Solskjaer's legacy and his future

Haven't had that many emotional up and downs with any manager. So at least his time here was quite exciting. Well apart from this season which was a huge downer.

Not sure about the notion that he leaves a great squad behind. It's a quite bloated one. Especially on the wings whereas we look quite cack in CM and our defense is suspicious to say the least.
 
M Bison said:
It’s a shame he didn’t go at the end of last season as he’d have been remembered fondly. That was highly unlikely but even if the embarrassment vs Liverpool was the end or at worst, City, it would have been manageable.

But to be humiliated against a team like Watford, with our captain being sent off really is the worst we could have imagined and is absolute rock bottom. He’s ruined his legacy in my view, time might heel things but for now, he’s absolutely shot himself in the head and is rightly viewed as a clown.
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I understand how you feel, but that anger should be directed at the board for hiring him in the first place, not towards Ole who just did what anyone of us would have done if offered the job as manager of Manchester United.

Being angry at him for not being good enough isn’t really fair. That isn’t his fault. There are only a handful of people who are competent for this job. The board appointing the wrong people isn’t the fault of those being appointed.
 
Skills said:
They were just "backing the manager" tbf. It's what people have been asking them to do for years. They really went right to the cliff edge with this one.
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When they back the manager weeks after Tom Cato and OleBoii have given up it's a good indication of how incompetent our board are.
 
90 + 5min said:
When this is finished he should get credit and thank you for doing everything he can for the club. Regardless of lack of trophies he has done more for the club then lot of haters.
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He also got paid much more than all those haters. The guy did us no favors. It was a contract
 
Just when you think the embarrassing threads couldn't get any worse....

Some of you lot need to give your head a wobble. A total lack of respect.

You can call him out on his failings as a manager and still respect the guy for all he has done.

He is the only manager post Fergie that passionately wanted the club to return to the summit. He wasn't good enough to take us there but let's not crucify the guy.
 
anant said:
How has he left us worse? People need to go to Dec'18 and look at what we were saying. People believed it would take 3-5 years to fix the mess up, we were willing to sell everyone barring DDG and Rashford and close to half the starting XI was on it's last legs - Valencia, Young, Smalling, Matic, Alexis.

People do counter by saying, "He spent 500m". I believe he spent close to 100m more than Mou and LVG but had 1 additional summer window. Now, here's a question, even forgetting about price inflation, with all the powers of hindsight, which players would you have bought for 100m on their teams to make their sides this good?

The thing is, he genuinely did good in a lot of things over the first 2.5 years here. Ofcourse there were some issues, but on the whole, he did better than most of us expected from the man taking over Mou's mess. It just sucks that it had to end this way and I dont think there's any shame in not being able to take the final step.

I'd always remember his managerial time as being decent - not successful but not a failure as well
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Actually, what was said back then is that we need coaching more than anything else. Some players needed to be phased out and we needed to buy new players but that's literally the case with every new manager. No one thought it would take 5 years to fix this mess. Stop trying to make it out as he built the club from the ashes. Big clubs could go through a couple of rebuilds while winning trophies in those 5 years you mention.

Ole already wasted 130m in his 1st transfer window, from that moment it was obvious how it was all going to turn out and it's funny that you would mention Matic because Ole still plays him and has given him a new contract last year. Ole only did better in his 1st 2.5 years than expected -which is arguable anyway- mainly due to external circumstances, it had little to do with him.
 
So long and thanks for all the fish.

The only time I would like to see his face again in TV, is never.
 
On what metric are we actually performing better in....

League position = No
Widow said:
Just when you think the embarrassing threads couldn't get any worse....

Some of you lot need to give your head a wobble. A total lack of respect.

You can call him out on his failings as a manager and still respect the guy for all he has done.

He is the only manager post Fergie that passionately wanted the club to return to the summit. He wasn't good enough to take us there but let's not crucify the guy.
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Out of interest what makes you think he is the only one who wanted to bring us back to the summit? I'm fairly certain all of Jose, LVG and Moyes had that ambition.

The simple facts are against every metric... We are performing worse than we were before he came in. League position, goals scored, conceded...
No.

