In the case of Fabio, a Ferguson signing for United and a player Solskjaer liked from his stint managing the Reds' reserves, the Cardiff boss was prioritising the personality of his arrivals.
"He called me three days before he actually took charge of Cardiff and he just told me he would really like me to join him," Fabio says.
"He knew my situation at Manchester United. I was six months off my contract expiring and I didn’t want to sign a new contract, as I wasn’t playing much.
"I said I wanted to think about it, but actually he came to my house and he spoke with me. And for me, when he came to my house to speak with me personally, I couldn’t say no to him, to be honest. He’s a fantastic guy and I really really like him.
“When he called me, I saw the table and Cardiff City was at the bottom and I thought ‘I don’t know if this is the right decision to go to Cardiff now’. I thought maybe I could wait six months until the end of my contract. But he encouraged me, he thought we were going to stay up and so I took the challenge, I thought ‘let’s do it’."
Fabio proved to be a fan favourite at Cardiff, staying long after Solskjaer had departed. But in truth, the January transfer policy was haphazard, more upheaval than the club could cope with at the time.
It translated into chaotic performances on the pitch, with muddled tactics and a porous defence making Cardiff far too easy to beat.
What could have been an exciting period for the club, despite many fans' fears over the appointment, would quickly turn sour again. Solskjaer's doubters were proven right.
WalesOnline's head of sport Paul Abbandonato was among those in the media who had plenty of goodwill towards Solskjaer.
He says: “Malky was very pragmatic. It was percentage football, getting 1-0 wins and being difficult to beat. But Ole came in with a more romantic ideal and wanted to play more attacking football. Fabio, Zaha and Daehli were all exciting signings, but in hindsight it wasn’t what Cardiff needed.
"They had the odd excellent performance and you could see the germs there, but they could be appalling at times."
Scott Johnson adds: "It was jarring to go from Mackay to Solskjaer and the problem was that he was going into a relegation battle and he wanted to play attacking football, like he does now with Man United, but it was too big an ask.
“And when he went down to the Championship, it was a division he didn’t know and had no experience of. It was a very swashbuckling style and sometimes it would work, but with the calibre of players Cardiff had, they were so wide open and they’d get picked off more often than that. It was cavalier, no-need football, I felt."
It was a damning indictment on Solskjaer that Cardiff won just three Premier League games that season following his arrival and on eight occasions they conceded three goals or more. Successive hammerings in the north east, 4-0 at Sunderland and 3-0 at Newcastle, sent Cardiff back to the Championship after one sorry season.
Tan's decision to stick by Solskjaer was a surprise to some, as was the sanctioning of yet more transfer funds as they looked to bounce straight back up. Cardiff signed 10 more players, including Federico Macheda from United, to add to the seven they signed in January.
But by September 2014, with the club sitting 17th in the Championship, he was sacked.
The club had no option to end what had been a chaotic nine month tenure, though Dalman still wonders if they gave Solskjaer enough time, given the turbulent circumstances.
“I think if you really analyse it without any emotion and noise, there were three factors, in my view, that went against his time at Cardiff," he adds.
“One, his lack of experience in the Championship. A league he’d never managed nor played in. Second, the infrastructure around him — including the extended coaching staff — probably wasn’t good enough and that’s also true of the people he brought in as well. And third, I don’t think he had enough time.
“And if you fast forward to today, he has experience in the English game as a manager, he has probably the best infrastructure and technical coaching staff around him at Manchester United, and the board of directors are giving him time, which I think he needed. "
Solskjaer's recent United stint has certainly put into question everything at happened at Cardiff. There is the obvious factor that he is now managing a club he knows inside-out, at a level he is comfortable with.
Was he simply a victim of circumstances? Or has he changed and improved as a coach?
“I think he’s more pragmatic now than he used to be," adds Johnson.
"Maybe Cardiff was too early in his career, there was some naivety, maybe the players weren’t good enough to do what he wanted them to do."
It felt appropriate that Solskjaer's first game a the United wheel came at Cardiff in December 2019, when the shock caretaker appointment showed he was the right man to lift the mood following Jose Mourinho's sacking, and masterminded a 5-1 win. He then went on an incredible winning streak and — to the surprise of many Cardiff fans — earned himself the permanent job.
There have been ups and downs at United since that first season, though few connected with the Bluebirds can say they ever expected Solskjaer to be challenging for the Premier League title as a manager.
He was well liked, Abbandonato says: “I’m glad he’s gone on to prove himself a success as manager, as I always thought there was a good manager in there. I never felt he was as bad as he showed at Cardiff City."
Dalman, who was always an admirer, agrees: “I’m delighted for him on a personal basis, as I like him. Ole is being true to himself in Manchester so, of course, I’m over the moon for him.
"I don’t think there’s a single Cardiff fan who didn’t like him as a person, but his transformation to a new style of football took patience and like I said, he didn’t have enough time. He's certainly capable of achieving great things at United."
Fabio sees a situation that now suits Solskjaer the manager down to the ground: "Tactically, he can play more with the ball and of course he knows Man United very well, which is going to help him a lot, being a legend for Manchester United and playing for more than 10 years there. Definitely, he is building something great at United."
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