Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has barely moved from his Old Trafford seat since taking over the reigns at Manchester United.
Sure, The Red Devils have made their home a fortress once again, making Solskjaer perch comfortably on the touchline without the need to use his technical area to bark out orders to his players.
But there could be another reason why he parks his backside on the plush, leather seats that decorate the dugouts at the Theatre of Dreams.
Those chairs you see are actually race car seats you could find in an Audi, and were never originally meant to be for a football stadium.
The German company that makes them, RECARO has also kitted out Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Lyon, West Ham and Newcastle United, as well as a variety of German clubs.
To date, around 70 football clubs around the world are sitting on the seats that also provide coaches, managers and subs with heat to keep warm whilst they're watching.
So, how did RECARO get involved in football?
VA VA ZOOM KWheels: They’re the electric bikes loved by Karim Benzema, Benjamin Mendy, Nabil Fekir and more
Well, the story goes back to 1990 and the then Bundesliga club, F.C. Kaiserslautern, who would go on to win the league that year.
The club, ironically also nicknamed The Red Devils, had then-RECARO owner Ulrich Putsch on their board.
After hearing the team's manager Kalli Feldkamp complain about having terrible back problems, Putsch came up with a novel plan to ease his manager's pain.
A RECARO racing car seat was fitted in the dugout where Feldkamp sat and the idea soon caught on.
By 1994, the rest of the team found itself enjoying the comfort of a RECARO seat too on a custom fitted players bench.
Tilman Schaefer, a company representative from RECARO told Jalopnik: “They put the seat right next to the bench.
"Because the players thought the seat to be just gorgeous Ulrich had a complete bench produced for the home team."
As soon as sponsorship deals came to the fore, customised sports car seats became a trend around the world.
And soon, other seat manufacturers got involved as well.
"Other teams became so excited that they ordered benches from RECARO – so this became a special sales project over the years," Schaefer continued.
"Other seat producers–even airline seats–followed line and started to supply seats to teams they sponsor.
"So this is kind of a standard today on soccer sidelines, plus baseball in Japan, plus business seats in the stadiums. In Europe and Japan RECARO is probably the biggest supplier."
With each car seat costing in the region of £3,500 RECARO are making a mint out of football.
But at least the world's players and managers are sitting pretty, and manage to stay warm during the winter months.
Source: Read Full Article