Manchester United news LIVE: Mauricio Pochettino keen on job, Michael Carrick press conference

When Jose Mourinho’s scorched-earth series was finally canned by Manchester United and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was given caretaker charge of the wheel, a select group of journalists had an off-record audience with Ed Woodward.

Naturally, an enquiry was made over the club’s big picture for the managerial position and their confidence over landing primary target Mauricio Pochettino, then at Tottenham, in the summer.

United’s executive vice-chairman is understood to have sniggered as he retorted: “You all think we want him, but that would be the easy choice. Too easy. It’s Julian Nagelsmann we like.”

Melissa Reddy reports on how it’s the decision-makers who have now fired Solskjaer who remain the bigger issue at Old Trafford.

Michael Carrick is the next former player taking temporary charge of Manchester United after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked.

The first-team coach has stepped into the breach after United ended Solskjaer‘s three-year reign following a run of poor results which included a 5-0 defeat to arch-rivals Liverpool and a derby loss to Manchester City before the final straw of the embarrassing 4-1 reverse at Watford.

Carrick’s first job as caretaker boss while the club’s hierarchy find an interim manager to take them through to the end of the season is to face the media on Monday ahead of a crucial Champions League tie in Villarreal.

Solskjaer, himself brought in as caretaker in December 2018 following Jose Mourinho’s exit before getting the job on a permanent basis, admitted he paid the penalty for not being able to “take the next step” after some encouraging progress.

Last season United finished a distant second to Manchester City - 12 points behind in the Premier League - and lost the Europa League final to Villarreal after a marathon penalty shoot-out.

“I wanted us to take the next step to challenge for the league, to win trophies... but unfortunately I couldn’t get the results we needed and it’s time for me to step aside,” a clearly emotional Solskjaer told MUTV.

“Second place last season ahead of arguably one of the best teams in Europe (Liverpool), I think that’s a great achievement as well.

“And we were so close in Europe. Sometimes that’s the fine margin for you, one penalty.”

He knew the questions were coming, even before Watford had hammered the final nail into Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s coffin.

In normal circumstances, Brendan Rodgers is as jovial and as friendly as any Premier League manager during their post-match media duties, greeting regular reporters by their first names, no matter how intrusive or leading the question posed.

But after witnessing his Leicester side put in the meekest of displays in their 3-0 loss at home to Chelsea on Sunday, Rodgers’ demeanour had darkened when facing the post-match media, with a furrowed brow a permanent fixture throughout.

Rio Ferdinand has criticised Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward’s track record and accused the hierarchy of “shocking management” in a damning assessment of the club.

United sacked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as manager on Sunday morning following a 4-1 humiliation by Watford which left the team seventh in the Premier League table amid a dismal run of form.

Former United centre-back Ferdinand believes the lack of decisiveness in axing Solskjaer and appointing a replacement – with the club set to look for an interim head coach until the end of the season with Michael Carrick initially taking caretaker charge – revealed there are flaws in how the club is being run.

When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer returned to Old Trafford on an interim basis nearly three years ago now, his track record as a manager consisted of two Tippeligaen titles, a Norwegian Cup and a handful of honours at reserve team level which still carried [citation needed] tags on his Wikipedia page.

The most recent of those trophies had come in 2013, six years earlier. Since then, Solskjaer had suffered one relegation at Cardiff City and a few seasons without distinction back in Norway. It was not the CV of a Manchester United manager. Perhaps that is why some of his former players at Molde began removing United players from their fantasy football teams.

They would soon be rushing to bring those same players back in, though, as the most improbable, the most intoxicating but mainly the most bewildering episode of United’s post-Sir Alex Ferguson era began far better than they could ever expect. In fairness, they were not the only ones to be taken by surprise.

The full story of Solskjaer’s farewell interview:

A rare ‘farewell interview’ from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, in which he talks about the way he has reconnected with the club, made old and new friends, and pays tribute to the fans:

Solskjaer’s former Manchester United teammate Peter Schmeichel: “It’s really sad, I am seriously really sad. On Ole’s behalf, on the football club’s behalf, on all the fans’ behalf. It’s too many managers we’ve had to dismiss in too short a period of time,” Schmeichel said at the Qatar Grand Prix.

“We’ve been used to 27 years for one man (Alex Ferguson) to be in the hot seat and I just feel for Ole. He’s done everything he could, but in this modern day football it’s been deemed not to be enough.”

Former Manchester United striker and pundit Michael Owen reacts:

“There were bigger managerial names than him that tried and failed in recent seasons and he leaves the club with the most talented collection of players it’s had in a while. It’s the next manager’s job to get the best out of them,” Owen said on Twitter.

“It has to be the worst possible time for Manchester United to be looking for a new manager. Early in the season with hardly any top managers available.

“The only obvious one available is (Zinedine) Zidane but the language barrier is surely a huge issue. An interim manager looks likely - again.”

Former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, now in charge of Championship strugglers Derby, distanced himself from early speculation linking him with a return to Old Trafford in a coaching capacity.

“Firstly it’s always sad when a manager loses his job, especially a former team-mate of mine,” Rooney told Sky Sports after his side’s 3-2 win over Bournemouth. “I feel for Ole.

“In terms of myself, I’m committed to this club until I’m told otherwise. I’m Derby County manager and I’ll keep working hard to get the best results on the pitch for this team.”