Telegraph issues a apology to Solskjaer!

MrBest

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He improved our position with basically the same squad. Half of us owe him an apology regardless of what the future holds. Looking at the table at 35 games, we have top 4 in the bag, we are basically 2nd and in a final. In addition, another semi final appearance, quarters in the fa cup, it has been a great season.

I can knit pick and say DVB should have played more, maybe Amad should have had more game time and perhaps Mctominay less games but what he has done with Greenwood and Shaw is amazing. He made a tough decision to drop De Gea, not bad for a PE teacher. I've been a harsh critic of Ole over the last few years, i'll never personally be fully convinced because sometimes the style of football dries my eyes (again I'm being harsh) but I take my hats off to this man for bringing hope and belief back to this club I love. I really hope he is fully backed this summer, we need investment and Ole fully deserves it and probably deserves a new contract after his current one is up. We had seasoned managers in Gaal and Mourinho, experienced premier league manager in Moyes but it was only the man who relegated Cardiff and came from Molde that changed us. He has my backing for next season, the thing that will take away his platform is the lack of investment from the board. Thanks Ole for giving me a positive summer!
 

Alek M

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His man management of Pogba has been amazing. He has handled him better than people with plenty more experience and aura. Cavani staying is all to Ole.

If I were a prospect with several offers in epl, United would be on top of my list, with resurgent Chelsea.

almost nobody wanted to come last year when we secured cl on the last game of the season. You can see the upward trajectory and hopefully we are one signing away from challenging from th

Bruno has made a huge impact on theteam for sure, but Ole’s leadership has been amazing

the confidence and self belief in the team is sky high and he had a lot to do with that.
 

meamth

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Now that's satisfying to read.

Now where is "Redcafe issues apologies to Ole" thread?
 

Tarrou

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the criticisms of Ole are getting more and more obscure these days

we used to have the brexit FC, can't beat the low block kinda stuff.. and he put most of them to bed

so now we get "patterns of play" or "not sure he can take us to the next level" or some other meaningless bollocks
 

Matst1

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It’s annoying that he says he got Cardiff relegated, they were going down anyway, it was a poised chalice that job
 

Jackal981

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I was very critical of Ole, but he has done a massive job these last few months. Long may it last. Imagine what he could do if he is given City’s budget with this team instead of skint leeches
 

Polar

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Yes.. Many of us knew it was more deep lying problem which needed to be solved. A quick fix maybe could’ve camouflaged them and given us descent results in short term, but quick fixes can also be an obstacle to required development for greatness.

Sometimes laughter when it was talked about values and cultural change; back to our roots or “the United way”. Restoring out identity doesn’t happen over night.

I thought Ole was right man on the right place to the right time. I didn’t see other manager more suited to bring the club back on track again. Other managers may have brought us better results in short term, but in long term I felt Ole was the best medicine.

That’s also why it was important to often look behind the results. Mentality, professionalism, atmosphere, team spirit and cultivation of certain cutting edge expertise in the team, example break down or transition play. We had to focus on developing small parts of the game at the time and do things step by step.

It’s still much development left, but we are heading in the right direction. As I earlier have said: our patience will be rewarded :)
 
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The United Irishman

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Don't forget, that knob Simon Jordan has been ranting all season that Ole is not good enough and he "will win nothing". It will be satisfying to hear what crap he spouts if we do win the EL final. Some fans on this forum have a lot to answer for too. The match day threads some posters were calling Ole a c**t. Fecking disgraceful. They will pretend they never said that though. :)
 

Cast5

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Don't forget, that knob Simon Jordan has been ranting all season that Ole is not good enough and he "will win nothing". It will be satisfying to hear what crap he spouts if we do win the EL final. Some fans on this forum have a lot to answer for too. The match day threads some posters were calling Ole a c**t. Fecking disgraceful. They will pretend they never said that though. :)
If we win the Europa he will say this “Is that what Man United are aiming for? Winning the Europa league? If that’s their level then fair enough, I thought Man United were supposed to be winning league titles and I don’t think Ole’s the man to do that” Even though he was raving about Arteta for winning the FA Cup and Lampard for winning feck all.

