Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has suffered another career setback.
Time at United
The Norwegian was a legendary player for the Red Devils, scoring the winner in the 1999 Champions League final to make himself a fan favourite for life.
He took over as an interim manager in 2018 after Jose Mourinho was sacked and his position was made permanent in 2019.
Solskjaer managed the club for 168 matches until 2021.
He won 91 of his games in charge and the closest he got to a trophy was losing the Europa League final in 2021 on penalties to Villarreal.
Besiktas job
The Norwegian spent over three years out of a managerial position but eventually accepted Besiktas’ offer in January 2025.
In his 29 matches in charge, he won 15 and lost nine.
The Turkish side finished the 2024/2025 season in fourth place and qualified for Europe.
They also won their opening match of the season 2-1 against Eyüpspor with the help of a last-gasp 96th minute winner.
Solskjaer always had the capacity to organise his side to beat a big team and Besiktas got positive results against their two major Istanbul rivals last season.
Kara Kartallar beat champions Galatasaray 2-1 in March and Fenerbahce 1-0 away from home in May.
Sacked
Nonetheless, it has been officially announced that Solskjaer has been sacked by the Turkish club in a shock move.
The BBC report that “former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been sacked by Turkish club Besiktas.”
Besiktas released a statement reading, “our contract with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been terminated following a decision made at a board meeting.”
“Following the meeting, our chairman, Serdal Adalı, thanked Solskjaer for his services to date.”
European failing
It is thought that the decision has come after Besiktas failed to qualify for either the Europa League or Conference League.
They lost in the Europa League qualifiers to Shakhtar Donetsk and were knocked out 1-2 on aggregate by Ineos owned FC Lausanne-Sport in the Conference League playoffs.
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