The biggest mistake made was not appointing Ole... It was prior to him coming in...not backing Jose from a position of growth/ strength finishing 2nd and winning the Europa league and needing investment to make the next step was the biggest mistake our club has made post fergie.

Ole has been afforded riches and grace far beyond what he has merited from a performance perspective.

Not to derail the thread bringing Jose into this. My point is, he should be rightly moved on based on our performance. We need to forget sentiment and move on.
 
Same legacy as Souness at Liverpool.

Very good player, absolutely atrocious manager. I think it is genuinely hard to have been this bad after all the money he has spent. Should be studied as a use case on how shit a manager can be.
 
His inept managment was there, in the Europa league final. 5 subs in that final to win it in 120 mins. He done feck all until ready for pens, that's a toss of a coin.
Chelsea in the FA Cup semi they were awful then, and he made to many changes lose, and a poor Arsenal win the bloody thing.

There's been to many odd a predictable out comes with what he's doing, has no trust in some players and to much in others who are not on form. The Daniel James transfer?? He plays the game before he sells him, so something changed quickly there . Also the players have to shoulder a fair bit of stick themselves, they have made glaring Errors in every game and its coming from mainly the top players, Maguire, Bruno, Pogba, Shaw , Fred, all are regularly in the 11. That's not the Managers fault. But he still has to go.
 
Revan said:
Same legacy as Souness at Liverpool.

Very good player, absolutely atrocious manager. I think it is genuinely hard to have been this bad after all the money he has spent. Should be studied as a use case on how shit a manager can be.
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Nope. Souness is disliked... because of his bit in The Sun. Ole is a legend who passionately wanted to succeed but was sadly out of his depth.
 
#W203_Red said:
I think this is an interesting view on where we are. Are we any further forward as a team in terms of style, performance and stability?

Clearly we are not in terms of league position and our prospects from. Champions League perspective.

I actually think we are in a worse state than where we were. We have huge problems on the pitch. Leaking goals, no control of games, no fear from the opposition being outplayed week in week out. and still after 3 years relying on moments of brilliance. Off the pitch the way we have handled this situation is laughable... The writing has been on the wall for weeks/ months and our ambitions for the season on the pitch have become clear... None.

All that without taking into account the huge investment in this squad which Ole has overseen. I actually think we are in a worse state. Costly expensive mistakes in the transfer market, players playing with no accountability for performance, obvious divisions in playing squad and no hope of it improving any time in the future.

We now find ourselves a million miles away from our biggest rivals, being mocked by every set of fans in the country, closer to relegation battle than title battle. Division within the fan base once again and whoever comes in to pick up the pieces has a huge task on their hands to pick up the pieces of this latest in a long list of messes...
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I think he took over a club with a toxic atmosphere

he took over a squad with misfits, expensive disasters and players who just weren't performing or good enough like Sanchez, Rojo, Darmian, Fellaini, Young and Lukaku (who rarely looked interested in a United shirt).

In spite of how awful we have been this year he leaves a squad that a new manager with some sort of tactical and coaching acumen can get much more out of. At the beginning of this season I had hoped that we would launch a title challenge based on the quality of our squad. These are still the same players.

We overpaid on Maguire and Wan Bissaka but is that on Ole? partly at least. Van De Beek has been puzzling and I'm glad Sancho will get a fresh start under a new manager.

Overall if you cast your mind back to December 18 the atmosphere was worse for me and we had a squad really lacking quality with Rashford our main attacking force with players like Young and Pereira playing regularly. Ole's decline has been really really sharp but he should have been relieved after the Liverpool game. The indecision is on the board.

The fans are united I think in Ole going. He never turned the fans against the players like Jose. He did the exact same thing at Spurs and by the sounds of things he's doing it at Roma. He tried to convince us players like Luke Shaw were brainless remember.

In terms of fan division the only issue I have is with the disrespect Ole has received on here which has resembled Twitter at times. I'm 43 and wonder is this an age thing but some of the comments in this thread are sickening. It makes you wonder if these are the kind of fans who would round on Sir Bobby. Yes Solskjaer failed. We were outplayed by teams regularly. He made lots of poor decisions. He was seriously flawed as a manager.

