Three jobs in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's in-tray

The leap between being a caretaker boss and permanent manager is one that very few achieve. Even Roberto Di Matteo only lasted four months as full-time Chelsea boss before he was sacked despite winning the Champions League the previous season. For Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, making the most of this bold show of faith is his number one task at United and so far he has shown he is not daunted or overawed by the task at hand.

Make no mistake about it, Ole deserves the job and has restored key elements of the Manchester United DNA to the dressing room. He has grown into the role and hopefully leads the club to success.

Nobody saw this decision coming when he was given the caretaker role. Many wanted Mauricio Pochettino, who in the past month has now lost out on jobs at Real Madrid and United. We'll never know how much CEO Ed Woodward wanted or even pushed to get Pochettino, but in the end the decision was made for him such was the demand to make Solskjaer permanent.
It’s going to be difficult for Pochettino to stay relevant on such a scale unless he starts delivering trophies at Tottenham.
But back to Solskjaer who now holds the biggest job in football.
Here are three immediate tasks for the Norwegian after being confirmed Manchester United manager.

First and foremost, the here and now. United's April looks busy and increasingly vital with a gruelling eight-game run incorporating clashes with top six rivals Chelsea and Manchester City along with a European quarter final double header against Barcelona.
United are fifth, two points off place above Arsenal and three behind Spurs, in third.  It would be a kick in the teeth to miss out on the Champions League next season having come from nowhere to get so close.
We handled the injury crisis but those players haven’t fully recovered yet, and some were away on international duty with Paul Pogba playing two sets of 90 minutes for France. Having lost to Arsenal, there was an expectation that we'd bounce back against Wolves only to turn in the worst performance of Ole's tenure. The blip cannot become a collapse as Watford arrive at Old Trafford on Saturday.

But Solskjaer has passed all tests so far with green lights. We have plenty of reasons to believe he will continue getting the best out of his players, even those on the fringe of the team as seen against PSG.

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. Manchester United's summer cannot be any worse than the last one.  With Ole tied down as permanent boss, the job of getting the out of contract players to follow suit can begin. They include David de Gea, Ander Herrera and Juan Mata and with potential signings also in the pipeline, it will be much easier to get deals done now that everyone knows what's happening with the manager.

Ole must also plan how he wants his side to look next season, with the help of the summer transfer market.
United need a centre-back, full-back, right winger and possibly two central midfielders.
Unlike last summer, we must get this transfer window right in order to start next season in the best possible way. 


We don’t see what happens behind the scenes, but there have been suggestions that, underneath his positive, calm exterior, Ole isn’t afraid to use the hairdryer. 
Right now he’s in everyone’s good books, but that won’t always be the case. Not at a club the size of Manchester United.
It will be interesting to see how he handles the squad over the next three years. I have no doubt that there will be challenges, though I’ve really enjoyed his demeanour thus far. He seems approachable, understanding and in favour of being mates with his players.
Mourinho was too cold, unwilling to put his arm around players who I felt needed it at times. Solskjaer seems to be an excellent man manager.

The hard work starts now for Solskjaer and co.

Old Trafford truly is the Theatre of Dreams for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

David Moyes was useless, Louis van Gaal was arrogant and Jose Mourinho was, well, Jose Mourinho. There is a tinge of irony that, where two of the greatest managers of their generation had baulked at the job of Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - a relative managerial rookie - has made everything look easy. Despite his CV paling into insignificance compared to his two more illustrious predecessors, Solskjaer has turned from short term make-do-and-mend to the man to lead Manchester United forward.

Of course, it is a risk and if this turns out to be yet another false dawn, then so be it. Ole can leave with his head held high safe in the knowledge that he will forever be synonymous with this club's rich tradition and history. A tradition and a history that is ready for him to write his name into as our 21st permanent manager. It is one that he understands and embraces to a 'T' having plied his trade under his mentor and the greatest of them all in Sir Alex Ferguson, and an ideology stamped all over his United side in a manner conspicous by its absence as the club has lurched from one mistake to another. He's only been in the job for three months but his vision is clear.

The club had fallen into the trap of going for the big name, throwing money around and gambling on instant success. History suggests that is not the way to run any football club, never mind the biggest in the world.
We thought that the United hotseat would prove to be Mourinho's true calling after years of admiring glances and a softening of his egotistical demeanour whenever the question popped up. But instead it just ended in achingly familiar fashion. It wasn't his dream job, indeed for the most part he looked as if he never wanted to be there.

