Solskjaer's contract

[Bobcat]

I don't quite understand your first sentence. That's exactly what happened. He was managing Molde and then United hired him as a caretaker and then on a permanent basis. It was literally a jump from Molde to United.

And yes, every managerial appointment has risks. That's true. It's just I think a gamble is better than guaranteed mediocrity. From a business perspective, I'm wrong, of course: a manager who consistently gets top 4 is fantastic. In that sense, Ole is a safe-ish bet, admittedly: the players are happy enough with him and we'll always give him enough money to qualify for the CL. He won't want to go to another club, and he won't go into a meltdown if he doesn't get exactly what he wants. So it does make a certain amount of sense, it's just a bit depressing.

Exactly. His job as a caretaker at United landed him the United job. It wasnt like we just hired some random guy from Molde and gave him a big contract.

You know that how? Did people honestly think we were going to fight for the big honors this year with this squad? Our defense is decent enough, but our midfield is really lacking. Pogba is great on his day, but has been injured and/or in terrible form for about half the season. McFred are decent enough rotational players, but not exactly PL winning material. In attack we have Rashford whos beyond fatigued, Martial who this season literally is one of the worst CF's in the league, a kid with second season syndrome and a crocked 34 year old stop gap whos been more injured than fit

Our squad isnt terrible, but its still a work in progress and its up against Pep and City who probably are one of the strongest PL outfits in history. Beating that is a tall order and then some

Of course there's an element of risk, but you need to take risks to be successful in football. Playing it safe can usually be a barrier to a club's ambitions.

Liverpool opted not to play it safe when they sacked Rodgers - a manager who in the previous season was a slip away from gifting them their first league title in decades, and replaced him with a German who had recently left Dortmund after a disastrous season. We all know what happened next.

United also took a risk with a certain young Scottish manager to replace Ron Atkinson, who at the time was the 'safe' option consistently keeping United in the top 4. The rest as we all know is history.

Conversely, United actually opted to play it safe by hiring 'proven' managers like LVG and Mourinho who ended up being anything but safe appointments in hindsight. Go figure.

Rodgers was sacked because they started the next season terribly and i think there was a fair few reports about dressing room unrest. Also, you can really compare Klopp with the likes of Nagelsmann who have a long way to go before he can be considered his equal.

I dont know what long term vision the club and Ole has, but its pretty clear the whole project was postponed due to Covid and a disappointing summer window so it seems very likely they want to back him with a few more players and a bit more time before they start demanding the big trophies

 

[Hoof the ball]

We're 14 points behind City (with game in hand) in 2nd place.
We're 15 points in front of Arsenal, who are in 9th place.

We're almost as far away from City as 9th place Arsenal are from us, and that's after their catastrophic near-relegation form.

Being 2nd might suggest huge improvement, but only the context of points-to-points comparison will bear the weight of any compelling argument.

Ole has to show that not only can we finish 2nd, but we can do so breathing down the neck of the leaders 'til the very end.

 

[Sunny Jim]

We're 14 points behind City (with game in hand) in 2nd place.
We're 15 points in front of Arsenal, who are in 9th place.

We're almost as far away from City as 9th place Arsenal are from us, and that's after their catastrophic near-relegation form.

Being 2nd might suggest huge improvement, but only the context of points-to-points comparison will bear the weight of any compelling argument.

Ole has to show that not only can we finish 2nd, but we can do so breathing down the neck of the leaders 'til the very end.

Good point.

 

[Eriku]

We are certainly ahead of Chelsea, and I hope that stays that way. Fred improved under Ole, I think he's gone worse again. The same for Martial/Greenwood.

Fred being off the boil for a month isn’t (or shouldn’t be) enough to undo the cred he’s earned over the past year or two. Greenwood is, as I said, 19 and in his second season. It’s super common for the second season to be significantly tougher for a young talent breaking out, so to call that evidence of Ole negatively impacting player development is weird.

 

[wolvored]

They could have given a one year extention, even a small payrise to appease Ole and see where we were next season. If we finish 2nd then we should be looking for a title challenge longer than a fortnight next season. Saying that as I've said before if we finish 4th every season and no other trophy he will be here for as long as Fergie. Glazers got zero interest in 'soccer' and see it as a business only. As long as they can rake off it regularly they are happy.

 

[wolvored]

Fred being off the boil for a month isn’t (or shouldn’t be) enough to undo the cred he’s earned over the past year or two. Greenwood is, as I said, 19 and in his second season. It’s super common for the second season to be significantly tougher for a young talent breaking out, so to call that evidence of Ole negatively impacting player development is weird.