He hates United, He’s had a go at everything to do with us this season, Neville, Ole, Rooney and the fans. The blokes a clown.
 
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Bobcat

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It's funny, but this sentiment actually seems to exist. There's this idea that you have to have your little brand of football and impose that upon your team for your victories to mean anything. You have to be Tiki-Taka, or you have be be Gegenpressing, or you have to be whatever the feck "Poch" is supposed to play. Sarri had his Chelsea and Juve sides playing some of the most dire football you could ever watch (with the closest analogue being LVG's United), yet he never seemed to have much media pressure because "he's doing Vertical Tiki-Taka, mate".

On the other side of the coin, Zidane's achievements in the Champions League barely seem to count, because he doesn't have that and is seen mainly as a lowly 'man-manager'. If the likes of Ferguson and Ancelotti were in their pomp now, their achievements would probably be denigrated as well.

Whether he ever gets anywhere near those heights or not, Ole is from the same school of management and has to deal with, until very recently, getting less credit than fecking Action Man steering Arsenal to the heady heights of 9th simply because journos have declared him a tactical genius thanks to his vague association to Guardiola.
Spot on.

I dont really know much about journalistic culture, but is admiting you were wrong the equivalent of falling on your own sword?

Will the likes of Delaney and Castles admit they got it wrong? No need to apoligize, just admit they got it wrong and move on
 

rimaldo

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i feel i need to issue a apology to ole to. i have let him down.

i, like I’m sure many of you, grew up in the 90s with united winning nearly everything. supporting them made sense. it was easy to get behind the lads and even on the rare days we dropped points, i mostly stuck by the them, save a few tantrums here and there and the odd burning of full kits.

i’m sure the letters i sent the lads to give them a rocket after such a loss were one of the key factors in us bouncing back quickly and going on the next long, unbeaten run. i think most of them probably saw me unofficially as fergie’s number 2, regardless of who had the actual role at the club. maybe at times, some of them even thought i should be running the whole show. it would explain some of them occasionally breaking rank (beckham, keane, rooney.) however with ferguson retiring, coupled with me entering my late 20’s and having less time to write (out on the reg, smashing birds) results inevitably suffered and we started going backwards.

i blame myself for not being there for moyes, not being there for lvg, for jose and ole. i wasn’t there for them as i was for fergie, but i’m here again now. tweets and facebook messages @ing the players have replaced the pen written letters of the 90s and slowly but surely the results are improving. hopefully the lads are starting to see me as unofficial number 2 again. i have even managed to get them over that semi final mental blockage they seemed to have. greenwood’s touch and finish on sunday could only be explained by him reading my dm:

“greeny, el matador will find you. take it to the side ov da defender set it, finish it before keeper can get a gud base. eazy”

the grammatical errors were deliberate, part of my management style allows me to communicate to players in a way they understand.

i won’t lie though, i, like again I’m sure most of you, did stop supporting united for a bit when we stopped winning stuff. i went chelsea blue, then city sky, before liverpool red in the last couple of years. with liverpool being shit again and ole at the wheel, i felt it was time for a change. i feel closer to the club again and like the fan deep down i know i am. but i abandoned ole at the start. the new manager bounce wore off and we were on a spiral. i’m back now and our results have improved. i’m sorry, ole, let’s finish what we have started together.
 

Bobcat

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This chip on the shoulder regarding Ole has destroyed half of the football conversation on the site. You can't even discuss the merits of Rodgers (for example) without pro-Ole'ers getting their kicks in. Like, he's awesome, please move on
The problem is that for about two years, every other manager (whenever they did well) was used as a stick to beat our own with.

When that had been the context for so long, its going to take a while before Ole is removed from that context and we can discuss other managers, without any silly comparisons.

We are all a bunch of anonymous shitposters here so what has been said on here in the past is water under the bridge as far as im concerned, but when it comes to professional pundits and journos, i will be happy to keep twisting the knife when the likes of Lampard are brought up.

