No, the reason is he hasn't won a trophy himself in 7 years, his only other stint in the top leagues resulted in relegation and he has had more than enough investment and time and we still play extremely average football despite having one of the best squads on the planet.
It's really not that difficult. He has no history of implementing great, progressive football, he has no history of winning silverware consistently - whilst also considering the fact that he hasn't shown the ability to implement a style of play that is required to do those things here too. There is literally nothing to really put your faith in, except the fact that it's Ole.
Our football is dull, slow and far too often ineffective. He's had more time than any other manager post SAF and is the only one of them bar Moyes (who wasn't able to even finish the season), who hasn't won a trophy - despite spending more than them all. We are consistently finishing on points that will have us 3rd-4th most seasons.
I'm genuinely curious - what exactly about Ole gives you hope that he is the right guy? It's baffling to me, there could not be more signs to me that he's simply not good enough.
I hope you’ll forgive my late reply to this, but I’ve taken time to really given it some thought and hopefully I can give a coherent response.
From when he was linked to the vacancy originally, I never really wanted Ole as manager, it seemed such a strange rushed appointment at the time, almost a rebound from Mourinho. I’m not sure I ever really considered him a legend either. He was a good player, and scored lots of goals - important goals too (I’ll never not get goosebumps for the ‘99 commentary) but he was never the star, hardly ever a starter and I just didn’t think he fitted the mould for that title, and if I’m honest knowing so little about him (I had no idea of his story with Molde) I wasn’t sure he wouldn’t just see out the season with a whimper and slope off back to Norway.
However, former players started coming out backing him, saying he was manager material, that he was tactically minded and could be harsh if necessary, that he wouldn’t stand any messing and would sort things out and steady the ship so I gave him a chance. By the time he was appointed full time because of his fantastic results I was fully onboard the Ole bandwagon much like everyone else on this forum. So many ‘give him the job’ posts. It was hard to argue against him tbh.
Since then I’ve seen him build the squad, replacing bad apples like Lukaku and Sanchez, championing young talents like Mason, and signing great talents like Bruno. He’s been pragmatic and measured waiting to sign players at a reasonable cost like with Sancho (and Bruno) and has stuck to his main targets but has been flexible enough to work with last minute impromptu signings like Ighalo and Cavani to the betterment of the team. I’ve seen him improve squad morale, and his man management has meant the likes of De Gea and Martial have U-turned and signed new contracts rather than pushing to leave. I’m hopeful Pogba will follow suit. The whole feel around the club has lifted and improved.
As for the football, I genuinely feel it’s more entertaining to watch this side than a Mourinho or LVG side. Think of the great nights we’ve enjoyed against PSG, Leipzig, and City. We were the first team to take points off the title winning Liverpool side. Ole has schooled Pep consistently in the derby. For all the negativity currently another result like that is just around the corner, at any time. I love the romance and excitement of that. That feeling had gone previously and Ole has given us it back. We can dream again. Just the fact that we expect to challenge is a testament to Oles vision and hard work.
I‘m not claiming everything is perfect, far from it - but you can see the progress under Ole. Our league position has improved season on season, we’ve come close in cups and made a European final. It’s not about Ole personally, nor is it blind loyalty because of his history as a player but the process he has put in place has built to this point and it feels like this season is a make or break, I feel he has to win a trophy this season. That said he should be given the whole season on the strength of last season and we can assess in May. Things are not dire, and whilst I don’t think the criticism is knee jerk I also don’t feel the need for all the negativity at this early stage of the season. There is still time to turn it around and have a very good season. For those reasons, and the fact that there doesn’t appear to be an obvious replacement who will take us to glory immediately I still believe Ole is the man for the job and that he will deliver the silverware this season.
I’m also loathed to see United become the sort of club that swap manager every 5 minutes and get stuck in a perpetual cycle of change, upheavals and rebuilding. I don’t believe this to be a viable way forward,