From the moment a misty-eyed Solskjaer, the Mourinho antithesis, sent his captivated audience into an enthralled stupor in his first presser as permanent United gaffer, it felt different this time. You felt that this really was the realisation of a lifelong ambition for a man who must have thought this moment would never come. Especially after his first foray into senior English management ended amid calamity at Cardiff, but it appears dreams really do come true for a humble, happy go lucky and softly spoken guy from Kristiansund on Norway's westernmost tip. An upbringing that has taken him, however improbably, to arguably the biggest, best but most difficult job in football.

 Never has the Sir-Bobby Charlton christened moniker of the Theatre of Dreams seemed more ethereal and appropriate.

Finally, six years down the line, United have a manager who just simply "gets us" as a club. Someone who is, above all else, one of us. A Red. A Manchester United fan through and through. He loves us, we love him, and even rival fans have been queuing up to wish Ole good luck in admiration.

 By travelling back in time, Manchester United have reset the clock and paved the way for a brighter future. With the UK Government in a mess, mayhem and a permanent state of unrest and flux, those gunning to be caretaker Prime Minister in Westminster's crumbling corridors of power should take notes from Ole.

Match preview: Man Utd v Watford

After a two-week domestic hiatus, United return to action and welcome FA Cup semi finalists Watford to Old Trafford in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's first game as permanent boss.

Solskjaer was named as Jose Mourinho's long-term successor on Thursday after 14 wins in 18 games during a fruitful three-month spell as interim manager. The clamour to appoint the Norwegian had only grown despite a blip of back-to-back losses before the international break, and the United board duly obliged with a three year deal.
Having been given the keys to the Old Trafford kingdom and with his future resolved, Solskjaer will now continue to maintain the push for Champions League qualification.
At two years Solskjaer's senior, Ole's opposite number Javi Gracia has done an excellent job in Hertfordshire since his appointment 14 months ago. His in-form Hornets sit eighth in the Premier League and look set to seal a top half finish for the first time. With an FA Cup last four tie against Wolves - who sit a place and a point above Watford - to come at Wembley next weekend, Gracia's men are on an undoubted upward trajectory.


Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Nemanja Matic, Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic all missed international duty and Jesse Lingard was also absent from England's double success. There has been no update from the club on the status of the walking wounded with pre-match talk dominated by the news of Ole's appointment. Alexis Sanchez (knee) is definitely out, but Ashley Young is available again after suspension. Antonio Valencia is back is contention although unlikely to feature whilst Eric Bailly could return having played for Ivory Coast.
Gracia has a fully fit squad to pick from, with the exception of former Reds midfielder Tom Cleverley, who will miss out with a calf problem. Andre Gray has recovered from a knock, but depsite the clean bill of health Gracia could rest several key men with one eye on next Sunday's Cup tie with Wolves. With Fulham to visit Vicarage Road in midweek, this is the first of three games in a busy week for the in-form and high flying Hornets.

The last meeting came back in September, when we held on to a 2-1 win, despite Nemanja Matic’s sending-off late in the game. Goals from Romelu Lukaku and Chris Smalling proved too much for Gracia’s men, and cancelled out Andre Gray's strike in the second half. United have lost only once to Watford since the inception of the Premier League, during the 2016/17 season.

In his first presser since becoming United's permanent boss, Solskjaer said: "This has been my ultimate dream, all the time, maybe a naive dream but I've always had that ambition in my mind.
"I'm honoured and privileged to be given the opportunity to lead this fantastic family of a football club long term. It is the start of something new, and wonderful to be able to have the chance to take us forward.
"Now the hard work starts, it's enjoyable but we know there is a lot of work still to do. I'm just going to be myself as I have always been - I know the expectations, the history and the traditions of the club. Of course I want us to be successful and to lift trophies but I can't wait to get started on the challenge of improving this fantastic group of players."

Form guide: Man Utd D W W W L L Watford W W L W L W
Match odds: Man Utd 2/5 Draw 7/2 Watford 13/2
Referee: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire)

Thank you Ole, from the bottom of my heart

Whatever had happened during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's temporary tenure as Manchester United's caretaker boss, there would have been nothing but gratitude and thanks towards the affable Norwegian.
Even if things hadn't worked out since replacing Jose Mourinho in December, Ole would have returned to his native homeland at the end of the season as a legend - the man forever synonymous with the most famous goal in the history of United. With one flick of the left foot at the Nou Camp, Solskjaer wrote himself into Old Trafford folklore. But that's only half of this man's story - a fairytale that even Solskjaer himself would never have scripted.

