In recent weeks, the halo has begun to falter
For the first dozen games since Manchester United sacked Jose Mourinho and appointed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as interim manager, it must have felt like a breath of fresh air.
The team were winning, playing a style of football closely resembling that played by Sir Alex Ferguson and enjoying their football in a way they rarely had in recent years.
But since their surprise 3-1 away win against Paris Saint-Germain set up a Champions League quarter-final tie with Barcelona, it just hasn’t been the same for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
After three points from a possible nine in the Premier League and being eliminated from the FA Cup, the verve that came with the first 10 games has seemingly evaporated.
It will take more than removing the shackles to have a long-term impact at Old Trafford and, for a team that needs to recruit two centre-halves, three midfielders, a wide player and probably another attacker, the blame shouldn’t be laid at Ole’s door.
As a club, United have a habit of dishing out new contracts to managers when they’re little pressure on them to do so. In fact, Solskjaer was awarded his after stringing together two successive losses for the first time. Whilst not catastrophic, it’s just strange timing from Ed Woodward whose biggest flaw, honestly, seems to be bowing too much to whims of the fans.
When Mourinho was bizarrely offered an extension, only 18 months into his original contract, it was applauded by many. He had come off the back of winning the League Cup and the Europa League and had the United supporters in his corner. It wasn’t long ago when the same manager had the backing of Old Trafford and expertly managed to turn the gallery on Woodward for not giving him even more money to piss away and Woodward’s worst mistake was trying to keep that mob happy. The mob who backed Mourinho to the hilt.
There was going to be a big job cut out for the new United manager, whoever it was, but there was no reason to jump the gun in March.
Solskjaer had signed an interim deal until the end of the season, Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino was looking like he’d be available, and a smart move may have been to allow Solskjaer’s contract to run out and take stock in summer, giving the club the opportunity to weigh up its two primary candidates.
Instead, in his rush to satisfy the masses and appear to be doing something, anything, Woodward reacted to the manager’s first run of bad form and shook his hand with a three-year deal way earlier than he needed to.
Solskjaer is a good man, he has done well, and he could yet prove to be a genius with a full season under his belt and with a transfer window in which to invest, but only the future can tell us that. But, in all of their wisdom, the United board rushed their hand in a bid to placate the fans – fans who will turn anyway if results aren’t good enough.
