Solskjaer's contract

Majima

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I do believe we've reached our ceiling under him. The bottled semi's, capitulation in CL groups, form since going top, our general performances vs. top 6 (is it a coincidence now that they've stopped leaving so much space behind?), our form since Bruno has also stopped being superman, and the trend of many players regressing supports that viewpoint.

But for a caretaker, the way he's stabilised us, bringing back the Utd spirit has been above and beyond. He's given us the best chance at sustained success for the 1st time post SAF. It's for that reason, we now need to build upon this progress by bringing in a manager with real pedigree, or else risk being back to square one, when it all inevitably comes crashing down.

The way we're ran though, the extension has probably already been agreed upon.
 
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Chipper

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1 year extension in the summer or sack him. Should probably be the case for every nearly every manager out there unless another SAF comes along. First game of every season you should have 2 years to go. If you're let go at the end of that season or during it the club only has to pay you 12-18 months compo. There is still some security there for the manager too as he's never actually managing in the last year of his contract and isn't wondering if the club will or won't offer him one.

All new managers could start with a 2 year deal too or 2 1/2 if appointed mid-season.
 

RedDevilzFox

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I would not give more than a 12 month extension if we still feel he is the man for us.

He is not terrible, I think all things being equal he's done more than I expected. However, you can't help but feel where is this all going? His in game management is still poor and tactically he seems clueless. The hell of it is that I am not sure who is the manager that can punch above his weight and get us a league title with Pep and Klopp around? Very frustrating.
 

Isotope

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Yeah if he had HIS players then would feel there is a possibility we could let him go at the end of the season, however he is still at least four short in that department so the club will continue to give him time and muddle along for now
If his "type of players" mean breaking world record fee or buying expensive player, I don't know if he has credential to demand that.
 

croadyman

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If his "type of players" mean breaking world record fee or buying expensive player, I don't know if he has credential to demand that.
Well he is talking about people like Sancho & Haaland so that answers the question
 

SAFMUTD

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At the end of the day I think we have to ask ourselves, is Ole good enough as a coach that he could beat Pep and Klopp?

If you think he can, then can he do it with a lesser squad? Because thats what we need at the moment. Since there's no way we can catch up City's squad in the short term. We need a coach that makes the team punch above their weight so we can level City's squad quality.

Lets not fool ourselves Ole is not even remotely close to Pep or Klopp, with them also having better squads is only natural that we wont win shit.

We need to find the next special manager. Ole is not going to suddenly turn into a worldclass manager after 10 years of coaching.

Its deluded to think even with Sancho, Haaland, Kounde and whoever you want we will suddenly play at City's level. Ole just doesn't have the talent for it, its not a matter of patience, money or time. Its like specting Daniel James to suddenly perform as Messi if we give him enough time. It will just not happen, we are wasting time with Ole as a coach.

Nothing warrants that the next manager won't fail as well, but at least we'll have a shot and if he fails we'll replace him with another one and another one until we find our perfect coach.

It frustrates me that in order for us to get a new manager the current one must fail miserably, if he's average he'll stay. I mean what the feck is that? How can anyone be ok with the level we are showing? How and why did we let this new reality be acceptable? How can us as a fan base be ok with the fact that we are not a serious candidate to the title and somehow top 4 is enough?

We are steps away from becoming Arsenal, and its no joke. They started that way letting their standards drop and we are following their steps, suddenly top 6 will be acceptable.
 
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United Hobbit

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I think you can question how well individual performances have followed a trajectory under him too.

De Gea - No words required.

Maguire - Came with a big reputation and for huge money. Looks like a flop at his price point and now we're all in agreement that he needs another big signing next to him to get the best out of him. His stock has fallen massively since his Leicester days.

Matic - Age is probably the main factor here in fairness. But there has been a drop off in my opinion.

Lingard - Had some good times under previous managers. Never rated him highly but I feel Ole definitely brought out the worst in him.

Martial - The worst I've seen him in a United shirt. Best season under LVG. The talent is barely even recognisable these days, which was something I couldn't previously deny Martial FC. So bad, in fact, Martial FC disbanded and haven't been seen to this day.

Greenwood- Seems to have handled him poorly this season and hasn't kicked on. This was blamed on his trouble with England in the summer, in which Foden was also involved. Forden having his best season to date.

