Shambolic side are ideal case study in how not to run a club
⮞lack of contingency plan for replacing Solskjaer is astonishing given the talent is there to win trophies now
There is only one word to sum up Manchester United’s handling of the final months of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign: shambolic.
Anyone writing a manual about how to replace a football manager should find the events at Old Trafford useful. Simply observe how they are going about it and do the opposite.
There is a breathtaking incompetence in the fact a club of such stature have announced they are prepared to appoint two interim managers in the hope circumstances eventually go their way and they will get their No 1 target – presumably Mauricio Pochettino.
We are less than a third of the way through a Premier League campaign and United are indicating they want to see it through with two caretakers? That is astonishing.
How could they have failed to foresee this situation? Where is the evidence of a well-thought out and executed contingency plan?
It was obvious after United were hammered by Liverpool that the current position was unsustainable. Soundings to possible replacements ought to have been made then, the international break presenting an opportunity to reset. It is embarrassing that United could not see that, while Tottenham, Aston Villa and Norwich could.
Spurs were smart in moving slightly earlier for the outstanding Antonio Conte. For all the criticism Daniel Levy gets, he saw which way the wind was blowing at Old Trafford quicker than anyone in power at United. We will never know if Conte could have been tempted to United had they shown any interest.
Some say Conte was not the right fit for United. At the highest level of football, there is general bewilderment at that. What exactly do United want? Are they so naive as to believe another Sir Alex Ferguson is out there, who will run the club in his image for the next 25 years? Wake up. The football world has changed. Those managers do not exist any more.
Even at the biggest, most successful clubs such as Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, the elite coaches come and go every three or four years.
Perhaps Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp will last eight or nine years at Manchester City and Liverpool, but such longevity is now the exception, not the rule.
United have missed out on so many brilliant coaches over the past three years, including Conte, Pochettino and Thomas Tuchel; managers who could have delivered title challenges and successful Champions League campaigns here and now given the talent in the squad and the vast sums spent. Instead, the club have hidden behind the notion of a gradual rebuilding, when they have spent £312million on new players – the highest in the Premier League – under Solskjaer. City and Chelsea demand instant returns for that kind of investment. United should have been doing so much better, not just this season, but in the past couple of years.
Having heard and read that Solskjaer has left the team in a better place than when he took over – and it is hard not to feel sympathy for him when watching his farewell interview – there has to be a reality check.
It is debatable he should ever have been given the job on a permanent basis, although there is a lot of retrospective criticism for that. His initial impact as caretaker coach was such that it was difficult not to give him a chance. United extended his contract last summer – which smacked of a club putting sentiment ahead of common sense.
The defeat by Villarreal in the Europa League final confirmed what, deep down, everyone already knew. Solskjaer was never going to be the man to go head-to-head with Europe’s elite coaches. In the final, he was out-thought by Unai Emery. How could he be expected to get the better of Guardiola and Klopp?
Many have correctly pointed out that the mood around the club felt better under Solskjaer. Was that really because performances and results significantly improved, or more because everyone was happy to have a club legend and likeable, good guy in charge?
We have seen how quickly the atmosphere at Old Trafford can turn toxic during the Glazer era, so when Solskjaer initially replaced Jose Mourinho he was a useful shield. The fans were never going to completely turn on him.
But you cannot tell me anything under Mourinho and Louis van Gaal was worse than five defeats in the seven Premier League games.
Let us not forget that Mourinho finished second in the league. Yes, United were runners-up last year too, but only because Liverpool had no senior defenders for a season. They were in a false position. In terms of results, the team have made no progress in the past three years.
Whoever takes over will inherit a similar situation to Solskjaer in 2018. Such are the finances at United, the resources will always be available for the right man to succeed. Things can always get better sooner rather than later.
That makes the fact United are prepared to go another six months without their long-term solution more extraordinary.
United are one of the biggest clubs in the world. It is about time they started acting like it.
What exactly do the club want? Are they so naive to believe there is a new Ferguson out there?