His rise to become the 21st permanent manager of the club is as heart-warming as it is unlikely. United CEO Ed Woodward has garnered a reputation of breaking from tradition by going for the big name, the Galactico, and the star-struck approach to both player and managerial recruitment.

In appointing  Solskjaer, he and his cohorts in the Old Trafford corridors of power bucked that trend and took a gamble - there was certainly an element of sentiment in making Ole Mourinho's interim successor.
There is no sentiment here, though - Solskjaer has built a compelling, irrefutable case for the defence during the best few months we have seen from United for many a year. This is a decision based on sense, logic, merit and a stack of evidence that simply could not have been ignored. In the end, there was no decision to be made - it was impossible not to appoint him.

There would have been a full scale riot through Salford Quays with placards, banner and effigies of Woodward if Solskjaer HADN'T been given the job. It should have been a no brainer, but then nothing is ever as it should be with this board.  Like with Mourinho's sacking, perhaps only the timing of the appointment has come as a surprise. Initially, it seemed United weren't set to make any official announcement until the end of the season. With eight league games left and a two-legged Champions League quarter-final with Barcelona to come, consensus was that the club would hold fire and see what panned out. But I can see why we've done it now. Coming off the back of the international break, there are still contracts to be signed and potential signings to be sorted, so it's always easier to make these negotiations if everyone know what's happening with the manager.

Ole, you're never going to read this, but I'm sure I speak on behalf of 650 million United fans across the globe when I say thank you. Thank you for taking us from rock bottom to giving us back the club we know and love. Thank you for breaking the curse of Stamford Bridge, for the 14 wins from 17 games, the attacking football, the smiles, the songs and of course, for Paris. We're enjoying watching our club again and we feel like you're one of us. You've given us the best days and nights of our United-supporting lives since mentor, maestro and manager extraordinaire Sir Alex rode off into the Old Trafford sunset.

 When was the last time it felt this good to be a Manchester United fan? Yes, there have been a couple of blips and there will undoubtedly be more, but something special is building here. All thanks to the baby faced assassin from Scandinavia - a man who left an indelible mark on the history of this club during his playing days and who has already done so in just a few short months as our manager.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: From no hoper to certain shoo-in

In October 2018, shortly after an erroneous story appeared stating Jose Mourinho would be sacked that weekend regardless of the result against Newcastle, Zinedine Zidane was favourite to become United's next boss.
Thirteen names appeared on the bookmakers' list of potential candidates. Brendan Rodgers and Roberto Martinez figured prominently. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was not listed.

 Five months later, on the day United were beaten at Wolves in the FA Cup quarter finals, Zidane was still third favourite. Given the Frenchman had just been given a three-year contract by Real Madrid, it said everything about how certain Solskjaer was to get the job.
To reach that position took a while.
After Mourinho's sacking, United wanted someone who understood the ethos of the club. Someone who knew the importance of attacking football, the development of young players and a collective spirit. That person also needed managerial experience.
Solskjaer had all this. In addition, he had experience of managing at United thanks to two and a half years spent in charge of the reserve team from 2008. Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward made the call.

With Ole appointed as interim boss, at the very least, Woodward knew getting through to the end of the season would not be a problem.
None of us could have envisaged what would happen next.

Eight successive wins, including victories in the league at Spurs and the FA Cup at Arsenal. The run had been bettered only once since Ferguson retired. The feel-good factor was back at Old Trafford, and suddenly Solskjaer was being talked about as a potential successor to Mourinho.
Battling back from two goals down to snatch a home draw against Burnley was seen as a positive, despite the winning run coming to an end.
The doubts about Solskjaer did not come until we were well beaten by classy Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on 12 February.
What followed got him the job.
There was an FA Cup victory at Chelsea and a home draw with leaders Liverpool - a game in which United lost three players to injury in the first half, while Rashford limped his way through the final three-quarters.
That result came on the same weekend Tottenham lost at Burnley, which triggered a furious post-match outburst by Mauricio Pochettino at referee Mike Dean that earned him a two-match touchline ban and gave away his true feelings at the cost of a defeat that began a run of one point from four games.
Solskjaer was no longer Mourinho's potential successor. He was the likely one. When he and United made Mission Impossible Mission Accomplished in Paris, any lingering doubts were gone. In the eyes of many, it was the best night of the post- Ferguson era and the dye was cast.