Fred was a 50 mill player! He should have been the finished article anyway not need improving to average. Whoever scouted and signed off on him ought to be sacked.

 

[Siorac]

Exactly. His job as a caretaker at United landed him the United job. It wasnt like we just hired some random guy from Molde and gave him a big contract.

You know that how? Did people honestly think we were going to fight for the big honors this year with this squad? Our defense is decent enough, but our midfield is really lacking. Pogba is great on his day, but has been injured and/or in terrible form for about half the season. McFred are decent enough rotational players, but not exactly PL winning material. In attack we have Rashford whos beyond fatigued, Martial who this season literally is one of the worst CF's in the league, a kid with second season syndrome and a crocked 34 year old stop gap whos been more injured than fit

Our squad isnt terrible, but its still a work in progress and its up against Pep and City who probably are one of the strongest PL outfits in history. Beating that is a tall order and then some

Ole got the job on the back of two months of good performances. It was a far bigger gamble than appointing Nagelsmann or any other manager who has actual Champions League experience would be.

And no, I didn't expect to win the league this year. That's not the issue. The issue is that we look absolutely light years away of a title winning team. We're not looking like a team that's on the verge of something big, that's going somewhere, a side that just lacks a couple of pieces to the puzzle. Instead we look like a disjointed mess, eking out better results than the performances would indicate, a la Mourinho's famous second place season. If Bruno Fernandes slows down even a little next season, we'll go backwards yet again, especially with losing Pogba.

And please understand I'm not saying he should be sacked: I'm saying he's doing an average, unspectacular job that doesn't warrant an early contract extension and a significant payrise.

 

[Eriku]

Fred was a 50 mill player! He should have been the finished article anyway not need improving to average. Whoever scouted and signed off on him ought to be sacked.

You just supplementing, or? He was signed before Ole came along.

And btw, price tag has no bearing on whether it takes time for a player to get accustomed to the pace of the EPL, and 50 mill ain’t what it used to be.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Yep. People seem to be missing this point when saying give Solskjaer more time to build the team. But the more time you give and don't compete, the more likely players will leave.

Is Rashford going to hang around forever when he could move to pretty much any club in the world? Will Fernandes be content not competing? Will Shaw be swayed by another big team if we don't start competing soon?

A big part of this is also will players develop to their potential? We simply don’t know and you’d assume our system won’t necessarily promote/produce highly technical players, rather much more physical and direct players.

This all ties into the longer term direction of the club and giving any manager time. They should earn that time by some kind of tangible success.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Comments on here are absolute cringe.

Genuinely.. what more do people expect from this team? Consider the injuries too. Give Solskjaer the backing to sign more players who'll pull us closer to city and there's no reason why he won't title challenge. He wasn't backed with any ready made first XI players this Summer and yet people still seem to expect us to win everything for some reason?

 

[BrumTown87]

I think we should give him a new contract!

He’s done well with what’s at his disposal, in my opinion...he needs backing from the board.


Glazers need to spend the money, it’s as simple as that. We can’t keep playing two holding midfielders year in year out. Even if they inject 100 million into the transfer budget, and generate another 80 to 100 through transfers.

Lingard, Mata, Periera, Matic, Chong, Dalot, DDG or Henderson = 80/100 maybe a little more... we should have no excuses really for a lack of funding.


Ole should be given another two years, but what’s the point if he isn’t or doesn’t get backed?

 

[DomesticTadpole]

A big part of this is also will players develop to their potential? We simply don’t know and you’d assume our system won’t necessarily promote/produce highly technical players, rather much more physical and direct players.

This all ties into the longer term direction of the club and giving any manager time. They should earn that time by some kind of tangible success.

Think the summer will tell us a lot. He will need serious backing if they are keeping him. I honestly think he needs players who need very little coaching because they are that good. Which might be why he is hell bent on getting Haaland.

 

[RashyForPM]

Why is everyone so negative on here all the time? Ole is doing a good job. He took over at a time where squad morale was at an all time low. We were 6th and 11 points off 4th. Since then he has cleared much of the deadwood and we are 2nd, 6 points above 4th. We got knocked out at the Semi Final stage of the league cup to a better side, two years running. We are undefeated away from home in the Premier League for over a year. We are the second highest scorers in the league this season. Maybe if we had a Champions League group as comfortable as Chelsea's or City's we would still be in that competition too. As it is, we have every chance of winning the Europa League. We are still not the finished article but until all signs of progress have been diminished, Ole will rightfully be backed. Why is that so illogical? If Ole can't take us to the top, then ultimately he will be sacked.

I largely agree with this. If Ole gets us 2nd and wins a trophy, then by all means, the board should reward him with a new contract. That would be progress, which is what we all want, ending in a PL title next season.

