Jan Age Fjortoft says Manchester United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer fully deserves his success with Molde.

They have never been crowned champions before, but with just five games to play, Molde enjoy a 10 point lead over Champions League regulars Rosenborg.

Solskjaer, 38, is assisted by Mancunian coach Mark Dempsey and the pair worked together with Manchester United's reserves before joining Molde last year.

"I thought it would have been very hard for Ole Gunnar leaving the Manchester United bubble," Fjortoft, the former Middlesbrough, Sheffield United and Norway striker told the Manchester Evening News.

"At United you are protected from the media and as a player you become used to winning in front of 75,000 most week. To go from that to a small town where the team have an average crowd of 8,000 is a big change, but Ole Gunnar has impressed me enormously."

It's not only good results which have won Solskjaer respect.

"Molde had a very important away game which they lost 1-0 after conceding a goal in the 93rd minute," recalls Fjortoft. "The first thing Ole Gunnar did was walk onto the pitch and congratulate the opposing striker. That showed what a decent man he is."

"In another game, Molde were well beaten. Ole Gunnar faced the media after the game and said: 'I know my boys, I know they will come back next week.' That will have inspired confidence in his players and they did come back the following week.

"Ole Gunnar is part of a new breed of young coaches like Villas Boas at Chelsea. He's gone from being a rookie coach with United's reserves to being one of the most promising coaches around."