Folly if United make Ole their full-time boss

THE instant revival of Manchester United is happy evidence that interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (right) has a fine football brain and a developing career in the dug-out.

He is also a man of high ambition, and that is natural enough. So, don’t blame him after four wins in his first four Premier League matches in charge for declaring that he wants to be the long-term boss at Old Trafford. It would be curious if he said anything else.

It would also be most curious if Manchester United were seriously considering Solskjaer as the next permanent manager. It would be more folly by executive vice chairman Ed Woodward to follow the appointments of Louis

Van Gaal and Jose

Mourinho. A brief look at the history of interim appointments handed the job full-time ought to be enough evidence.

Craig Shakespeare did not last long at Leicester, for example. Even when Roberto Di Matteo rode a chariot of luck to win the

Champions League for Chelsea back in 2012 he was swiftly evicted as manager in the following season.

Interims hold the fort. They do it superbly or they do it poorly. Football clubs then choose the very best candidate. If the previous managerial work of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made him the right choice for Manchester United he’d already be the permanent boss.

It did not – and that is the truth for the powerbrokers of Old Trafford however this season pans out.