That being said though, im really looking forward to a caf where we dont have half the threads on the front page being some kind of Ole discussion
 

roonster09

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The problem is that for about two years, every other manager (whenever they did well) was used as a stick to beat our own with.
Exactly, this and then grouping posters into Ole-Iners and Ole-Outers.

Even worse is, you can't question any manager on caf, that means somehow you are defending Ole and someone will come up with idiotic post (like in Poch's thread when people were discussing Poch's league record, some stupid srcastic post about Ole was posted).

It's like you can only praise random managers on Caf, you can't question any of them. If you do, it means you are pro-Ole or some nonsense like that.

Even Leicester fans wanted Rodgers gone last season when they failed top 4 position but somehow ManUtd fans having few doubts on him means you are Pro-Ole :lol:
 

Amarsdd

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This chip on the shoulder regarding Ole has destroyed half of the football conversation on the site. You can't even discuss the merits of Rodgers (for example) without pro-Ole'ers getting their kicks in. Like, he's awesome, please move on
I would disagree here. Most of those discussions/derailing of those discussions usually start with subtle or not so subtle digs at Ole when praising or talking about other managers.
 

roonster09

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Journalists can always have doubts on coaches/managers and question them but they way some of the twats like miguel Delaney, Michael Cox, some random Athletic journalist who covers Spurs posted on Ole, it won't even look out of place on MikeLuhg account.

Maybe its insulting to call them as journalists.
 

justsomebloke

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i feel i need to issue a apology to ole to. i have let him down.

i, like I’m sure many of you, grew up in the 90s with united winning nearly everything. supporting them made sense. it was easy to get behind the lads and even on the rare days we dropped points, i mostly stuck by the them, save a few tantrums here and there and the odd burning of full kits.

i’m sure the letters i sent the lads to give them a rocket after such a loss were one of the key factors in us bouncing back quickly and going on the next long, unbeaten run. i think most of them probably saw me unofficially as fergie’s number 2, regardless of who had the actual role at the club. maybe at times, some of them even thought i should be running the whole show. it would explain some of them occasionally breaking rank (beckham, keane, rooney.) however with ferguson retiring, coupled with me entering my late 20’s and having less time to write (out on the reg, smashing birds) results inevitably suffered and we started going backwards.

i blame myself for not being there for moyes, not being there for lvg, for jose and ole. i wasn’t there for them as i was for fergie, but i’m here again now. tweets and facebook messages @ing the players have replaced the pen written letters of the 90s and slowly but surely the results are improving. hopefully the lads are starting to see me as unofficial number 2 again. i have even managed to get them over that semi final mental blockage they seemed to have. greenwood’s touch and finish on sunday could only be explained by him reading my dm:

“greeny, el matador will find you. take it to the side ov da defender set it, finish it before keeper can get a gud base. eazy”

the grammatical errors were deliberate, part of my management style allows me to communicate to players in a way they understand.

i won’t lie though, i, like again I’m sure most of you, did stop supporting united for a bit when we stopped winning stuff. i went chelsea blue, then city sky, before liverpool red in the last couple of years. with liverpool being shit again and ole at the wheel, i felt it was time for a change. i feel closer to the club again and like the fan deep down i know i am. but i abandoned ole at the start. the new manager bounce wore off and we were on a spiral. i’m back now and our results have improved. i’m sorry, ole, let’s finish what we have started together.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
 

DRJosh

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Fair play, most journalists would just pretend they never said anything negative in the first place.
It’s actually a clever piece of journalism to write themselves into the thick of relevance. To say implicitly that “our stories matter and have real impact on the footballing community so for that we are sorry”

Not taking anything away from the apology but it’s an innovative approach.
 

SadlerMUFC

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He came close on Extra Time the other day and actually gave a reasonable justification for his stance. He said that Ole cannot be seen as a success without winning either the PL or the CL due to the size of the club and that is how any Manchester United manager should be judged which I think we all agree with. He did say though that Ole has done well in the context of this season and that by virtue of his achievements this year, win or lose the final, he deserves to keep the job for another season. I am Ole in but I don't disagree with any of that, I think his successes might go unacknowledged at times but I also feel he has to deliver the biggest prizes and probably within the next couple of seasons or it will be time to move on.
Sure, we all want United winning trophies again. Problem is, he wasn't even willing to give Ole a chance. He made up his mind right away and no matter what happens he insists that he's right about him. The thing is, if we had Klopp or Pep in charge and we finished 3rd last year and (probably) 2nd this year, he would be talking about how great they are doing and how they are bringing MUFC back to where they belong. Bottom line is Ole has done better than "the big name" managers who have come before him (post SAF) and has our team on the way up. The man deserves a little respect...
 

