Ole Gunnar Solskjaer decided to 'fine himself' after a Manchester United press conference was interrupted - twice - by his own blunder.
The United boss was talking media questions ahead of the club's Europa League final on Wednesday against Villarreal. One journalist was beginning his question when it was rudely interrupted by an obnoxious ringtone.
A scowling Ole looked down to the table, quickly saw it was own phone and turned it off. Only for the same phone to start ringing again just a few seconds later, prompting sheepish laughter from the United coach.
"Sorry, that's my bad here, my phone's ringing," said Solskjaer with an embarrassed chuckle.
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"Yeah, that's a fine! I'll take that one," he said, before telling the journalist he could start the question again if he liked.
Probably for the best because one caller seemed really determined to get through to OGS, leading fans to speculate that it was anyone from Jadon Sancho to Harry Kane to Harry Maguire insisting he was fit to play.
There are plenty of incidents of phones that have not been put on silent or turned off disrupting press conferences. But they are usually those of the press or even a player, rather than the manager in charge at the top of the dais.
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Clearly Solskjaer had not followed protocol and was all too willing to own up the fine coming his way.
The Norwegian's predecessor, Jose Mourinho, once answered a journalist's phone - left on the top of the table as a recording device - and genially spoke to a surprised producer at talkSPORT. All this ahead of a Man United vs Liverpool game in 2017.
So perhaps we should just be grateful that Ole didn't ruin the question entirely be picking up his phone and having a lengthy conversation about house insurance or whether he'd been in an accident and wanted to claim compensation.
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Frankly, a cash fine sounds preferable to either.
Featured image credit: Twitter
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Europa League, Manchester United, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
