Solskjaer at the wheel but Phelan a key figure in kick-starting United machine
Mike Phelan was briefly back from Australia, where he remains sporting director of Central Coast Mariners, and doing some coaching locally when he received the call asking if he was interested in returning to Manchester United on a short-term basis to work alongside Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Unsurprisingly, it did not take him long to make a decision, one which has set in motion the pair completely transforming a club seemingly at war with itself and being handed the job of manager and assistant on a full-time basis.
Solskjaer would probably admit that while he is at the wheel, as the United fans now sing, Phelan is as vital a cog in the machine which has turned the frustrating Champions League defeats to Sevilla from last season under Jose Mourinho, into nights such as the breathless second leg against PSG in Paris and tonight’s quarter-final clash with Barcelona, and a team capable of a genuine shot at the top four.
For a 56-year-old, Phelan seems to really get this latest generation of players more than most coaches of a similar age. Rather than wage war against them (as Mourinho did with Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw), he understands they simply need to be handled in a different way now.
“Players are different, their mentality is different and the way they go about their business is different,” Phelan says in a wide-ranging Reuters podcast. “There are differences but at the end of the day we’re there to perform, we get paid to play and entertain, we’re in the entertainment business.
“We’ve asked the players to be simple: pass the ball to a red shirt, run forward, there’s a goal at one end of the pitch, try and score [in it]. It’s not as basic as that but it’s pretty simple. You’re at Manchester United because you’ve got talent and ability, we just want to make sure they show that ability. Try to be entertaining and ruthless at times but enjoy yourselves. If you can’t enjoy playing at Manchester United where can you?” l Cristiano Ronaldo has been included in Juventus’ squad for tonight’s match at Ajax in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, marking his return from two weeks out with a thigh injury.