However, you mention our tough CL group, and while we were screwed over a bit, if we had won the EL last season, we’d have taken Sevilla’s place in the exact group Chelsea had with Rennes and Krasnodar (obviously Chelsea would be out too as you can’t have two English teams in the same group). That was a failing on Ole’s part, and this season’s competition, with Ajax and Arsenal instead of Inter and Sevilla still remaining, is not any easier.

It’s massive that we win the EL this season, not just to show clear progress from last season, but to get an easier CL group which we can top as well. We got a tough draw this year partly because we messed up against Sevilla last season, while Sevilla (and Chelsea) breezed through their group.

 

[Cast5]

Ole finished 3rd in his first full season is currently 2nd and won league titles in Norway for a team that had never won the league before but people want him replaced by Rodgers who won titles in a one man league in Scotland. A manager who won absolutely nothing with Liverpool in 3 years, finishing 7th 2nd and 6th, who spent 300 million on players like Benteke, Joe Allen, Lovren, and Balotelli. What a huge upgrade that would be, quite funny really

 

[Gandalf]

So the story is a 3 year contract with the 3rd year being a club option? Considering he had 1 year left this is effectively a 1 year extension so not exactly evidence that the club are Ole in for the long term.

This simply means he will be here at the start of next season. Without an extension he begins the next campaign as a lame duck manager and its been stated before that clubs that trade on the stock market have to project continuity and so a manager with an expiring contract is bad for the forecast. I seem to recall Kevin Keegan essentially getting the boot at Newcastle over his refusal to go more than year to year for this exact reason.

The terms suggested mean that if the wheels start to come off next season the club can cut the cord relatively comfortably so if you are not an Ole fan I would not lose my mind over this. On the basis of the current campaign there was no chance he would not be here next season and in that regard nothing has changed.

 

[Barthez]

Ole is without doubt the best since Fergie. We need to stick with him and fully back him IMO.

 

[wolvored]

You just supplementing, or? He was signed before Ole came along.

And btw, price tag has no bearing on whether it takes time for a player to get accustomed to the pace of the EPL, and 50 mill ain’t what it used to be.

I know he wasnt oles signing. I doubt he would have signed him.
Im saying whoever recommended him and paid 50 mill for him should have been sacked.

 

[Kaos]

Ole is without doubt the best since Fergie. We need to stick with him and fully back him IMO.

Being the best of a disappointing bunch shouldn't dignify him as the long term option.

 

[FerociousCorgis]

No reason to rush anything with his contract. Not like he is going to leave for any other job, he is fully aware it wont possibly get better than this for him. The biggest issue is just how poor we generally look out there, and how it seems we rely on individual talent/performances. This is really easy to see any time we rotate players. A well run club should be able to rotate players and still keep their identity, especially a club our size

 

[Eriku]

I know he wasnt oles signing. I doubt he would have signed him.
Im saying whoever recommended him and paid 50 mill for him should have been sacked.

Yeah, maybe. The recent showings have been woeful, and him getting caught under pressure in our own third seems to be a callback to his worst when he was clearly off the pace. I hope he manages to recapture the level he’s shown in the past year or so, because on form he works hard, intercepts and wins tackles, and his passing is actually pretty good with both feet (when on form).

 

[Keefy18]

In the 14 games since tuchel has taken over, W10 D4 L0. They were 9th in the league, they are now 4th. Progressed to both QF of the Champions League and SF of the FA Cup. He’s been manager less than 3 months but I’d say that’s 3 months of pretty good form.

Great post.

It's not really a great post at all.

Yes they are in form but its a tiny, tiny sample of games and its also in the period of "new manager bounce".

New manager bounce has been proven time and time again, I mean... we're on an Ole thread, need I remind you of our form in the weeks after Ole's arrival?

They'll settle and the results will dip dramatically and go back to a more regular Chelsea type of form in the months ahead.

That's the problem with supporters these days, far too reactionary and hanging on to things that are happening or not happening right before them. There's little to no patience in the vast majority of supporters anymore.

 

[Eriku]

So the story is a 3 year contract with the 3rd year being a club option? Considering he had 1 year left this is effectively a 1 year extension so not exactly evidence that the club are Ole in for the long term.

This simply means he will be here at the start of next season. Without an extension he begins the next campaign as a lame duck manager and its been stated before that clubs that trade on the stock market have to project continuity and so a manager with an expiring contract is bad for the forecast. I seem to recall Kevin Keegan essentially getting the boot at Newcastle over his refusal to go more than year to year for this exact reason.