It was not only Solskjaer, it was also what he had assembled behind him. United men in Mike Phelan and Michael Carrick, plus Kieran McKenna, who had moved north from Tottenham to coach the club's age-group teams but had made a successful transition to the seniors.
David Moyes was lambasted for sweeping out Ferguson's backroom team in 2013. The idea Woodward would sanction the same thing again, which would have to happen if Pochettino got the job, was ridiculous.
There is more. Woodward has his critics but is a very successful and astute man. While he retains the complete faith of United's owners, presiding over a fourth failed managerial tenure would be a personal embarrassment.
Even if the decision to appoint Solskjaer backfires, the damage to him will be minimal because it is an appointment the majority of United's vast fanbase demanded.
If he appointed Pochettino and the Argentine failed, the responsibility would land squarely at Woodward's door.

 Even Solskjaer must be stunned at the speed with which he has gone from interested observer on the travails of Manchester United to the man in the manager's hot seat.

By doing what comes naturally, he has brought a sense of calm to United after the chaos of Jose Mourinho's latter days.

Solskjaer has shown tactical acumen, he has made key decisions - shown faith in Paul Pogba, eased Alexis Sanchez to the fringes, sold Marouane Fellaini - and ended the internal conflict Mourinho seemed to revel in. Most importantly, he has got results.

It has given Solskjaer a proper shot at his dream job. Yet, in abandoning their stated aim to wait until the summer, United have left unanswered some fairly key questions.

Firstly, can Solskjaer finish this season's job? Can he, either through a top-four finish or winning this season's competition, steer United back into the Champions League, something that looked impossible when he took over and they were 11 points adrift?

What has happened to the technical director idea that the club were so keen to push in the wake of Mourinho's dismissal, without which many people - including Louis van Gaal - feel any United manager, including Solskjaer, will struggle?

Will big-name players want to sign for Solskjaer, as they did for Van Gaal and Mourinho?
These questions will be answered in the fullness of time and are key to Manchester United becoming a force in the English game again.
For now, Solskjaer deserves huge congratulations at landing himself a job virtually everyone felt would be Pochettino's in the immediate aftermath of Mourinho's exit.

 Solskjaer's dream has become reality. His appointment is the correct decision. But he is not the only one with the responsibility for ensuring this does not turn into another managerial nightmare.

Ole's at the wheel, tell me how good does it feel?!

The worst kept secret in football became official this morning with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer appointed as Manchester United's 21st permanent manager.
Ole was named as the club's next full-time boss on a three-year contract after overseeing a stunning reversal of fortunes since replacing predecessor Jose Mourinho in December.

When Solskjaer took charge, United were sixth in the Premier League and 11 points off the top four.
But we have lost only once in 13 league games since - at Arsenal this month - and are now two points behind the London club, who occupy the final Champions League qualifying spot.
Solskjaer is the first United manager to win his first six league games, beating a record held by Sir Matt Busby. Clamour to announce him on a full-time basis has markedly risen along with his stock after a remarkable run - including that never-to-be-forgotten night in the Parc des Princes.

 Any caretaker who delivered the results he has since replacing Mourinho would feel they had a pretty decent claim on the job, even without the back story.

Solskjaer was manager of Molde when he returned to United on a temporary deal.
The Norwegian club, whose season had finished, said Solskjaer agreed agree a new deal with them in December and they were only "lending" their manager to United.
However, that story has since been removed from the club's website and this month Solskjaer said his deal with Molde had expired.
United are expected to make a "gesture of goodwill" to Molde in the form of a payment and a possible future friendly fixture.