Rashford- Where do I start? He's pampered and protected this guy since he arrived. He's played him constantly. Whilst Rashford has a decent goalscoring record in all competitions, his all round play has been worse, for me. He hasn't evolved as a footballer and has still got the inconsistencies of a player just starting out. Although he's only 23, he has a load of experience behind him. Ole messed him around d by changing positions to accommodate Martial and Cavani, choosing to play Rashford all over the place. Since that period he's looked dreadful.

There's probably more that I'm forgetting and some that aren't included because they've been moved on. Pogba is another that has perhaps not been utilised properly at all by Ole.
That is a very good point, it's alarming how many players are regressing. I know Greenwood is a young player and they can fluctuate form, but he's been out of form- Ole should be developing his skills.

He also won't drop players who are blatantly out of form. I haven't seen enough of Henderson to establish if he is definitely our future number one, but surely he's earnt a chance and if we don't give him more chances, while DDG costs us points, we risk losing him.

He also makes bizarre decisions, Bruno is being run into the ground, why not rest him during the 2nd leg of the Real Socieadad game, where we were 4-0 up I know we had injuries but surely Bruno should have been rested. We are reliant on Bruno so it was frustrating to see him used. Also, not taking off Fred when he was a red card waiting to happen vs PSG. We could all see what was going to happen. It did.

Also, he isn't getting the best out of players. Surely DVB is more than serviceable, the management of him is bizarre. If Ole had been able to utilise him well, more players especially Bruno, could have got rest.

I'd go as far as saying if Bruno gets injured, we aren't finishing in the top 4.

Also, the performances lately are horrendous to watch. So slow. So boring. So predictable. The opposing team will park the bus. We will walk around the pitch, passing backwards and sideways with the occasional forray forwards, trying and failing to break them down. Rinse and repeat. Teams are now learning Ole can't break down low block defensive teams so will set up this way for their games against us.

Also the predictable slow starts. Constant theme.

Also, when we were looking at a POSSIBLE title challenge, Ole kept refusing to accept we could challenge- if this negative mindset is used with the players, it doesn't help. I didn't think we would win it but still had that faint element of belief. Obviously he may just be downplaying it for journalists but what did he say to the players?

Are there perhaps the faintest signs he is just starting to lose the dressing room? It may just be press talk but you get faint rumours of dressing room arguments with Bruno. Also the lack of urgency on the pitch- we were strolling around like a Sunday walk in the park yesterday, despite not leading. Why?

Ole is very passive in game as well, it used to drive me mad seeing Moyes slumped on the bench, Ole needs to get after them, especially yesterday, if I was sat as manager watching that I'd be out of my seat gesturing them forwards, telling them to get up the pitch. Sit in your seat when we are winning.
 

Zen86

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I'd love to know why looking at the best football we played last season and analyzing whether we built on it and improved is wrong...
Why not compare it to the worst football we played last season as a way of measuring progress? Or is that just silly? :rolleyes:
 

Revan

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We are in course for 71 points this season which is an improvement compared to the previous one, but not such a big improvement.

I did not see the point in continuing with Ole last summer, and I think the same. He simply is not a good enough manager and coach to lead us to glory and win us titles. He did an ok job in stabilizing the job, but it was clear last season that we reached the ceiling with him, so just continuing with this is pointless, regardless if we get top 4 or not.

The problem is that as always we are late. Tuchel and Pochettino are not available anymore, which leads Allegri (who is boring as feck) the only world-class manager who is available.
 

Mickson

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We are in course for 71 points this season which is an improvement compared to the previous one, but not such a big improvement.

I did not see the point in continuing with Ole last summer, and I think the same. He simply is not a good enough manager and coach to lead us to glory and win us titles. He did an ok job in stabilizing the job, but it was clear last season that we reached the ceiling with him, so just continuing with this is pointless, regardless if we get top 4 or not.

The problem is that as always we are late. Tuchel and Pochettino are not available anymore, which leads Allegri (who is boring as feck) the only world-class manager who is available.
If we had Bruno last season we would probably have got 71 points.
 

