Triple Cardiff City signing summed up Ole Gunnar Solskjaer disaster: View | OneFootball

Manchester United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjær was appointed Cardiff City boss in January 2014 as the Bluebirds battled relegation in their first ever Premier League season.

It was a bit of a surprise appointment from a club battling relegation, with Solskjær's only previous managerial experience coming with Molde in the Norwegian league.

Usually clubs in Cardiff's position would bring in an experienced Premier League manager to try and steady the ship, but the Bluebirds appointed a young foreign manager with no experience of coaching in the Premier League.

However, with Solskjær being appointed at the start of January, it gave him the chance to build his own squad, and he made the most of it.

He brought in fellow countrymen Magnus Wolff Eikrem, Mats Møller Dæhli and Jo Inge Berget, who'd he worked with at Molde, as he looked to put his own stamp on Cardiff's squad.

However, the three Norwegian internationals failed to impress at the Cardiff City Stadium and had all departed within a year of signing.

Cardiff City's Norwegian trio were poor signings

Midfielders Magnus Wolff Eikrem and Mats Møller Dæhli joined Cardiff from Heerenveen and Molde respectively, whilst forward Jo Inge Berget also joined from Molde.

These weren't exactly the calibre of signings that clubs battling relegation would usually make, but Cardiff supporters were willing to trust Solskjær and back whoever he brought to the club.

However, the trio failed to regularly break into Solskjær's starting XI, and it quickly became apparent that two of them weren't up to Premier League football.

Magnus Wolff Eikrem made just six Premier League appearances, making one start, which came in an embarrassing 4-0 loss to Hull City. He also featured in two FA Cup fixtures, taking his tally to eight appearances, where he registered two assists.

Things got even worse for Jo Inge Berget, and he played just 11 minutes of Premier League football, coming off the bench in the club's 4-0 loss to Hull, and he made one further appearance in an FA Cup defeat to Wigan where he failed to find the back of the net.

The only bright spot for Cardiff was midfielder Mats Møller Dæhli, who did make some sort of impact at the club.

He played 15 times in total for the Bluebirds during the 2013/14 season, making five Premier League starts, and he scored a last-gasp equaliser in a 3-3 draw away to West Brom.

However, it wasn't enough to keep the Bluebirds in the division, and they were relegated after finishing rock bottom of the Premier League.

The trio of Norwegian signings had proven to be awful business, and it was naive of Solksjær to think they could come into a side battling to survive in the Premier League.

Ole Gunnar Solksjær and two of his signings remained at the club after relegation to the Championship, but not for long.

Jo Inge Berget left Cardiff for Celtic on loan in July 2014 before having his Bluebirds contract cancelled upon his return in January, but both Dæhli and Eikrem remained in the Welsh capital as they looked to make an immediate return to the Premier League.

However, Solksjær was sacked in September 2014 after a poor start to the Championship season, and his Norwegian duo followed him out the door in the January transfer window after a lack of playing time under new boss Russell Slade.

Eikrem joined Malmö whilst Dæhli had done enough to earn a move to German side Freiburg.

Cardiff appointing Solksjær before allowing him to bring these players to the club was obviously a huge mistake, and it ultimately cost them their Premier League status.

In hindsight, the Bluebirds should have gone for a tried and tested option as manager, and perhaps they would have survived.