Is Manchester United’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer decision an inspired choice or too persuaded by the present?
This is exactly the sort of progressive decision that institutions of the size of United are usually structurally insulated from making
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Your support makes all the difference.It was a phrase even Sir Alex Ferguson used, along with many other senior figures at Manchester United in the glorious aftermath of the win over Paris Saint-Germain. That “something special” is happening at the club.
Something special has certainly happened for the new manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and the supporters. A club legend who seems so perfectly in tune with all of United’s principles has finally been appointed as manager, restoring an atmosphere of joyous excitement to the place, and that mostly through results.
It all feels so perfect.
It would have been very difficult for United to not give him the job.
And yet it’s equally difficult not to think they might have waited a bit longer before deciding.
United have lost both matches since the PSG match, and one of them brought elimination from the trophy they had the best chance of winning in the FA Cup, with those results reminding that this can still very quickly go very differently.
It will all feel rather imperfect if they lose to Barcelona in the Champions League and finish outside the top four, to follow that FA Cup elimination, as now seems quite possible.
Part of that feeling will somewhat unfairly be because Solskjaer started the job so unsustainably well, with a ludicrously good run that was always going to level off, but it would still feel a wasted opportunity and point to longer-term doubts.
And the latter is the point even if Solskjaer avoids that situation, and does the minimum of getting United back into the Champions League.
A half-season or so is still a very limited amount of evidence on which to make a decision that executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward believes he must get absolutely right.
United are of course basing that decision on more than games, and looking at what is happening at training every day, but it still represents a significant gamble for what probably needs to be a surer thing.
This is really the only wrinkle that anyone could have with the decision right now. That it is so surprisingly brave. United have done the complete opposite of what they did with Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho. They were highly conservative picks based on “proven” success, but going back well over a decade. Their success went back so far, in fact, that it left open the now-proven danger that the game had passed them by.
The wonder with Solskjaer is whether they have now gone too far in the opposite direction, been too brave, and too persuaded by the present. It is actually the sort of progressive decision that institutions of the size of United are usually structurally insulated from making.
But if it is an important decision as many at the club believe, might they not have gone for someone at the peak of the game, with at least a few full seasons at that level behind him? With a bit less open to question and doubt?
There still just feels a little too much unknown about this, despite how well Solskjaer has done.
Because this is the other element complicating this.
The situation, and the pressure on any manager, is all very different when you come back to start that first full campaign in pre-season. Any grace is gone. It’s then about just doing it.
But pre-season is part of the reason they couldn’t wait, and points to issues at the club beyond the manager. United at this juncture need to start taking their transfer plans to the next level, or they risk another summer of failure. Since they don’t have a director of football for that, they at least needed to have a manager.
Hence Solskjaer’s appointment. Hence he’s already been discussing big signings, with the club willing to back him with whatever it takes, because they know of the need to get this right.
They just might not have had to be so hasty in that decision if they’d had a director of football, or some similar figure at the club.
They certainly aren’t going to be hasty in that appointment, anyway. With the club still looking to work out the exact specifications of the role, sources now say such a figure may not even be hired in 2019.
From that context, there is even more logic to the Solskjaer appointment, to go with his highly successful performance. There is also a lot of emotion to it, which shouldn’t automatically be seen as a negative.
Logic and emotion combined can make for the best decisions. Solskjaer could yet make for the best option the club could possibly have had.
This could keep going. It could be something even more special.
The club deserve huge credit for bravery.
But that’s what it comes down to: braving the unknown.
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