A Case for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

It was the 26th May 1999 when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s life changed forever. In one stretch of the leg, he went from good striker, from super-sub, to Manchester United legend. He stayed at the club for many years following and had been there for over a decade before hanging up his boots, but that moment will define his playing career more than any other. It ensured that he had a place in Manchester United folklore, which, with no experience at a top club, is perhaps the only reason why he finds himself in the manager’s hotseat at one of the biggest clubs in the world.

It raised a lot of eyebrows when he was appointed on an interim basis, with names like Zidane and Pochettino in the frame, but his electric start left many clambering for him to be appointed full time. Others were a little more cautious in their thinking, preferring to wait until the end of the season for the position to be made permant; and they must have felt that it was justified when following a memorable fightback away at PSG, United’s season nosedived in a way that was typified by a drab 2-0 final day home loss to relegated Cardiff. It might be justifiably argued that had the board waited, another man may have gotten the nod prior to the 2019/20 season.

Alas, he was kept on, and it looked as though it was to be an exciting season after a 4-0 home win against Chelsea on the opening day of the season at Old Trafford. Following that though, United were the very definition of inconsistent, at least up until the end of January. This led to many turning their back on Ole, some (mainly keyboard warriors) going further and making quite unsavoury comments about his work at the club. His record at 20 games may have been one of the worst the club have put up since before the Premier League began, but I would like to put forward a case for the Norwegian.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer inherited a mess. The squad when he came in had been built by three managers, with three different styles and three different philosophies. His star striker didn’t want to be there and his star midfielder had been awol for quite some time, in mind if not in body. This is without mentioning the apparent chaos at board level, who oversaw a wishy-washy transfer strategy where most players were bought to paper over cracks than with any form of planning. Di Maria, Falcao, Pogba and Sanchez are just a few names that point to a Galactico approach that has never really worked at Manchester United, which is something that the current regime seemingly wants to change.

This is just an opinion, but I’d say that the transfer policy has improved tenfold almost immediately. There’s a bigger look towards (mainly) British players that would give blood, sweat and tears for the badge, which I find refreshing as it shows an intention to revert back to how the club used to be. There is an obvious focus on youth that, while they’d never quite stopped using academy players, also represents this shift. The likes of Greenwood and Williams are the biggest examples of the latter, each of which are progressing tremendously in a short space of time and have become valuable members of the squad.

There has been a wealth of established squad players that have legitimately improved under Solskjaer too. Rashford has turned raw talent into consistent performances and goals while nailing down a place in the team, Fred has gone from being next to useless to an important squad player, Mctominay has gone from strength to strength and Martial is putting up better figures than he has before in a United shirt. Getting all of these together into a cohesive unit has been a challenge for the manager and one, big games aside, some may accuse him of failing. Others may suggest that anyone would struggle to break stubborn teams down with Andreas Pereira and Jesse Lingard being the only two creative midfielders available. For this reason, it is no coincidence that everything started to come together with yet another top signing; the excellent Bruno Fernandes.

People say that Solskjaer doesn't have the required experience to manage a club the size of Manchester United, they refer to his relegation at Cardiff and say that working at a Norwegian club won't give him the required skills to be a success. To that I'll point at Pep Guardiola, who only had a stint at Barcelona B to call upon before taking up the Barca Head Coach position, and Zidane, who followed a similar path. I'd look at Antonio Conte, whose highest level had been at midtable clubs in Serie A before getting the job at Juventus, as well as Luis Enrique, who didn't exactly pull up trumps at Roma and came 9th with Celta before Barcelona took a chance on him.

I'm not saying that Ole Gunnar Solskjaear will replicate any of the success that the above managers have had. It remains to be seen as to whether he'll be the man to get Manchester United back to where they were a decade ago, and even I remain unconvinced of his ability to change games and in how he has set the team up against certain times. What I am convinced of, however, is that he deserves the chance to learn and grow. What's more, if and when he does go, I fully expect that he'll leave the squad in far better shape than when he came in.