Kelly: You had an illustrious playing career, but it was undoubtedly headlined by Manchester United. Talk to me about when you first became aware of the possibility of coming to England – to one of the most decorated clubs in the world?
Hail: So for Norway, it’s probably one of the most important games of my career. We played Norway against Azerbaijan and I scored two very good goals. Coincidentally, Jim Ryan – the assistant manager – was looking at Ronnie Johnson, who we had signed. He was sitting next to Mark McGhee, who was Wolverhampton manager at the time, and chatting away in the same way he does. Mark McGhee is looking for a centre-forward, Jim Ryan is watching the games and I’ve scored two goals. So he thinks, ‘Okay, Wolverhampton will probably sign this guy.’ He rang Sir Alex (Ferguson) that night and said: ‘I think I’ve got one and it won’t be expensive. It’s cheap, but we have to be quick because Wolverhampton are also signing a centre-forward.’ It happened really fast.
Kelly: That must have been a whirlwind for you…
Hail: Fabulous. Right at the top. But you’re never 100% sure until you’ve signed the deal. But I knew more or less, so before my last game for Molde, I told Aage Håreide, who was the coach, that if I scored, I would take off my shirt, throw it into the stands and run off the pitch. He said: ‘No, you can’t do that… but (if you have to) wait until 10 minutes before full-time.’ Exactly the same thing happened. I think I scored the fifth goal, 5-1, and I just threw the shirt and ran off the pitch and we had no subs ready to come, so we had to play a few minutes with 10 men. It was a whirlwind of a time. The media was outside my apartment. They wanted interviews and I just tried to stay away from them all.
Kelly: Was all that new? Like a whole new level of fame?
Hail: Absolutely. Because 18 months before Manchester United, I had played for my local team Clausenhagen in front of 50 people, so it was a big step to get attention. But I think I’ve been doing just fine in dealing with these situations.
Kelly: I always ask players – and with you, this seems even more important because you’ve played in some of the biggest games – if you could relive one game of your career, what would it be?
Hail: Of course, the Champions League final in ’99. I was on the bench for 80 minutes, like really unhappy with the manager – ‘Why don’t you put me on the bench?’ – And we’re losing games and football is very emotional. You are very low and you want to come on the pitch. So 80 minutes of real agony but then I managed to play 15 minutes and those 15 minutes I would really love to play again. Of course, it changed history. It changed my life. It didn’t make me a better footballer but it changed my life because we made history and I was lucky to score that goal. And many people came up to me and thanked me for giving them the best moment of their life. (They say) ‘Please don’t tell my wife, will you?’
Kelly: You mentioned earlier that you were angry with Sir Alex. Obviously you always want to start over, but you’ve earned this incredible reputation, right? As a super sub. I know every footballer wants to start every game. How did you approach it?
Hail: I discussed it with Sir Alex. I signed a long-term, long-term contract. I really put my career in his hands. I more or less told myself: ‘Just do your best.’ I have seen many strikers sitting on the bench getting angry. I thought, ‘Okay they’ve played 70 or 80 minutes, the defenders are tired, I can come in, I can make a difference, I’m fresh, as long as my mind is fresh and my mentality is good.’ If we were winning 1-0, I was never going to come on. At 0-0 I was like, ‘Don’t score, don’t score unless he puts me in.’ Down 1-0, yes, of course I’m coming. When leading 2-0, he would always give me 15-20 minutes to make me feel a part of it. He was very good at giving me enough minutes but I knew at 1-0 to just sit down because you’re not going to get ahead. After going 1-0 down against Bayern, I said, ‘Come on then, this is like 20 minutes…’ It’s one of the best 13-15 minutes of my football career.
Kelly: When did management become a thing?
Hail: When I was a child, I loved football. My cousin and I always bought the Rothman yearbook every year and that was our Bible. We knew every player in every division in England and we created our own game, like a management game, which was probably a prequel to the Championship Manager game. We should have kept the copyright on that! We were really nerds, weird at football, and I always played computer games, management games instead of FIFA, where you play. I’m always into coaching or managing and picking teams. I used to coach little boys in my local streets. We used to form a street team for these tournaments and I was the boss.
Kelly: How old are you at this time?
Hail: 13 or 14. So maybe this manager in me has always been there. Then I played at Manchester United and I didn’t know if I had the personality to be a manager. Managing is different now. Then I got injured and that was the moment I decided I needed to stay in the game. That’s when I decided that I would start all these coaching courses and start writing down whatever Sir Alex said.
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