Every word from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s pre-match press conference ahead of Leeds United v Man Utd

This week has been dominated by the Super League fiasco, what were your thoughts on the competition when you heard about it, what were your thoughts as the week unfolded and what do you say to those fans who are understandably still very angry about all of this?
“First of all, I’m very happy that the fans have voiced their opinion and that we’ve listened to them. In a strange sort of way, it’s brought the football pyramid or community together. I think that’s important. I’m a supporter myself and there’ll be a day that I come back and watch Man United and I want to watch a Man United team with a fear of failure. That’s what I thought about it. I didn’t like the concept anyways because it has to be on sporting merit. We want to earn the right to play in Europe. We know we have been pioneers, we have been in Europe for many years, with the Busby Babes. That’s one part of it. We want to be part of a successful European campaign again – some of my best nights have been something that we’ve worked really hard towards [in Europe]. To get that feeling, that fear of failure, you cannot give it because your name is such and such, you have to earn the right to be there. To get the best possible performance, I’ve always felt you have to step out of your comfort zone; it spurs you on, living on the edge a bit. For me, I’m very happy that all the clubs have admitted their mistakes, that this was a bad idea and the way this came out as well. Just when we talk about bringing fans back into the stadium and we get this, the last two games of the season, and we weren’t able to look forward to it. We have a banner at Old Trafford – ‘football is nothing without fans’ and we’ve felt that for more than a year, it’s been a difficult year. And now when we’re just going to welcome back in, we get this. So the preparation for Leeds was a bit different but that’s a part of being in this industry and this club as well. United is the biggest club in the world and we want to be part of European football but we want to do that like like my players did last season. I think they were excellent my players, because when I talk about this fear of failure, they were afraid of not making the Champions League, we were so many points behind, they pulled themselves together, we came together as a team and achieved third which was a very good achievement. This year we’ve worked hard, we’re striving towards trophies and we’re second. I back my team to be in the top in Europe but I still think that that fear of failure is helping us do that. Being a sporting competitor as I am, my nature is not being handed things, we cannot be handed a place; that’s my opinion. That’s long enough on one [question]! Let’s talk about this weekend because talking about exciting football games… Leeds away is an exciting game for us!”

What kind of game and atmosphere are you expecting, Ole?
“Well, inside the stadium there won’t be any fans unfortunately. It’s important we focus on our game. You know fans between our clubs have always had a rivalry and it has to be healthy rivalry. That’s important as well, in a period like this, that we don’t want to incite or brew anything up. We play football. That’s important that we’ve listened to the fans and I’m so, so happy that the fans have been heard, and let’s go onto the game of football now.”