FinalRunner

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You can't make a decision midway into a season - it's detrimental to both the club and the new incoming manager as the Jan transfer window is rarely an opportunity (bar Bruno!). Solskjaer deserves a window to sort the CB mess - if he doesn't get a pacey CB that can push the back line up the pitch, he clearly can't see the clearest defect in the team. United need to stop focusing on attackers and get Harry a decent partner. I like Bailly but he can't be relied on unfortunately, due to his injury track record. Come on OLE - the problem is so clear!
 

Green Arrow

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If he gets top 4 and maybe wins a cup then he will get a contract extension. Honestly I think he will get top 4 but no cup and he will get the contract extension.

Question is will he get the players that he wants in the summer, no he won't. Then we will be seeing more of this same football again and he will be out of the job near christmas.

The whole cycle will repeat again under a new manager.
 

Garethw

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Offering him a contract extension would be the stupidest decision that we could make.
 

Judas

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I never saw Ole as the long term solution, more a bridge to the next manager. I think he's done brilliantly well, taken us further, made the camp happier, and improved the squad binning off deadwood. But I just don't think we'll ever get to the next level with him. We could easily continue at this level for long with him though, until the players get fed up, lose interest and turn on him, because no matter how much they like him, eventually managers lose the dressing room if they're not seeing signs of success and progress.

I don't believe we'll win a trophy this season, and if we finish 2nd it'll be more because the sea of shit below us. I just want to be totally wrong.
 

Acole9

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I think we should hold off on that extension. Seems like we go top and dine out on having a year long unbeaten away run and now we've taken our foot off the gas.
 

Water Melon

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He sold Lukaku who has been performing much better than any of the forwards we have currently. He sold Smalling and bought Maguire. I hope that when a new manager comes in, he will be given as much time, new players and resources as Ole has been given. It really is unfecking believable that Man United are managed by a person, who won a Norwegian league ten years ago, then relegated Cardiff from the prem, continued his fall with Cardiff in Championship. Returned back to Molde, did not win anything with them for 3 years in a row before being appointed as a Man Utd manager. Under his glorious reign we continuously win sweet fook all and bottle it when it matters the most. Wtf are the Board thinking?
 

Freak

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He’s done a good job stabilising the ship and getting rid of the deadwood along with other backroom improvements. Having said that, if he does not win anything between now and the end of next season he should be let go. We have been pretty much big bottlers under him so far so he needs to win something to change that.

Having said that, I do think we have reached our ceiling with him.
 

croadyman

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We are in course for 71 points this season which is an improvement compared to the previous one, but not such a big improvement.

I did not see the point in continuing with Ole last summer, and I think the same. He simply is not a good enough manager and coach to lead us to glory and win us titles. He did an ok job in stabilizing the job, but it was clear last season that we reached the ceiling with him, so just continuing with this is pointless, regardless if we get top 4 or not.

The problem is that as always we are late. Tuchel and Pochettino are not available anymore, which leads Allegri (who is boring as feck) the only world-class manager who is available.
Yeah with those two now off the table there is absolutely no chance of us making a change in the summer, mind you I genuinely think it doesn't matter whether Ole finishes in the top 4 or not as his status will buy him yet more time
 

croadyman

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I never saw Ole as the long term solution, more a bridge to the next manager. I think he's done brilliantly well, taken us further, made the camp happier, and improved the squad binning off deadwood. But I just don't think we'll ever get to the next level with him. We could easily continue at this level for long with him though, until the players get fed up, lose interest and turn on him, because no matter how much they like him, eventually managers lose the dressing room if they're not seeing signs of success and progress.

I don't believe we'll win a trophy this season, and if we finish 2nd it'll be more because the sea of shit below us. I just want to be totally wrong.
Yeah I will be utterly fuming if we end up losing someone like Bruno because Ole is being given too much leeway by the board and he understandably becomes fed up of being the only player in this team capable of creating something
 

Buchan

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Graham Potter plays better football with worse players. Going by XG stats, Brighton have outperformed their opponents in over 70% of their games this season. Watch their games recently, it’s an absolute joke how they’re not in the top 8 at the very least going by how they play. If Potter had a better finisher up top, they’d be cruising to EL football. The phrase ‘false position’ was invented for this Brighton team. No matter who they play, they go for it full throttle, as evidenced by their recent dominating wins over Spurs and Pool. We do not do that.