He tried his best though and the pain has been etched on his face with every disaster. No one is hurting more than he is and he has failed on his dream. Is this how we treat one of our own. I'm embarrassed for many United 'fans' who simply don't understand the club based on what I've read at times. This is all coming from someone who thought he should have been replaced after Liverpool too.
 
Being bad at your job doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. Spending half a billion on players that to the most part you didn’t want to/know how to use isn’t an achievement either.
 
Hughie77 said:
His inept managment was there, in the Europa league final. 5 subs in that final to win it in 120 mins. He done feck all until ready for pens, that's a toss of a coin.
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The Europa League Final was the game for me when I accepted he had gone as far as he could. Bottled it and was shown-up on a big stage by tactically superior manager with an inferior squad. And to think we had his new contract all lined up ready to announce because we hadn't even thought we might not win it.
 
Ralph1386 said:
It’s the opposition fans who should be starting ‘Thank you Ole’ threads at this moment. That says a lot about his management tenure here.
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We're very angry at Watford at the moment. Should've kept it 2-1 or even 3-1.
 
These players ain't gonna have the respect for Carrick/Fletcher either. So don't expect big change.
We need a manager who will treat the players on their performance level.
No first on the team sheet because of who or what you are.
If you don't perform you spend time on the bench.
We badly need a manager that will command respect from the players.
 
buckooo1978 said:
I think he took over a club with a toxic atmosphere
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This narrative has to stop. He's credited for clearing the atmosphere? Seriously? As soon as Jose was gone you could instill Fred the red and the atmosphere would be changed...
 
I’m sick of hearing these things, steadied the ship? Made us better? Made top signings? He didn’t really do any of these things. He’s just plodded along and lucked out in a COVID struck season to finish 2nd. Losing the Europa final was the nail in the coffin, yet we shouldn’t even have been in that competition anyway if we hadn’t lost to Istanbul. Good riddance. Thanks for 99 ole but his management reign is one to forget.
 
I like how the OP highlights winning a CL group game as Ole's biggest achievement 3 years in, having spent 300m.

Says it all, really.
 
Poetic ending to Ole's reign.

We will respond like 'proper hurt animals'

Yes Ole we did, like proper hurt animals who deserve to be put out of their misery with dignity,

McTom - Hooked off at half time - An Ole stalwart - Invisible
Maguire - Ole's captain marvel who time and time again makes mistakes - gets sent off and was a shambles, threw the armband on the floor before giving Ole a high five on the way out
DVB - A player clearly excluded by Ole whilst we had to suffer McFred stink the joint out each week. Comes on, scores, creates, tackles MOTM

The crowd singing Donny Van de Beek
The opposing fans not just at this ground but others, singing Ole's at the wheel.
 
buckooo1978 said:
I think he took over a club with a toxic atmosphere

he took over a squad with misfits, expensive disasters and players who just weren't performing or good enough like Sanchez, Rojo, Darmian, Fellaini, Young and Lukaku (who rarely looked interested in a United shirt).

In spite of how awful we have been this year he leaves a squad that a new manager with some sort of tactical and coaching acumen can get much more out of. At the beginning of this season I had hoped that we would launch a title challenge based on the quality of our squad. These are still the same players.

We overpaid on Maguire and Wan Bissaka but is that on Ole? partly at least. Van De Beek has been puzzling and I'm glad Sancho will get a fresh start under a new manager.

Overall if you cast your mind back to December 18 the atmosphere was worse for me and we had a squad really lacking quality with Rashford our main attacking force with players like Young and Pereira playing regularly. Ole's decline has been really really sharp but he should have been relieved after the Liverpool game. The indecision is on the board.

The fans are united I think in Ole going. He never turned the fans against the players like Jose. He did the exact same thing at Spurs and by the sounds of things he's doing it at Roma. He tried to convince us players like Luke Shaw were brainless remember.

