Rob Smyth and Paolo Bandini
Wednesday August 29, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
"In terms of goals scored, is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the best
substitute in English football history?" asks Peter Brown.
He's certainly the best in Premiership history. (What do you mean
football didn't begin in 1992? Pass the muesli.) Solskjaer has
scored 17 league goals after coming off the bench, which puts him
comfortably clear of Jermain Defoe, Kanu, Andy Cole and Tore Andre
Flo, each of whom have 13. In all competitions, Solskjaer scored 29
of his 126 United goals from the bench. His first goal for United,
in August 1996, came six minutes after he was introduced in a home
match against Blackburn; spookily, his last goal for the club also
came six minutes after he had come off the bench at home to
Blackburn.
It is hard to say with absolute certainty that Solskjaer is the
most prolific substitute in English football history, as records
from the pre-Premiership era are less comprehensive. His most
likely rival, Liverpool's David Fairclough, scored either 18 goals
(according to the official Liverpool site) or 20 (various newspaper
reports) as a substitute in his time at Anfield. Fairclough also
played for Norwich, Oldham, Tranmere and Wigan but, in the absence
of cold, hard data, we're presuming he wasn't a substitute too
often. And he only scored three goals for them anyway.
http://www.premiersoccerstats.com/Records.cfm?DOrderby=AsSub&DYearby=All%20Seasons
