STARS AND STAFF ARE KEEN FOR SOLSKJAER TO KEEP UNITED JOB
MANCHESTER UNITED’S players and coaching staff want caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to be given the job on a full-time basis. The squad has been reinvigorated under Solskjaer, winning all six games since the 45-year-old arrived on loan from Molde last month to replace Jose Mourinho.
Sportsmail understands the coaching staff also want Solskjaer’s position to be made permanent at the end of the season after seeing the mood around Old Trafford transformed. Despite being appointed to the first-team coaching staff this season, Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna are said to have felt marginalised towards the end of Mourinho’s reign as he surrounded himself closely with his Portuguese backroom team. Carrick and McKenna were even excluded from briefings Mourinho had with his coaches before key games as he headed for the sack. Both coaches feel more comfortable under Solskjaer, who has been joined by Sir Alex Ferguson’s former No 2 Mike Phelan and also brought in his own long-time assistant Mark Dempsey. The solidarity among United’s coaching staff was evident by the enthusiastic celebrations at Wembley on Sunday after Paul Pogba set up Marcus Rashford for the winning goal against Tottenham with a brilliant pass. It was a tactic United had worked on to exploit the space behind Tottenham’s marauding fullbacks during a warm-weather break in Dubai last week that doubled up as a team-bonding exercise. After the game, executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and predecessor David Gill congratulated the players in the dressing-room at Wembley, while Ferguson took his grandson on the team bus to meet them later. It is typical of the inclusive, more welcoming atmosphere Solskjaer has fostered since returning to Old Trafford intent on re-establishing the values lost since Ferguson’s departure in 2013. Phelan, in particular, has been an important conduit between the coaching staff and the players. United were adamant that Solskjaer was an interim appointment, but he is now a serious contender for the job, though Mauricio Pochettino remains the favourite if he can be prised away from Spurs.