In terms of fan division the only issue I have is with the disrespect Ole has received on here which has resembled Twitter at times. I'm 43 and wonder is this an age thing but some of the comments in this thread are sickening. It makes you wonder if these are the kind of fans who would round on Sir Bobby. Yes Solskjaer failed. We were outplayed by teams regularly. He made lots of poor decisions. He was seriously flawed as a manager.

He tried his best though and the pain has been etched on his face with every disaster. No one is hurting more than he is and he has failed on his dream. Is this how we treat one of our own. I'm embarrassed for many United 'fans' who simply don't understand the club based on what I've read at times. This is all coming from someone who thought he should have been replaced after Liverpool too.
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You’re spot on, I’m accepting now (and have been since Leicester) that he needs to go but what this episode has largely done is turn me against a big chunk of our own fan base - not because they wanted Ole out but because they’re thoroughly unpleasant shit heads.
 
buckooo1978 said:
I think he took over a club with a toxic atmosphere

he took over a squad with misfits, expensive disasters and players who just weren't performing or good enough like Sanchez, Rojo, Darmian, Fellaini, Young and Lukaku (who rarely looked interested in a United shirt).

In spite of how awful we have been this year he leaves a squad that a new manager with some sort of tactical and coaching acumen can get much more out of. At the beginning of this season I had hoped that we would launch a title challenge based on the quality of our squad. These are still the same players.

We overpaid on Maguire and Wan Bissaka but is that on Ole? partly at least. Van De Beek has been puzzling and I'm glad Sancho will get a fresh start under a new manager.

Overall if you cast your mind back to December 18 the atmosphere was worse for me and we had a squad really lacking quality with Rashford our main attacking force with players like Young and Pereira playing regularly. Ole's decline has been really really sharp but he should have been relieved after the Liverpool game. The indecision is on the board.

The fans are united I think in Ole going. He never turned the fans against the players like Jose. He did the exact same thing at Spurs and by the sounds of things he's doing it at Roma. He tried to convince us players like Luke Shaw were brainless remember.

In terms of fan division the only issue I have is with the disrespect Ole has received on here which has resembled Twitter at times. I'm 43 and wonder is this an age thing but some of the comments in this thread are sickening. It makes you wonder if these are the kind of fans who would round on Sir Bobby. Yes Solskjaer failed. We were outplayed by teams regularly. He made lots of poor decisions. He was seriously flawed as a manager.

He tried his best though and the pain has been etched on his face with every disaster. No one is hurting more than he is and he has failed on his dream. Is this how we treat one of our own. I'm embarrassed for many United 'fans' who simply don't understand the club based on what I've read at times. This is all coming from someone who thought he should have been replaced after Liverpool too.
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Jose found also a squad of expensive misfits etc. Apart from Sanchez and Lukaku no one in that list was bought by Jose. He also found Rooney and Bastian, two semi retired players. Jose should have gone after Sevilla, but at least we won two cups. Ole in 3 years could not even progress in Champions League group.

The atmosphere is as toxic as then, and perhaps even worse. Ole failed hard for 3 years, and yet we sti credit him for doing something that was finished from the point Jose was sacked.

Let's see how his (by all accounts he wanted them) undropable players, like Maguire and AWB would fare.
 
AaronRedDevil said:
When he came into this club as a caretaker manager. The team was in complete disarray. The fans were depressed watching drab football year after year and the players were stuck in a rut. But when he came in, he lifted the players up and never stopped trying to be better. That PSG game was incredible. Watching that smug ratface prick and Neymar cry was One of the most satisfying victories I've seen in years. He gave us so much entertainment we've been crying out for at the start with fast attacking football. The players and fans were enjoying themselves again. He never threw any blame at the players. Not once, even when it was. He gave a shit about the club. Also managed to Get rid of most of the deadwood and rebuilt the disaster LVG and Jose left behind. The 2nd season he beat city 3 times in one season and got us top 4 again. There was hope for a bright future. Each season was an improvement, but unfortunately Ole was unlucky in not Winning any silverware. He came close so many times and sadly it ends in failure. Despite that, there was still a bit of hope that he'd get a great squad together and finally get us back to the top. Had one of the best summer's ever imo, in getting a world class defender, a Right Winger we've needed since Nani left and one of the best player ever play the game. This was the season that for the first time I fully believed we could win some trophies. Sadly after a flying start, everything fell apart after the lost to West Ham. It's clear He's taking us as far as he could. He's been extremely lucky everytime he got backed into a corner and now the luck has run out. The board was indecisive which has probably cost us top 4 this season. In saying a that, given how ugly it's gotten recently, he's left the next manager with a much better squad that's hungry for success. Every single United fan wanted him so badly to succeed. Thanks for the memories Ole. Best of luck to him in the future.
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Well said that man.
 