The terms suggested mean that if the wheels start to come off next season the club can cut the cord relatively comfortably so if you are not an Ole fan I would not lose my mind over this. On the basis of the current campaign there was no chance he would not be here next season and in that regard nothing has changed.

Trust Gandalf to provide a solid summary

 

[devilish]

He will keep the job until he fails to make a top 4 spot. That's Manchester United these days.

 

[Keefy18]

We're 14 points behind City (with game in hand) in 2nd place.
We're 15 points in front of Arsenal, who are in 9th place.

We're almost as far away from City as 9th place Arsenal are from us, and that's after their catastrophic near-relegation form.

Being 2nd might suggest huge improvement, but only the context of points-to-points comparison will bear the weight of any compelling argument.

Ole has to show that not only can we finish 2nd, but we can do so breathing down the neck of the leaders 'til the very end.

Just to touch on the highlighted part

It's correct but to put it into perspective and for a huge portion of our supporters that still bang on about Jose's 2nd placed finish in 17/18, we are closer now than he was at the same point after 29 games (16pts behind).

As you rightly say, this year we are 14 pts with a game in hand. Win the game in hand its down to 11 pts.

It's not something to rave about as an achievement but the evidence is there that we are progressing.

 

[He'sRaldo]

So the story is a 3 year contract with the 3rd year being a club option? Considering he had 1 year left this is effectively a 1 year extension so not exactly evidence that the club are Ole in for the long term.

This simply means he will be here at the start of next season. Without an extension he begins the next campaign as a lame duck manager and its been stated before that clubs that trade on the stock market have to project continuity and so a manager with an expiring contract is bad for the forecast. I seem to recall Kevin Keegan essentially getting the boot at Newcastle over his refusal to go more than year to year for this exact reason.

The terms suggested mean that if the wheels start to come off next season the club can cut the cord relatively comfortably so if you are not an Ole fan I would not lose my mind over this. On the basis of the current campaign there was no chance he would not be here next season and in that regard nothing has changed.

Solid post. With that view it's a reasonable decision.

 

[NicolaSacco]

It's not really a great post at all.

Yes they are in form but its a tiny, tiny sample of games and its also in the period of "new manager bounce".

New manager bounce has been proven time and time again, I mean... we're on an Ole thread, need I remind you of our form in the weeks after Ole's arrival?

They'll settle and the results will dip dramatically and go back to a more regular Chelsea type of form in the months ahead.

That's the problem with supporters these days, far too reactionary and hanging on to things that are happening or not happening right before them. There's little to no patience in the vast majority of supporters anymore.

To be fair the person to whom I was replying was using a 5 game period, not a 14 game period, to show how Chelsea are not in form, so it’s clearly a reasonable response to that. And given that he has only been there 14 games it’s the maximum amount of time we have to assess them under him.

 

[Keefy18]

To be fair the person to whom I was replying was using a 5 game period, not a 14 game period, to show how Chelsea are not in form, so it’s clearly a reasonable response to that. And given that he has only been there 14 games it’s the maximum amount of time we have to assess them under him.

Ah OK

Didn't scroll that far back.

He's done well as you say in the time thus far, if he's in a similar vain of form into next season then it'll be something to praise.

Chelsea is a such a toxic club, the players will turn on him as well no doubt and he'll be gone in 2 years max.

 

[BrumTown87]

The Glazers only pump real money into transfers when we finish outside of the top four... hope I’m wrong this time around .

 

[Keefy18]

The Glazers only pump real money into transfers when we finish outside of the top four... hope I’m wrong this time around .

With covid hitting the club hard, I doubt we'll be investing that heavily.

 

[BrumTown87]

With covid hitting the club hard, I doubt we'll be investing that heavily.

We could still invest 100 million, and generate money from transfers though. There should be no excuses really.

 

[sparx99]

Just to touch on the highlighted part

It's correct but to put it into perspective and for a huge portion of our supporters that still bang on about Jose's 2nd placed finish in 17/18, we are closer now than he was at the same point after 29 games (16pts behind).

As you rightly say, this year we are 14 pts with a game in hand. Win the game in hand its down to 11 pts.

It's not something to rave about as an achievement but the evidence is there that we are progressing.

Weren’t city on course for 100pts that season? Whereas this year they are going to end up 90pts or something?

It’s likely we end up with less than the 81pts we got under Jose.

 

[pascell]

Maybe not fluke, but luck of the draw matters quite a bit.

City haven't faced any decent side in any of their FA Cup winning runs, the toughest we faced in our FA Cup win under LVG was Everton, the toughest we faced in EL run was Ajax(?), and apart from facing City in the earlier rounds, we didn't face anyone when we last lifted LC.