The holy trinity 68

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It’s annoying that he says he got Cardiff relegated, they were going down anyway, it was a poised chalice that job
Sir Alex, Pep and Klopp would likely have been relegated with that Cardiff team, really unfair how Ole gets stick, that Cardiff team were terrible.

Saying that, he only missed survival by 2 points, they were miles ahead of 19th and 20th as well.

Klopp got relegated with Mainz and look at what he went on to achieve after that. It is unfair for Ole to get the Cardiff relegation thrown at him often.
 

TMDaines

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The derision for United appointing a manager who previously took Cardiff down, when Liverpool were being lauded with Klopp who took Mainz down, has never made sense.
 

Abraxas

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The derision for United appointing a manager who previously took Cardiff down, when Liverpool were being lauded with Klopp who took Mainz down, has never made sense.
I'd say it makes some sense in that usually a manager of Man Utd would be expected to have something of a record behind him, in the same way that a CEO of a large institution has probably had significant experience in notable roles with some degree of success.

However, I suppose what you're getting at is it is the one occasion the management of the club seem to have had some degree of foresight and intuition that has paid off so far. They've looked beyond that experience.

Either that or they've kind of got lucky in that Ole was brought in as a club man to steady the ship, then produced results when he was never lined up as permanent manager and they simply landed upon him.

Either way, it probably does not matter.
 

TMDaines

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I'd say it makes some sense in that usually a manager of Man Utd would be expected to have something of a record behind him, in the same way that a CEO of a large institution has probably had significant experience in notable roles with some degree of success.
Ole did some great stuff in Norway too, far more than other managers like Lampard, Arteta etc had done before they got their jobs at big clubs.
 

Abraxas

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Ole did some great stuff in Norway too, far more than other managers like Lampard, Arteta etc had done before they got their jobs at big clubs.
I agree, but if we are being honest it's a little short of what most clubs of our stature would be looking for.

I think this idea of handing big jobs to notable former players that lack experience is becoming a bit more fashionable. Presumably modelled after a few notable success stories. But generally history is going to be a pretty good predictor which I suppose is why some would have questioned the appointment. Even now I don't see that the questions were illogical, it was the dismissiveness and arrogance of certain viewpoints that was worse.
 

90 + 5min

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The telegraph have written a article to issue an open apology to Old for undermining his ability as a manager.

Just seen this on Twitter and thought I ll share it here. Are the MSM coming to realise that Ole is not just managing on Vibes? Or are the knives gonna come out bigger and sharper when we hit the next slump?

This is so wierd but I'm not surprised.

We that know Solskjaer little more then average person know his capacity. Knows his work. You all know my opinion on him. We have always been progressing, even when we hade some rough period where people showed their true colours. What he needed was time.
 

TMDaines

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I agree, but if we are being honest it's a little short of what most clubs of our stature would be looking for.
Sure, but that isn't the level of criticism that Ole faced, is it? He was widely disparaged and the attitude was very much that he was a complete failure of a manager, and United were complete idiots for even considering him as caretaker.

I have lost faith in him at times, and at one stage thought it was best for him to go, but the reaction to his initial appointment and him getting the permanent job was ludicrous. He was clearly a promising manager, albeit one who had suffered a high profile setback.
 

Ole's screen

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I agree, but if we are being honest it's a little short of what most clubs of our stature would be looking for.
Like Klopp said, if the requirement for being a manager at Manchester United is to have managed 50 games in the CL in the past, it'd limit the choices to a very small, very expensive pool. And really we should have more faith in Manchester United alums who came through the most successful period in our history. They know a thing or two about footballing.
 