Good luck Ole. Glad this chapter is over but you've done better until this season than any of the previous managers in terms of building a functional team. Need to go away and do some studying though if you want to manage at the top level again.
 
Spoony said:
Ole is a legend who passionately wanted to succeed but was sadly out of his depth.
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That's the view a considerable segment of our fans will undoubtedly take - yes.

And you're right - Souness isn't comparable. The reason his reputation is very much stained among Liverpool fans has nothing - or at least very little - to do with the fact that he wasn't a good manager for them.

As for Ole and United, we also seem to have a considerable segment of fans who don't care much about Ole's legend status (his pre-management status, I mean). Which means the comparison doesn't work on a second level: Liverpool don't really have a comparable segment within their current fan base, i.e. a decidedly "non-sentimental" one. To put it in extreme terms, we have a number of fans who probably wouldn't attach that much importance to something like Souness getting into bed with The Sun in the first place - if he happened to deliver silverware.

To be clear, we have a number of fans who would've resented Souness simply for being a shite manager - even if the Sun business hadn't happened. Which is apparently a good thing - showing ambition, not letting standards drop, etc.
 
I think the club on whole has made progress since Ole came, I know a lot work has been done behind the scenes. However after the Leicester game it became apparent that the 1st team squad had lost confidence it what they were being asked to do and the whole thing has collapsed down like a stack of cards. It just couldn’t continue and we’re most likely heading for 2 more cricket scores against Villarreal and Chelski. He’s a good man Solskjaer, but it’s for the best.
 
This only goes to prove that only a number of good ex-players make good managers.
 
If we did the right thing and sacked him after the Europa League final, his time as a manager would have looked decent.

It is really hard to ignore just how shocking we have been this season.

We've been battered in almost every single game.
 
I'm sick of this nonsense about "leaving us in a better place" he's left us in a mess.

Squad is filled with deadwood
A disjointed squad
A number of unhappy players that want out.
Filled the backroom team with inept coaches.

We're a mess
 
I'm probably going to flamed on here for saying this but I remember him as a great squad player who scored a lot of goals (usually from the bench) and of course THAT goal. I read on here someone describing him as more of a cult hero and I tend to agree. As for a manager? Never wanted him even as a caretaker but you can't argue against possibly the best new manager bounce ever even though I had a nagging feeling it was despite him not because of him. When we lost 2-0 at home against relegated Cardiff on the last day of season the honeymoon was well and truly over but it was too late by then as he already had that permanent contract in his back pocket.

Not his fault the board panicked but Real Madrid were hardly going to steal him away were they? If he'd left after that first season then his credibility would have been intact but hindsight is a wonderful thing and who would turn down the chance of managing the biggest club in the world - luckiest man in the world!
 
Thank you Ole for buying us that expensive top of the range Airfix model plane kit, then proceeding to throw away the instructions so that the wings were glued upside down the wrong way round, the wheels ran into the ground and some unused plastic bits were left in the box, not having a clue where they fitted in.
Now we just need someone with knowledge and some solvent to retrieve the instructions, reglue the right bits in proper working order and get the kit looking more like it does on the box lid.
 
If he wasn't an ex player there's no chance this thread is created. Thanking someone for making us bad enough to get the sack is an odd one.

I could be wrong we could have had a thread like this post LvG, there were still those that clung to the foundations nonsense post his sacking.

He tried, he failed. I'm just going to try and forget his managerial stint and remember the player to be honest.
 
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