(Football news) Everyone in the world of football (and even those who are not) know that Manchester United have been a shadow of the club they once were under Sir Alex Ferguson. For a club that was considered a pillar of stability, sustained success and youth development, Manchester United are none of those things anymore, much to the delight of rival supporters who have grown up with trauma from the decades-long dominance at Old Trafford.
With Solskjaer getting a fair share of the anger from Manchester United ‘fans’ on social media, many of whom have resorted to abuses and threats of all kinds, he is not entirely to be blamed for the dilemma the club currently finds itself in. It’s common knowledge that the club was somewhat of a toxic mess when Jose Mourinho left and Solskjaer was brought in as an interim appointment until the summer after which a permanent manager would take over. Understandably, the Norwegian is adored by the Manchester United fans, the baby-faced assassin is a likeable character who gave many of the supporters their best footballing memory of all time at the Camp Nou in 1999. Adding to that was the fact that Manchester United looked like a completely different team during that interim period, with results going their way and an injection of positivity and the Manchester United spirit being prevalent in abundance during that period.
So what went wrong? On the back of that result in Paris against PSG, the Manchester United board decided to give Solskjaer a three year contract, making him the permanent manager at the club. For many who looked at that situation dispassionately, it was a puzzling decision to say the least because the season was not over and waiting until the summer would have been the logical thing to do. With Solskjaer at the wheel, the Manchester United board and owners had the perfect figure to hide behind and mask their own incompetencies as fans refused to blame the Norwegian for any shortcomings because of his legendary status at the club. Fast forward three years later, £400 million pounds spent and one can argue that Manchester United are no better than where they were when Solskjaer took over the job.
No club in the Premier League has spent as much as the Norwegian since he has taken over and Solskjaer has little to show for it in terms of silverware. Yes, he did finish third and second in the Premier League, but even their 2nd place finish last season was so far from Manchester City’s first that it can hardly be considered as a justifiable title challenge. The Manchester United way has traditionally been to give the youth a chance but apart from Mason Greenwood, there hasn’t been many young players who have been given an opportunity to progress into the first team under Solskjaer’s reign. Moreover, the likes of Edinson Cavani, Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard are expected to leave for free this summer, hardly a ‘rebuild’ or a ‘strategy’ it seems.
Moreover, there seems to be discontent in the Manchester United dressing room amongst the fringe players who rightly feel that Solskjaer has done a poor job in rotating the squad to ensure the likes of Donny Van De Beek, Jadon Sancho, Jesse Lingard, Alex Telles, Anthony Martial etc get the playing time they deserve. Solskjaer has been unfailingly rigid in his approach and has a few ‘favourites’ that have been picked week in and out despite their poor form, especially the likes of Fred, McTominay, Maguire and Shaw who have been woeful for the majority of this season. For many fringe players, it’s a bitter pill to swallow that false promises were made over the summer about their playing time and they would rightly look for a move elsewhere in January or the summer if their career continues to stagnate.
The Manchester United board have yet again proved their inability to learn from mistakes, David Moyes was sacked after eight months in a six year contract, Louis Van Gaal was sacked in his second year of a three year contract after winning the FA Cup while Jose Mourinho was sacked after getting a two year contract extension in January of the same year. Similarly, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was awarded a contract extension until 2024 and was sacked just four months later. It’s logical to ask why was a long term contract given to Solskjaer despite the fact that he had not won a single trophy to justify it? As a result, Manchester United have been forced to come up with a heavy ‘settlement’ to part ways with the Norwegian, money that could have been used more productively elsewhere.
The Manchester United fan base has never been as divided as it was under Solskjaer’s reign and there was a clear disconnect between the match-going supporters and the vocal social media fans who were anti-Solskjaer. With the club forced to play catch up to the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool, it’s time that the board and fans realized that there is very little room for sentimentality and nostalgia, the club needs ‘best in class’ football people in-charge of making football decisions instead of the likes of Ed Woodward, Richard Arnold etc and the likes of Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick need to handover their responsibilities to more capable professionals. It’s unlikely lessons will be learnt from this three year debacle but at least fans have something new to look forward to now that Ole is no longer at the wheel.