You can only beat who's infront of you, if we ever want to win the league, or challenge for it, we have to beat some of the 'big 6' something that we've done once in 9 games this season.

There also comes a time when luck of the draw doesn't matter as our squad should be good enough to win trophies, which it should be by now.

Being content with a top 4 finish and almost winning a trophy is what was found hilarious about Arsenal for years on here, we now found ourselves in that exact same position yet it's seen as progress.

Giving Ole a long contract on quite hefty wages, Woodward is effectively cornering us in with Ole, as he did with Jose and hoping he comes up trumps.

 

[sparx99]

With covid hitting the club hard, I doubt we'll be investing that heavily.

It should be all relative. Other clubs have a lot less non-football revenue so will need cash more. There should be a significant reduction in fees for players that aren’t Haaland.

 

[anant]

You can only beat who's infront of you, if we ever want to win the league, or challenge for it, we have to beat some of the 'big 6' something that we've done once in 9 games this season.

There also comes a time when luck of the draw doesn't matter as our squad should be good enough to win trophies, which it should be by now.

Being content with a top 4 finish and almost winning a trophy is what was found hilarious about Arsenal for years on here, we now found ourselves in that exact same position yet it's seen as progress.

Giving Ole a long contract on quite hefty wages, Woodward is effectively cornering us in with Ole, as he did with Jose and hoping he comes up trumps.

But here's the thing - If your league position has improved (along with underlying numbers), it's a definite sign of progress, irrespective of us winning or not winning a cup.
However, vice versa is not true, as you can drive your luck to a win in a cup competition.

 

[Keefy18]

Weren’t city on course for 100pts that season? Whereas this year they are going to end up 90pts or something?

It’s likely we end up with less than the 81pts we got under Jose.

All correct yep, their form was likely to dip at some point.

Still the proximity to the league winners I'd say will be closer than the 19 pts Jose was adrift.

I reckon it'll be around 9-12 pts.

 

[Keefy18]

It should be all relative. Other clubs have a lot less non-football revenue so will need cash more. There should be a significant reduction in fees for players that aren’t Haaland.

Not really.

Our revenue stream from match day isn't "relative" to say Villa's (I suggest them as Grealish is often linked with us). Our stadium is double their compacity nearly.

Arsenal and ourselves have taken the hardest hit during covid because our stadium is the largest in the country. They've taken out loans to balance the books a bit.

In the opening quarter of the covid lockdown we lost more money than any other club in the league it was reported.

 

[Keefy18]

We could still invest 100 million, and generate money from transfers though. There should be no excuses really.

I reckon the kitty will be around the 80M mark myself.

If we can offload Lingard to West Ham after his marked improvement there it'll help.

Cavani should probably be let go as well to free up his wages to re-invest in a more suitable long term option up front.

Martial I'd be OK with moving on, but who takes him I've no idea cause I doubt many clubs will be willing to pay his wages.

I don't see us making any grandiose moves myself really.

 

[SirReginald]

I can understand the reasoning behind this new contract but I don’t understand the figures.

He does deserve to continue trying to implement whatever plan he has but let’s be real, he would have agreed an extension with no pay rise or a minor rise. Firstly he would know he won’t get another chance to manage United and secondly your Man United, not Macclesfield.

Its not a performance related increase, it’s a clueless executive pay rise. Ed I’m looking at you.

 

[pascell]

But here's the thing - If your league position has improved (along with underlying numbers), it's a definite sign of progress, irrespective of us winning or not winning a cup.
However, vice versa is not true, as you can drive your luck to a win in a cup competition.

So we've gone from 4th to possibly 2nd, the next sign of progress will be winning the league next season? What underlying numbers have improved?

The league has been too volatile the past two seasons to suggest anything is definite sustainable progress. From last season to current standings we've seen (Liverpool) 1st- 7th, (Sheff Utd) 9th-20th, (Wolves) 7th-13th and (West Ham) 16th-5th.

 

[#07]

I can understand the reasoning behind this new contract but I don’t understand the figures.

He does deserve to continue trying to implement whatever plan he has but let’s be real, he would have agreed an extension with no pay rise or a minor rise. Firstly he would know he won’t get another chance to manage United and secondly your Man United, not Macclesfield.

Its not a performance related increase, it’s a clueless executive pay rise. Ed I’m looking at you.

It is a bit of a strange one. Ole would crawl over broken glass or drag himself over hot coals for Man Utd. He already earns £7.5m to manage the club. Its not like he'd going to pack it in if we don't give him a big pay bump.

So what happens at his next contract, do we increase his pay again? All feels a bit David de Gea with his last contract renewal.