Also, I’m not Ole out at this moment as you can tell from my previous post, but when you talk about qualifications, Ole had only ever been successful at Molde before he came to us. Even so, that is nothing compared to Potter’s achievements at Ostersunds. He took them from amateur football in the Swedish 4th division right to the Allsvenskan and got EL football, where they beat Arsenal at the Emirates. Remarkable stuff you don’t see unless you play Football Manager. He essentially built a club from the ground up, improving the playing squad, expanding the club, infrastructure etc.

At Cardiff, Ole relegated them despite them being 14th when he took over. The season after, Ole was sacked when he took Cardiff to an inauspicious start in the Championship. Potter, in the same situation, stabilised Swansea and got them to 10th and an FA Cup quarter final where the whole world can agree they deserved to beat City. All this after losing 15 first team players. By comparison, Ole lost 8.

Finally, there is the simple fact that while we can debate Potter vs Ole all day, if you asked any of the other 18 PL clubs’ chairman and fans who they’d rather have at the helm, it would be a unanimous vote for Potter. I don’t think anyone can deny that, no matter how much you like Ole.

On the basis of all this, the qualifications of Potter and Ole cannot even be compared. I’d keep Ole until the summer and see what he does simply because Nagelsmann and Potter are currently unattainable.
This post was brought to my attention via another thread (a thread where people bury their heads in the sand and pretend all is well with Manchester United and Solskjaer is on the cusp of greatness here, if only the plebs could open their eyes and see it...) and I am glad I got to read it as, being a huge Potter fan myself, it deserves to be shared far and wide.

Solskjaer will not get another Premier League gig when the inevitable happens whilst the likes of Potter, Rodgers etc. (managers the Ole cultists sneer at) will be inundated with offers from truly progressive clubs, not those run with a myopic, sentimentality-driven vision.

It is all incredibly predictable and downright depressing.
 

RashyForPM

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This post was brought to my attention via another thread (a thread where people bury their heads in the sand and pretend all is well with Manchester United and Solskjaer is on the cusp of greatness here, if only the plebs could open their eyes and see it...) and I am glad I got to read it as, being a huge Potter fan myself, it deserves to be shared far and wide.

Solskjaer will not get another Premier League gig when the inevitable happens whilst the likes of Potter, Rodgers etc. (managers the Ole cultists sneer at) will be inundated with offers from truly progressive clubs, not those run with a myopic, sentimentality-driven vision.
Precisely, and this is the bit I keep emphasising. Many people agreed with me but many also disagreed and took the piss out of Potter. Potter is an excellent young manager and if you ask literally any PL fan in the entire world (well, those who watch Brighton) who they’d take in terms of Potter vs Ole, the answer would be unanimous and some.
 

Hughie77

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Club is happy with CL football, if or when that's not achieved he gone. It's a pattern the club has been on, the rest of this season there is plenty to play for, leagues gone, but a top 4 is still alive, as are the 2 cup comps.
I seriously hope the club are looking at alternatives as it's been poor of late, I wouldn't get rid of ole yet, let's see how the transfer window goes and by next December they should now if to offer contract extension or sack him.
 

Hellboy

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This post was brought to my attention via another thread (a thread where people bury their heads in the sand and pretend all is well with Manchester United and Solskjaer is on the cusp of greatness here, if only the plebs could open their eyes and see it...) and I am glad I got to read it as, being a huge Potter fan myself, it deserves to be shared far and wide.

Solskjaer will not get another Premier League gig when the inevitable happens whilst the likes of Potter, Rodgers etc. (managers the Ole cultists sneer at) will be inundated with offers from truly progressive clubs, not those run with a myopic, sentimentality-driven vision.

It is all incredibly predictable and downright depressing.
Ole‘s ceiling was Cardiff, he got them relegated. No other PL club will touch him.

