Manchester United in a big mess

Here’s an interesting titbit. Of all Manchester United’s losses at Old Trafford in the Premier League, over 20% has come under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. And the club’s longest unbeaten away run — 29 — also came under the Norwegian. There is perhaps no other metric, juxtaposed and amusing, that can better tell the tale of the club under Solskjaer. Erratic, surprising, always entertaining and ultimately anecdotal.

For all the niceness and all the friends the ‘baby-faced assassin’ may have made, football is a results-based business. The axe had been hanging precariously over his head for a while, one letter away from falling, like a game of hangman. When that ‘L’ came emphatically at Watford, it fell.

Solskjaer is the quintessential nice guy. He can be credited for restoring the soul and ethos of the club and harkening back to the ‘Manchester United way’ as his friends in the media kept repeating until it became gospel.

Even many of the fans were unwilling, perhaps unable, to criticise the man who famously and fabulously stuck his foot out to win them the treble in 1999 and made a name for being the ultimate team-man and a super sub. For all the memories and sentiments, the results just didn’t hold up.

One can be forgiven for wondering if the club used him as a shield. Surfing on his affable personality and legendary status to hide the missteps. And there have been a lot of them. It’s been clear for a long time that Solskjaer was a manager just below the elite level, competing in a league with three Champions League winning tacticians. That was the fourth manager in eight years for Manchester United. A turbulent time after two and half decades of stability under Sir Alex Ferguson.

Perhaps a part of the answer to the question of what happened to Manchester United, one of the biggest clubs in the world, a financial monster and once a winning machine, can be seen in the ‘exit interview’ done by Solskjaer. Managers come and go, and they go with a thank you statement on Twitter or a press release, stay incognito for a while before returning to football’s consciousness - either linked to a new job or as a pundit marking availability to return to management. It’s a well-travelled road.

Solskjaer, on the other hand, gave an interview to Manchester United where he said all the right things and shed a few tears. It pulled at the heartstrings as fans gave their gratitude with teary eyes and frantic fingers, racking up the social media numbers for the club.

For the cynic in this scribe, it feels just another stunt from the club. A feel-good video to keep the narrative from getting out of hand from the club. For they have monetised the ghost of Christmases past to secure the present and, for all intents and purposes, future. The club who, under the current owners, have valued the business of football more than football itself. One of the culprits of the European Super League fiasco.

The Red Devils have gone from strength to strength as a global brand, a financial entity and cultural symbol while their football came down from the stratosphere.

Since Ferguson left the club in 2013, there have been four permanent managers. David Moyes, handpicked by the great Scot, was relieved of his duty less than nine months into his six-year contract. Louis van Gaal was sacked two years into his reign, days after winning the FA Cup. Jose Mourinho won two trophies in two-and-a-half seasons at the club and was released after signing a new contract. And Solskjaer, who was sacked after signing a three-year extension in the summer.

The manager profile alone seems drastically different. From an experienced and utilitarian Moyes, to slightly outdated but tactical behemoths in van Gaal and Mourinho to an inexperienced Solskjaer. The managers’ preferred styles of football were drastically different, giving the whole thing a ‘flying by the seat of their pants’ feel.

In fact, Solskjaer’s appointment still makes little sense. Modest success at Molde hardly qualifies him for the job. Coming in as an interim, he got the job because of the feel-good factor, his legendary status, a fortuitous win away at PSG and because he was not Mourinho. The randomness of decisions like this does not stop there. The CEO, Ed Woodward, announced earlier in the season that he would be leaving his position, but there is little news, except rumours, about when and on his succession.

Now the hierarchy are looking for an interim manager till the end of the season while Michael Carrick holds down the fort as the interim-interim manager. Ralf Rangnick is the front runner and for the first time there seems to be a plan with talks about the German moving to some sort of consultancy role after his role as interim manager comes to an end. Rangnick has a clear philosophy and was highly influential to German coaches. The question is will United understand and back his requirements and suggestions towards that vision?

Are the coaching staff the right people to further this vision? Or any new vision for that matter? Shouldn’t Carrick and the rest of the coaching staff have left along with the Norwegian? Is the club saying that the football, or lack thereof, this season was solely down to one man? Who are the permanent manager targets? Maurico Pochhetino? That will have to wait till the summer at least. Zinedine Zidane? Hmmm. Brendan Rodgers? Probably better off staying at Leicester City. The next German taktiker or Italian mastermind?

They could have signed Antonio Conte had they not dilly-dallied on making the decision on Solskjaer. Tottenham Hotspur saw the opportunity and whisked him away to London.

And for those who say Conte does not suit the ‘Manchester United way’. Is three trophies in five years in two countries not good enough? Do they expect a manager to stay long term? The club is hardly the spokesperson for long-term vision anymore. The identity, a stick used to beat Mourinho, van Gaal and now others, is little more than an idol buried in the Theater of Dreams along with the remnants of an era gone by.

What of the recruitment? Of all the fingers that can be pointed at the owners, transfer spending is not one of them. How they spend, is a whole other question.

Under Solskjaer alone, the club spent a total of £300m net to assemble a squad that resembles a doughnut. The lack of midfield was no secret but the summer spending was all about bolstering the attack and defence. They have four of the five highest-paid players in the league. They seemingly veer from transfer policy like signing Alexis Sanchez on a very expensive whim in 2018 and bringing back Cristiano Ronado - surefire goals but hindrance for any action that requires defensive work - on nostalgia and branding. The club should have known that re-signing Ronaldo is not progression.

A Solskjaer here, a Mourinho there is not going to solve the problem that is deep-rooted. This has to come from the board, from the decision makers, to have a plan and stick to it. To have the right people to execute it. As global as they are, a club should always reflect the culture of its people.

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