Phelan groovy in the hot seat
MIKE PHELAN spent the best part of three decades helping Sir Alex Ferguson establish a haul of honours that is unlikely to be surpassed.
But nothing he went through at Manchester United – as a player, coach or assistant manager – could prepare him for his first spell in the hot seat, albeit in a caretaker role for the moment.
After Steve Bruce quit in July despite steering Hull back into the Premier League via the play-offs, Phelan, his No 2, was handed something of a poisoned chalice.
The club was up for sale, the supporters were in revolt, no new signings had arrived and a devastating pre-season injury list left him with only 13 fit senior players.
Not much had changed until yesterday, when a move for goalkeeper David Marshall from Cardiff was approved, while the club’s prospective new Chinese owners are currently being checked out by the Premier League under their “fit and proper” rules.
But Phelan, always the soothing antidote to Ferguson’s volatility in his Old Trafford days, has steadied the ship with three successive wins and he welcomes United to the KCOM Stadium today knowing another victory would surely convince his likely new employers to appoint him on a permanent basis.
He makes no secret that after two decades learning his trade as a backroom boy, he wants the job – regardless of the current difficulties.
“I’m 53 now and it’s coming to the point where I want to try and put myself out there,” said Phelan. “It’s been great to do that here.
“I’ve not felt any pressure because I shouldn’t feel any pressure with the circumstances of this club. Everyone knows where we’re at. I’ve just had to take on the role and pick the players.
“I have spoken with the potential new owners. Not about my future, just about where they are at the moment. There are three things to solve at this football club: who’s in charge of the club – is a takeover on or off – the manager’s situation and then what players are coming into the club, if any.
“I think we would be a little bit delusional to think that 13 fit players could take you through a Premier League season. I don’t think that has ever been done and I don’t think it ever will be.
“We have to address those three things soon enough. We have five days to
the transfer deadline and one game before the international break, and we have to get something concrete looking forward. But we are getting to the point where decisions have to be made. “And I probably need a few days away where I can breathe, just have a little time without answering my phone and maybe catch up on some sleep!” Many people believe that David Moyes’ decision to show Phelan and his fellow coach Rene Meulensteen the door following Ferguson’s retirement in 2013 was a huge mistake. Phelan, although he was disappointed to leave, is philosophical about it and, after three years of what he has called “turbulence”, at Old Trafford is glad to see his old club on the way back under Jose Mourinho. “A new manager came in and he didn’t want me. I know football well enough to accept it and move on,” he said.
“For the first six months, I just wanted to chill out and get away from it all. I didn’t want to get involved in football too much really.
“But then all of a sudden, you talk to your mates and see people on your travels and you talk about football and start to get the buzz back.
“Looking in from the outside it became a little bit turbulent there in the last two or three years but they seem to be correcting that now.
“I have met Jose a few times. I have been in his company on numerous occasions and he is a tremendous guy, full of enthusiasm and he probably now finds himself at a club that he has probably always had a deep desire for.
“He is there and he has to find a way to produce the winning formula. He is the right man at the right time. I am sure United have chosen wisely.”