Not sure even Molde fans would want him back :lol:
 

croadyman

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Club is happy with CL football, if or when that's not achieved he gone. It's a pattern the club has been on, the rest of this season there is plenty to play for, leagues gone, but a top 4 is still alive, as are the 2 cup comps.
I seriously hope the club are looking at alternatives as it's been poor of late, I wouldn't get rid of ole yet, let's see how the transfer window goes and by next December they should now if to offer contract extension or sack him.
I wouldn't give him another transfer window but know he will get it anyway
 

croadyman

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Which will be fine if we get the quality we need, that is if they will shell out the money. So he could get what he wants, but he could also get more bench warmers.
Just look at those investor results tonight and that tells you unless we are willing to sell minimum TWO assets this summer then we are in for a serious amount of pain and disappointment in the next transfer window. Looking at the last month we need to keep Pogba but if we can move on DDG, Martial & Lingard then we can least raise something to fund a couple of players
 

Ajr

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At the end of the day I think we have to ask ourselves, is Ole good enough as a coach that he could beat Pep and Klopp?

If you think he can, then can he do it with a lesser squad? Because thats what we need at the moment. Since there's no way we can catch up City's squad in the short term. We need a coach that makes the team punch above their weight so we can level City's squad quality.
I don't think there is a manager on earth that can beat pep or klopp consistently with a lesser squad.
 

croadyman

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I don't think there is a manager on earth that can beat pep or klopp consistently with a lesser squad.
Just want a manager who is attacking but also has more than just one plan because believe it or not the same tactic isn't going to work all the time and we need someone who offers flexibility with that
 

Sing you a song

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I’m a massive Ole fan and have supported him throughout but now for the first time I’m worried for him.I know the squad generally lacks depth and we could certainly do with 2 or 3 top signings but the performances in recent weeks have been abysmal, the regular “ go to “ players Maguire ,AWB , Shaw , Bruno ,Fred , Rashford look dead on their feet with a very congested fixture list ahead of us . Pogba injury has robbed us of creativity in the middle not helped by absence of Mata and failure to settle of VDB.
Martial and Mason have been poor and neither looks capable of putting in a goal scoring runs and Cavani thrives on service but isn’t getting any .
We need top 3 minimum or pressure will be on for Ole to be sacked . I’m still supporting but bloody hell do we need a bit of luck or we need our forwards to get scoring quickly !
 

passing-wind

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Ole is approaching three years at the club, it's beyond that 36 month period that he needs to push on. If Solskjaer cannot provide this he should be shown the door but at the same time I can understand the club maintaining his position if he keeps achieving top four.

The problem for Ole though is that no matter what direction taken he will be under pressure. If he fails to galvanise the team he will be under pressure. If the club signs what I feel is two more quality additions in either defence, wings or a striker the minimum criteria is a league challenge / win. This is ultimately the same thing that happened to Frank, with increase spending comes the increase requirement of a return on those investments. I won't mention the football we play it divides a opinions.
 

SAFMUTD

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I don't think there is a manager on earth that can beat pep or klopp consistently with a lesser squad.
There isnt until there is, Klopp beat Pep with a lesser squad. I can't think of anyone that would warrant that, but I can think of a few that would give us better chances than Ole.
 

croadyman

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There isnt until there is, Klopp beat Pep with a lesser squad. I can't think of anyone that would warrant that, but I can think of a few that would give us better chances than Ole.
Yeah I could go Nagelsmann, Ten Haag, Hasenhuttl, Bielsa, Rodgers even Gerrard just off the top of my head
 

PoTMS

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Bets on when his contract extension will be announced? I'm thinking it'll get snuck in during the international break weekend.
 

Buster15

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Ole is approaching three years at the club, it's beyond that 36 month period that he needs to push on. If Solskjaer cannot provide this he should be shown the door but at the same time I can understand the club maintaining his position if he keeps achieving top four.

The problem for Ole though is that no matter what direction taken he will be under pressure. If he fails to galvanise the team he will be under pressure. If the club signs what I feel is two more quality additions in either defence, wings or a striker the minimum criteria is a league challenge / win. This is ultimately the same thing that happened to Frank, with increase spending comes the increase requirement of a return on those investments. I won't mention the football we play it divides a opinions.
It would be incorrect to say that there hasn't been some progress under him, albeit we are still a very long way from that 81 points under Jose.

But there are 2 big questions.
1. Does Ole have the capability to take us to the end goal of PL and CL winners. Because that is a long way away from where we are now.
2. And if not, who does have that capability.
I don't study foreign coaches and there doesn't seem to be such a UK coach.