Solskjaer has won 14 out of 18 games to take United from a season that was going nowhere into the Champions League quarter finals and the fight for the league's top four. No team has won more Premier League games in Ole's time at the wheel. Simply by being who he is and doing what he has, Ole has made our club United again.
A thumping 5-1 victory in Solskjaer's first match at Cardiff - where he was relegated from the Premier League during an eight-month spell as manager in 2014 - immediately raised morale.
That was swiftly followed by victories at Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea with a return to a style of play synonymous with the halycon days of yesteryear of which Ole was such a significant part of. He knows the club, our history and how things should be done - for once Ed Woodward has made the right decision after a strong of managerial appointments that simply proved a poor fit. It's not always about going for the big name, throwing money around and gambling on instant success. Solskjaer may be relatively unheralded compared to his immediate and more illustrious predecessors, but, in Ole, Manchester United have found their man.

 Beyond simply results, though, Ole has given us our club back and transformed the toxic, moribund mood of Mourinho's latter days to make the club a happy, winning place to be once more. Mauricio Pochettino was widely regarded as the next Reds manager-in-waiting and the apple of the club's eye, but there can be absolutely no doubt that Ole is the man for this job. Mike Phelan has been just as important and United now need to sign him up permanently, get in a Director of Football and give Solskjaer the financial backing he needs and deserves.

Ole's at the wheel! Congratulations.

Why Jadon Sancho is the perfect fit for Man Utd

The Beatles honed their stagecraft and global hits on the streets and stages of Hamburg where Kevin Keegan and his infamous perm would later grace the pitch. Now, there is a new English invasion with some of the country's unpolished diamonds optings for the Bundesliga as the stage on which to best ply their fledgling trade.

The German top flight's burgeoning reputation as a breeding ground for the brightest  young talents in the European game has been well documented. But up until this season, it has largely been an ethos of promoting from within - with Borussia Dortmund's soon-to-be Chelsea man Christian Pulisic the notable exception to the rule.

It is not just the occupant of the Dortmund left flank who has attracted admiring glances, flirtatious advances and fluttering eyelids from the bright lights, the glitz and the glamour of the Premier League. There's a kid on the other side who's meant to be half decent too. The name's Sancho, Jadon Sancho.
Sancho has become the apple of United's eye amid reports of an eye-popping £70m bid for the talented teenage tyro.

Sancho has won plenty of plaudits at Dortmund and, having already won three England caps at the tender age of 18, ticks all the boxes for Manchester United (ignoring the obvious link with a certain team from across the city, that is).
Sancho never made a senior appearances for City, and left in 2017 to follow in the footsteps of contemporaries Ademola Lookman, Reece Oxford and former Tottenham man Keanan Bennetts by swapping Blighty for Bratwurst. His search for first team football soon began to bear fruit and 2018-19 has been a breakthrough season.

United have made an unwanted habit of paying over the odds for players that have merely gone on to become expensive flops. Poor recruitment and going for the big name over a player we actually need has become the epitome of Ed Woodward's transfer raison d'etre. But Sancho is different. Granted he would not come cheap, Dortmund would not want to part with a player who has become their star asset and City have a buy back option.
But he is a player who ticks all the boxes and not merely just another Angel Di Maria or Radamel Falcao-esque Galactico.
Ten years on, the Reds have still failed to replaced Cristiano Ronaldo, and we've been crying out for a right-winger to fill that CR-7 shaped void ever since. It's criminal that such a pivotal position has been so chronically undermanned for all this time.
The Gareth Bale ship has long since sailed, and United's plans for Ivan Perisic have come and gone. United's pursuit of a right winger is no secret, and has been as protracted as it has proved pointless. Jose Mourinho had a penchant for the short-term fix with boths of those players undeniably talented if ageing thirty somethings.
Thoughts of signing someone like Sancho under Mourinho would have been nothing more than a pipdream.
But young meister Jadon is a Manchester United player in all but name. Young, English (that always helps) and a winger blessed with a bundle of pace, energy and attacking flair, Sancho seems the perfect answer to the problem that United have struggled with for so long.
Throw in the fact that's he already won more trophies in his two years abroad that Liverpool have in the last decade, and it seems as though Old Trafford is Sancho's true calling. Exactly the sort of player we need and exactly the kind of precocious talent who has the tremendous, world class potential to make the Manchester United right flank his own.
Whether that be under  the tutelage of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer or not.
But would he join? A return to England would be hard to resist and he's said to be open to a return to these shores. There's a debate that he's better off staying in Germany and staying somewhat under the radar.
But Manchester United is a happy place to play once more and when the biggest club in the world come knocking at your door, can you really refuse to open it?

Manchester United is perfect for Jadon Sancho, and he for us.