares was simply down to the fact that the Norweigan didn’t want to be caught up in speculation about tinkering with money. If the duo had kept the venture in place, then money from player sales – such as the deals which saw Eikrem, Daehli and Berget move to the Premier League – would end up in both Solskjaer and Solbakken’s pockets – any speculation of which has now ended with the City manager’s decision to sell his shares in Solution AS.

Linking this back to Wimbledon, it was another Norweigan, Bjorn Rune Gjelsten, who was acting as chairman at the time along none other than Sam Hammam. Ironically, the two watched on back in 1999 as their team beat Cardiff City in the League Cup in front of less than 3,000 fans – the club’s lowest attendance in a season that eventually led to relegation. Gjelsten had a part to play in the controversial moving of the club from its home in London – where it had been since 1889 – to Milton Keynes where the club would be rebranded as the MK Dons. Kjell Inge Rokke was also a financial backer at the time – a man born and raised in Molde.

Of course, some context is needed. Cardiff City are currently bottom of the Premier League table, with time running out to bring in new recruits. Solskjaer has this week openly admitted the three Norweigan recruits are not for the present, but instead for the future – a manager building for life in the second-tier, perhaps?

Many City supporters will hope that Solskjaer doesn’t go down the same route as Egil Olsen, though in the same week that the ex-Red Devils player hit out at agents in a press-conference, it’s his own friendly relationship with another agent that could cause more harm than good in the long-term."

As far as I know, the only blemish on Solbakken's career is the whole mess around Jon Obi Mikel (now Chelsea) and that was mainly two Norwegian clubs' shenanigans and not his own that turned it into a scandal. (Lyn and Vålerenga)

Its not so much the agents i worry about, its the third party agents that appear to be the biggest problem.

The person who has wrote the article seems to never write a positive thing about Ole.

What the hell has Wimbledon got to do with Cardiff? Olsen was a Norwegian manager, they got relegated (after Olsen was sacked, though..), therefore Cardiff is in deep shit? Norwegians are bad luck by defination? Wow. I didn´t knowt that. Wimbledon had 4 Norwegian players, and just to make the number equal, the speculation is that Nyland is coming just to make sure "the evil plan" is conducted. I´m peeing my pants. But wait a moment... Is it not so that Ole´s way of playing is far more similar to Ferguson´s way of playing? Olsen, as we know, never focused much on possession. And is it not so that Ferguson at one time had 4 Norwegian players in his squad? He sure did, Berg, Johnsen, Nevland, Solskjær. How did that go? But of course, I might just be stupid. I could be so that Norwegians are useless by definition. Or what else is the point for making the comparison?

And by the way, was Solbakken ever convicted of any ill-doing? Being investigated is not the same as being guilty. Eikrem, Dæhli and Berget are here because they are Solskjær´s favourites, not because they have Solbakken as their agent.

Biggest load of shit I've ever read on this forum and I proof read my own posts before submitting them. Good grief.