Ole's Resume | An overview of Molde's 1st ever title-winning manager

[troylocker]

Actually very much agree. When going through the Norwegian League to better understand what went on - admittedly only as deep as my resources allowed - I was pretty intrigued by Ronny Deila. He won the Tippeligaen with Stromsgodset, their first in like fifty years. Also finished second a few times with them. Then he went on to win two Scottish Premier Leagues with Celtic. His signature was this progressive attacking play. He stepped down from Celtic and went back to Norway where he's been probably over perferoming with what used to be a relegation candidate. Curious he didn't land a bigger job after Celtic.

Funny you should mention Ronny, as I have some insight there. He did a fantastic job with Stromsgodset, showed that he was very good with young talents and he translated his ideas to practice in an impressive way. This lead to Celtic headhunting him for the job after sacking Lennon.

Rangers was out of the picture back then, so winning the league and cup were almost a walk in the park, and were also expected in a one-team-league. He struggled in Europe and the pressure on him was enormous. After he lost to Rangers in the domestic cup near the end of his second season the pressure was unbearable, and he chose to resign. He finished the season as manager and won his second leaguetitle, but Celtic was probably going to fire him if he didn’t resign himself like They did to Lennon after a similar stint there.

Deila is now in charge of Valerenga, the main club in Oslo, and has struggled a lot this season. He might turn it around, but so far he has not been able to replicate what he did in Stromsgodset.

This aside. Other managers merits in the Norwegian league should be totally irrelevant to the hiring of Ole though. Ole’s record with Molde is impressive, and I think anyone would struggle to do it after him. The fact that other managers also does some good managing in Norway every now and then doesn’t take anything away from him. In fact other managers merits anywhere should be irrelevant to the hiring of Ole. The only thing that really matters is what the board thinks HE can do for the club and players. I like the idea of not necessarily hiring on merit, but actually buy the idea the candidate sells you. His jobinterview was apparently a one of a kind, and I for one can see a long term plan unfolding. The results have been a little worse than expected, but I see clear progress and a plan.

Speaking of conspiracy theories. What you could look into, is the period when Ole was managing the reserves and SAF was the boss. What was SAFs plan for him then and how much of his knowledge/legacy did he pass on to him? Did this have any influence on us hiring him? Please dig into it and enlighten us.

 

[ReddBalls]

Actually very much agree. When going through the Norwegian League to better understand what went on - admittedly only as deep as my resources allowed - I was pretty intrigued by Ronny Deila. He won the Tippeligaen with Stromsgodset, their first in like fifty years. Also finished second a few times with them. Then he went on to win two Scottish Premier Leagues with Celtic. His signature was this progressive attacking play. He stepped down from Celtic and went back to Norway where he's been probably over perferoming with what used to be a relegation candidate. Curious he didn't land a bigger job after Celtic.

You should read up on Nils Arne Eggen, even though he is retired.

 

[onetwo3oclock4oclockrock]

2015 - Skullerud sacked in August (around matchday 18) with Molde in 7th place. There was some noise about family problems that had him considering leaving at the season end. In the remaining matches under Ole, he was able to take them back up the table, all the way to 6th place.

2016 - Uninspired 5th place finish. Ole had Molde finish 24 points off the champions but only 14 points away from relegation.

2017 - An improvement, but runners-up is a familiar place for Molde. They never had a chance as Rosenberg's title came with a record low twenty goals conceded. They were first almost completely from matchday one through the end of the season. There were only two matchdays on which they weren't in first place, interestingly it was Sarpsborg and Brann who briefly took over top spot, not Molde.

2018 - Despite finishing second, the season was mostly a race between Rosenberg and Brann. Molde nipped in at the end to finish above Brann by a point but five off the leaders.

2019 - With Ole at the wheel of Manchester United, some new dude named Moe led Molde to a very impressive finish to the season winning the league by 14 points and Molde's best scoring record of the last decade.

2015: Let's also mention the fantastic Europa League achievements under Moe and Ole. Won the group, in front of Fenerbahce , sending Ajax and Celtic out of EL. Won home vs Sevilla in last 32, but lost on goal difference over 2 games. But the success came with a price: our players became attractive to much bigger European clubs.

2016: Following the successful Europa campaign,we were robbed for most of our quality player, and irreplaceable club legend and captain Hestad retired. A rebuild had to start. Ole brought in young players (sounds familiar?).A rebuild takes time and patience for results to yield..

2017: Started slow, but as the season progressed the team started to show it's potential, and with a strong finish ended in 2nd place. Btw: A 16 year old that Ole picked up from Norwegian lower league also made his debut this season- 2 years later; 2nd top scorer in Champions league.

2018: Another slow start, but we played magnificent football the 2nd half of the season- the rebuild was really starting to pay off.

2019: With the rebuild complete, Moe could harvest the fruits of Oles labour - and he did so excellently. Gold!

Moral of the story? A rebuild takes time, but patience will pay off.

 

[Sterling Archer]

The only thing that really matters is what the board thinks HE can do for the club and players. I like the idea of not necessarily hiring on merit, but actually buy the idea the candidate sells you.

I'm not sure what your profession is or how you got to places in life, but for the majority of the world that doesn't come from privilege you have to prove that you deserve something through merit.