Sensible choice in a lot of ways, but not because he’s going to bang out 10 wins on the spin for us.
The club really needs a little breathing room before our next permanent appointment. The worst thing in the world to do now would be to pick someone who wasn’t our first choice long term manager but who was sort of in the frame. If we get in someone like Blanc, who might be a better caretaker but only, say, 5th choice for the proper job, and he does well, it makes it hard to then get rid of him and biases our long term decision. It means we end up making a decision based on short term pressures rather than what’s best in the long run. Same reason Chelsea had to appoint Di Matteo despite no one thinking he was really up to it.
We need time and space to assess our options, taking a long term view on what we want from the management structure. If we’re going for a DOF we need that position fixed too, along with any changes we need to the scouting and/or. recruitment team. Then we pick a manager who fits in with all of that.
I don’t expect magic from Ole, and I don’t think he’ll be a long term candidate for the role. In choosing him we take a risk for this season, which is frankly a write off already, but we give ourselves a better chance of success for future seasons.