Ace of Spades

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The hyperbolic nonsense being spouted is always shit, it is one thing to see it posted by moronic fans who are generally clueless, but you expect professionals to not be that stupid.
 

Abraxas

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Like Klopp said, if the requirement for being a manager at Manchester United is to have managed 50 games in the CL in the past, it'd limit the choices to a very small, very expensive pool. And really we should have more faith in Manchester United alums who came through the most successful period in our history. They know a thing or two about footballing.
Yes, it would. However, there is something of a spectrum in between managing 50 CL games and managing in the Norwegian league and an unfruitful period at Cardiff. The premise of Klopps statement is not one that I am starting from, my only point is that of course experiences are a useful measure and it is easy to pretend that we are all visionaries when looking back at the questions that were posed.

Some of them were not unfair, questioning credentials is not unfair. It is the level of criticism he got at every turn that was disproportionate and set against differing standards to his contemporaries that became unfair. Some of our fans interpretations among that.
 

Leftback99

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At the end of the day these journalist's opinions are no more important than anyone on here. Same with the nonsense you see on YouTube etc. The problem is people read/view them and parrot them as their own.

A "Solskjaer's actually doing a good job despite a couple of poor results" article doesn't create as many clicks when they can feed the frenzy getting him sacked instead.
 

Shalashaska

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This seems so weird to me,

I have been a massive fan of Ole, and have backed him consistently, but an apology from a bunch of sceptical journos seems excessive. He has no doubt laid down a marker to his haters by stabilising the team and getting us close to contention again, but the apology reads like we have just won the League or Champions League. It seems reasonable that press and pundits alike would doubt the ability of a manager with a lack of experience in a top league.

What they should instead be apologising for is their lack of consistency in reporting on various managers. Whilst the press were acting like Ole was some clueless nobody who shouldn't be near a top job, they were talking up Lampard and Arteta like they were the second coming.
 

Matst1

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Sir Alex, Pep and Klopp would likely have been relegated with that Cardiff team, really unfair how Ole gets stick, that Cardiff team were terrible.

Saying that, he only missed survival by 2 points, they were miles ahead of 19th and 20th as well.

Klopp got relegated with Mainz and look at what he went on to achieve after that. It is unfair for Ole to get the Cardiff relegation thrown at him often.
Exactly!
 

Ole's screen

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Yes, it would. However, there is something of a spectrum in between managing 50 CL games and managing in the Norwegian league and an unfruitful period at Cardiff. The premise of Klopps statement is not one that I am starting from, my only point is that of course experiences are a useful measure and it is easy to pretend that we are all visionaries when looking back at the questions that were posed.

Some of them were not unfair, questioning credentials is not unfair. It is the level of criticism he got at every turn that was disproportionate and set against differing standards to his contemporaries that became unfair. Some of our fans interpretations among that.
I think an appeal to prior achievements and credentials is a useful barometer but not the be all and end all. Especially after you've seen good work on the job itself as we had after the interm period. Its like you hire someone to do a job and they're great at it, and then you find out later that they don't have a lot of experience in the field. It would be unreasonable to not keep that person on on the basis of lack of experience if they've proved themselves on the job anyways.
 

The United Irishman

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If we win the Europa he will say this “Is that what Man United are aiming for? Winning the Europa league? If that’s their level then fair enough, I thought Man United were supposed to be winning league titles and I don’t think Ole’s the man to do that” Even though he was raving about Arteta for winning the FA Cup and Lampard for winning feck all.

He hates United, He’s had a go at everything to do with us this season, Neville, Ole, Rooney and the fans. The blokes a clown.
Could not agree more mate!
 

Cast5

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If we win the Europa he will say this “Is that what Man United are aiming for? Winning the Europa league? If that’s their level then fair enough, I thought Man United were supposed to be winning league titles and I don’t think Ole’s the man to do that” Even though he was raving about Arteta for winning the FA Cup and Lampard for winning feck all.

He hates United, He’s had a go at everything to do with us this season, Neville, Ole, Rooney and the fans. The blokes a clown.
@The United Irishman :lol: