OUT IN GA M E
OLE GUNNAR Solskjaer will be on a hiding to nothing when Rochdale visit Old Trafford in the Carabao Cup tonight.
Beat the League One side, as expected, and it proves absolutely nothing.
But suffer a shock defeat... well, then all hell will break loose.
Managing Manchester United is proving to be a thankless task for Solskjaer.
United let their heart rule their head and opted for their former striker instead of doing everything in their power to lure Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino north.
Since winning 14 of his first 17 games to become permanent manager in March, Solskjaer’s most notable achievement since has been proving just how good he is at flattering to deceive.
United’s form, spanning the end of last season and the start of this one, has been shambolic – the sort of run that has got some of his predecessors sacked.
Solskjaer could be forgiven for lying in bed at night wishing the axe would fall on him too, relieving him of what has become the biggest burden in top-flight football.
We haven’t reached the month of Halloween yet but the horror story unfolding at the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ is already teetering on nightmare proportions.
Two wins from six games, eighth in the table and 10 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool, the bitter rivals that United like to measure their standards against.
United haven’t challenged for the title since Sir Alex Ferguson won it in his last season in charge in 2013. Doing so this season is already beyond them.
But despite the growing decline, Solskjaer can go to bed knowing he will not be sacked.
According to executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward yesterday, he will be given all the time he needs to make United serial winners again.
Woodward has also pleaded for patience, but this is quite an ask considering all suffering supporters have witnessed since Fergie stood down six years ago is three managers try but fail to achieve what Solskjaer now has to do.
In the meantime, to make matters much, much worse, those same supporters have seen the two rivals they love to hate the most, Liverpool and Manchester City, kick dirt in their faces as they disappear towards a new level of football that puts trophies on the table.
United are light years behind both, not just in terms of the team on the pitch but in terms of the vision, planning and structure.
Yesterday should have felt like a good
day for United, (left) (right) when the club announced record annual revenues of £627.1m and an operating profit of £50m.
The institution that calls itself ‘the world’s biggest football club’ were top of the league once again in terms of making money and no doubt the owners, the Glazer family, will have raised a glass to the news at their base in Florida.
But the good news financial results.
The American billionaires don’t care too much about the lack of Premier League points on the board or silverware on show, as long as the tills keep ringing.
The Glazers rarely speak about United, but those who know them insist the brothers don’t have that insatiable desire to win trophies like, for example, ruthless Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich does.
That might explain why, under their controversial ownership, more than £1bn in interest, costs, fees and dividends have been drained out of the club since their leveraged takeover in 2005.
Woodward, who is the face and mouthpiece of the Glazers, admits that results on the pitch won’t affect United’s financial power off it. The latest figures stops with the prove it. But nothing else seems to add up at United these days.
Take the case of the mystery surrounding the potential appointment of a technical director to work as a logical link between Woodward and Solskjaer.
Jose Mourinho refused to have one, which is part of the reason he was sacked and part of the reason United have spent the ensuing months trying to find someone suitable for the role.
But last night club sources suggested there had been a change of heart, simply because the summer transfer window had been deemed a success.
That’s a summer transfer window that saw striker Romelu Lukaku exit without being replaced, leaving Solskjaer with just Marcus Rashford and unproven teenager Mason Greenwood as his only centre-forwards.
Solskjaer can only play with the cards he is dealt, but he has few aces in his hand and bluffing is not an option at the highest level.
The Norwegian may think Prime Minister Boris Johnson has a lot on his plate.
But the only question is, who make a bigger mess of things in shortest time? will the