The angry chants began when Manchester
United were 3-0 up in their recent Premier
League game against Norwich City and the
team looked certain of victory. Only then did
the crowd unleash vitriol and disdain towards
the club’s owners, the reclusive Glazer family,
and their man who runs the club, executive
vice-chairman Ed Woodward.
It was deliberate timing. Regular supporters
at Old Trafford did not want negative vibes to
affect player performances. They did not want
to impact on manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Clever thinking? Well, only up to a point.
United’s fans are right to make the Glazers
a prime target of fury. For several years the
unwelcome Americans were shielded from
scrutiny by the majestic success of manager
Alex Ferguson, but now the poverty of their
ownership is fully exposed.
It is not that Manchester United lack
money. They remain masters of the lucrative
commercial deal, with more riches flooding
in than any club in the world bar Real Madrid
and Barcelona. It is a poverty of intellect.
What they lack is good sense in spending
their wealth. What they lack is coherent
football strategy and leadership – and the
consequence has been several years of
missing out on the Champions League.
For so long this essential for a major
football club was automatic. Perhaps they will
be on the outside again next season.
Transfer policy, commanded by Woodward,
has been in constant flux. The world record
signing of Paul Pogba has been a failure. The
capture of Alexis Sanchez just to stop him
going to Manchester City proved a disaster.
Now the Galactico plan has been abandonedto a focus on acquiring young players of talent
and potential.
Every choice of manager has been flawed
since the dismissal of Ferguson’s nominated
successor, David Moyes, within a season. Two
star names followed, but Louis Van Gaal
and Jose Mourinho were yesterday’s men
compared to Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola.
Now? Well, now there is equal folly, with
the owners and their executive vice-chairman
seduced into awarding the permanent position
to interim manager Solskjaer.
It was a knee-jerk decision, and these are
rarely vindicated.
United have been outside the PremierLeague top four all season. There has been
the occasional good win and performance- the product mostly of Marcus Rashford
maturing into a world-class forward – but
Solskjaer’s side are wildly inconsistent, with
no discernible football style or philosophy.
Many supporters harbour doubts about
the Norwegian as a manager but remember
him fondly as
a player and
the man who
scored the
winning goal in
that impossibly
dramatic finale
in the 1999 Champions League Final.
There is sympathy and scepticism in equal
measure, and fans are unwilling to make him
a target of discontent when he is the fall guy
for the power-brokers.
Maybe you can’t blame them, but a serious
truth remains for anyone with Manchester
United’s fortunes in their heart.
It is that the first-team manager is the
most important day-to-day figure at a football
club and that Solskjaer is a lightweight figure
miscast in a heavyweight role.
He is manager by default rather than
grand design, talking too often about the
past, referring to how it was at Old Trafford
in his playing days. The nostalgic
stunt of taking his young squad
to practise at the club’s old Cliff
training ground, to inspire them
by evoking the atmosphere of
the Ferguson era, was foolish.
While the team has scrambled
through the winter, world-class
managers have been waiting in
the wings: Mauricio Pochettino,
who took Tottenham Hotspur to
the Champions League Final last
season, and former Juventus boss
Max Allegri, a five-times winner of
Serie A.
They will not wait forever as
United owners and fans decline
to end their delusion.
The richest football club in
England desperately needs more
intelligent long-term leadership;
at the very least a proper director
of football to work on player
recruitment and club strategy.
There is no doubt of this. But
first comes first – and that is a
champion manager.
Solskjaer is part of United’s problem, not the solution
Jim
HOLDEN
AT THE HEART OF THE GAMEGLOBAL FOOTBALL INTELLIGENCE
Solskjaer’s side are wildly
inconsistent, with no discerniblefootball style or philosophy
Lightweight...Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was a hero to Manchester United fans as a player, but has he got what it takes to manage?