Key Solskjaer coach back after illness

Mark Dempsey, one of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first team coaches, is expected to return to work with Manchester United next month after a period of sick leave.

The 55-year-old was taken to hospital in Perth in July days into the pre-season tour of Australia.

Dempsey was treated at the Royal Perth Hospital after falling ill. He was later discharged but skipped the Singapore and Shanghai legs of the tour in order to return home to England.

The former United midfielder, who was Solskjaer’s assistant at Cardiff and Molde before joining his coaching staff at Old Trafford in December, has been spotted at Carrington in recent days.

Dempsey observed first-team training on Friday and it is understood he will attend games off his own back in future weeks and possibly do some opposition scouting before a more formal process of reintegration begins next month.

Solskjaer values Dempsey highly and he is part of a close-knit backroom staff with assistant manager Mike Phelan plus fellow first team coaches Kieran Mckenna and Michael Carrick.

Dempsey – who made two firstteam appearances for United – is one of a number of players coaching at the club.

Solskjaer, Phelan and Carrick all played for the club, as did Nicky Butt, head of first team development. Two other former players, Neil Wood and Quinton Fortune, run United’s Under-23 side.

After leaving United in 1986, Dempsey joined Sheffield United, Rotherham and Macclesfield.

Cardiff aside, most of his coaching career has been in Scandinavia with Molde, Haugesund, Start and Kongsvinger in Norway and Djurgardens in Sweden before the return to United under Solskjaer.