Ole: It’s Fergie time again
Players’ mutiny that spelled end for Jose
MANCHESTER United bosses feared a mutiny within the squad if Jose Mourinho was not sacked.
Up to four players went in to see chief executive Ed Woodward vowing to hand in transfer requests if the Portuguese was still there in January.
It is understood Woodward, fearing an exodus of United’s leading stars, decided to act.
Mourinho was sacked on Tuesday morning following last Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at Liverpool that left United 19 points behind the leaders.
The latest revelation is a damning indictment of how bad things had become under Mourinho’s troubled regime.
Senior club sources have revealed the atmosphere around the camp became so toxic that several players were willing to find new clubs in the January transfer window.
Express Sport told in September of how some serious cliques had OLE GUNNAR Solskjaer wants to emulate
Sir Alex Ferguson in his bid to make Manchester United great again.
Solskjaer has taken over as United’s interim boss until the end of the season after the club sacked Jose Mourinho earlier this week.
The Norwegian returns to Old Trafford with United languishing in sixth place in the table, 19 points behind leaders and rivals Liverpool and 11 points off the top four.
He faces a huge challenge in rescuing United’s crumbling season, starting with tomorrow’s trip to Cardiff, where he used to be boss.
But Solskjaer has backed himself to do well and believes his style will be similar to the one Ferguson had when he played under him for United all those years ago. Solskjaer wants to approach the job like Ferguson used to – and has backed himself to turn things round at the fallen giants.
In his first full interview since replacing Mourinho, Solskjaer, who has joined United on loan from Molde until June, said: “I’ve had 300-400 games as a first-team manager. I’m confident. I’ve won the league, I’ve won cups
developed in the Old Trafford dressing room.
A large number of players lost faith in the tactics and training methods of Mourinho, who began to run out of allies.
Some senior stars were incensed at Mourinho’s treatment of Luke Shaw, Anthony Martial and Eric Bailly, while £52million summer signing Fred was left out in the cold.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has replaced Mourinho on an interim basis until the end of the season.
The first task facing the former United striker will be to unite the dressing room and create more harmony.
The Norwegian arrived at the club’s Carrington training base just before 8am yesterday to start his first day in the job.
He met with first-team coach Michael Carrick to discuss the squad and mood in the camp before taking training.
Solskjaer has vowed to bring attacking football back to the club and wants his side to play with pace out wide, a quality that helped make some of Sir Alex Ferguson’s teams successful and famous.
Ferguson has given his personal seal of approval to the board’s decision to appoint Solskjaer, who is poised to recall Paul Pogba to his starting line-up for tomorrow’s game at Cardiff.
Pogba was axed by Mourinho for the recent league games against Arsenal and Liverpool after his relationship with the manager completely broke down.
But Solskjaer has told the French World Cup winner that he starts with a clean slate and is keen to restore him to the team.
United, meanwhile, have paid Molde £1.8m to loan Solskjaer until the end of the season but denied reports claiming a permanent compensation fee of about £7m has also been agreed with the Norwegian club.
Woodward has made Mauricio Pochettino his No 1 target to replace Mourinho and is determined to lure the Tottenham manager to Old Trafford before the start of next season.