Ole Gunnar Solskjær | Managerial Watch

Doracle said:
It was even more noticeable under Ralf. The same players who were title challengers under Ole were suddenly relegation standard and we needed to replace them all.

The reality is that Ole did a decent job for us. He is a bit tactically naive for the very top clubs (albeit it was quite funny to see him outwit Pep several times) but he’s clearly able to get a team playing for him and the team he put together with the triple M upfront was the best we’ve looked since Fergie.
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We have to land at something here. Either the players were awful and then it means Ole performed well to get them to two consecutive, comfortable top 4 finishes, or they were so good that they could carry a terrible manager to 2nd place in Premier League, which basically means Rangnick was terrible and ETH has been OK at best.

To me he’s an OK level manager. Not good enough to manage a big club long term but probably capable of establishing himself at a lesser club and doing reasonably well there. I don’t think he will be in for a job like that anytime soon though as I don’t really get the sense that is something he desires, and it’s completely fair. I’m not even sure he’s that much into the whole management thing.
 
Sarni said:
Yeah, I find it amusing how people truly believe he only got results here because the amazing players carried him to it while the exact same people have also been keen on excusing ETH for any bad results because he can’t possibly do any better with the bunch of incompetent fools that he has at his disposal.
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Exactly, he did good enough job but not good enough to close the gap with top teams.

All the "We got CL carrying Ole" are such a bunch of bs takes but not surprising, especially most of it was from the fans of the manager he replaced.
 
Wish there hadn’t been any added time in 1999. All the pain of the last 5 years would then be completely erased.
 
Sarni said:
We have to land at something here. Either the players were awful and then it means Ole performed well to get them to two consecutive, comfortable top 4 finishes, or they were so good that they could carry a terrible manager to 2nd place in Premier League, which basically means Rangnick was terrible and ETH has been OK at best.

To me he’s an OK level manager. Not good enough to manage a big club long term but probably capable of establishing himself at a lesser club and doing reasonably well there. I don’t think he will be in for a job like that anytime soon though as I don’t really get the sense that is something he desires, and it’s completely fair. I’m not even sure he’s that much into the whole management thing.
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It is not that simple though, every season is different. Those 2nd and 3rd finishes, no one can take it away from Ole. However, we finished with low point tallies in periods where the other top clubs were also quite poor.

We weren't really progressing, showing by our terrible displays in the CL, and ultimately the 2021/2022 season where that same Ole had us in a terrible place.

He did a quite decent job altogether though, he even overperformed at times I would say.
 
The proof is in the pudding. The lack of interest in Ole despite finishing 2nd and 3rd with United is damning of how the world views his managerial ability. And there is no disrespect in that. If a Liverpool fan comes out and says that Gerrard is not a top level manager, do we view it as disrespect or a factual point?

The other side of the argument would be that like so many of our deadwood, Woodward overpaid Ole to such an extent that all the money he received post his sacking is enough for him to not work again.
 
Nickelodeon said:
The proof is in the pudding. The lack of interest in Ole despite finishing 2nd and 3rd with United is damning of how the world views his managerial ability. And there is no disrespect in that. If a Liverpool fan comes out and says that Gerrard is not a top level manager, do we view it as disrespect or a factual point?

The other side of the argument would be that like so many of our deadwood, Woodward overpaid Ole to such an extent that all the money he received post his sacking is enough for him to not work again.
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Despite the fact that Ole turned down 'multiple' offers after being sacked by United and has been shortlisted for several jobs including Club Brugge?
 
Nickelodeon said:
The proof is in the pudding. The lack of interest in Ole despite finishing 2nd and 3rd with United is damning of how the world views his managerial ability. And there is no disrespect in that. If a Liverpool fan comes out and says that Gerrard is not a top level manager, do we view it as disrespect or a factual point?

The other side of the argument would be that like so many of our deadwood, Woodward overpaid Ole to such an extent that all the money he received post his sacking is enough for him to not work again.
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He was a professional footballer and manager. He then had his dream job. Of course he doesn't need to work again.

I don't think he was good for us (helped get rid of the craziness of Mourinho but that's it) but this disrespect is crazy. If I had my dream job and enough money why would I ever work again?
 
roonster09 said:
Exactly, he did good enough job but not good enough to close the gap with top teams.

All the "We got CL carrying Ole" are such a bunch of bs takes but not surprising, especially most of it was from the fans of the manager he replaced.
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Look, i like you. Your comments usually are levelled and objective. But you are often running that story about how fans who liked Jose, "dislike" Ole and his reign because Ole replaced their idol. That is bs, man.
There are maybe 1% of fans (called fanboys) who follow clubs because of certain player or manager but they leave together with their idol.

Your hate towards Jose (maybe strong word but can't find proper word for it) is clouding your judgement regarding some things.
 
Carl said:
The disrespect towards Ole really is one of the most disappointing things I've come across in football.
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I'd say the oppposite, really. Our sentimentality didn't allow as to sack him earlier, when we should have. It was obvious to everyone but he was given more time due to his status of a club legend.

He wasn't a good manager for us, he never had the credentials and was hired based on one purple patch. I'd be very surprised if any half decent club takes him.
 
horsechoker said:
He's won 3 trophies as a manager. How many managers out of all those managing at a professional level have done that?
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He was at United and given hundreds of million to spend. And won trophies, most don’t care about. Well done.

The issue was not only trophies, but everyone who wanted to see could see this is going nowhere.

That no decent club from the top 5 leagues is touching him is no susprise. Says also a lot about him. His level is not a CL club or midtable, but someone fighting for relegation. And he would always get them relegated. Best to stay away then, and enjoy life with the millions we gave him.
 
Andycoleno9 said:
Look, i like you. Your comments usually are levelled and objective. But you are often running that story about how fans who liked Jose, "dislike" Ole and his reign because Ole replaced their idol. That is bs, man.
There are maybe 1% of fans (called fanboys) who follow clubs because of certain player or manager but they leave together with their idol.

Your hate towards Jose (maybe strong word but can't find proper word for it) is clouding your judgement regarding some things.
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That's not bs, that's what it is. There are examples in this forum itself.

Ofcourse I don't like Jose and that has nothing to do with how I rate Ole's time. People just talk in extremes with no middle ground, it's just nonsense.
 
izec said:
He was at United and given hundreds of million to spend. And won trophies, most don’t care about. Well done.

The issue was not only trophies, but everyone who wanted to see could see this is going nowhere.

That no decent club from the top 5 leagues is touching him is no susprise. Says also a lot about him. His level is not a CL club or midtable, but someone fighting for relegation. And he would always get them relegated. Best to stay away then, and enjoy life with the millions we gave him.
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Other managers don't succeed when given a lot of money. It just means they're not good enough for the very best jobs. Moyes didn't do well as United manager but I wouldn't call him a managerial failure. Not every manager needs to be at the top or near it. Even being a good League 2 manager is still a great accomplishment.
 
Solskjaer was one of my favorite players when I was young, and I actually think he would have been even more suited to football today. He was a bit light weight to be a center forward at the time, but he was actually a really good presser. Always put in a shift. He would have been much more suited as a modern wide forward.

The biggest difference between him and Haaland is the physical attributes. Both of them have a great understanding of the game.

As a manager, I actually think playing under Ferguson ended up as a vice. He went for the same approach as Ferguson as a manager. Not that weird, considering the success he had playing for him. But there was a big paradigm shift in terms of coaching around the time Solskjaer started as a coach. Solskjaer turned out to be a bit outdated on the highest level from day one.

Still think he had a decent eye for talent. Three of the players he pushed really hard for was Grealish, Bellingham and Haaland. And he did so when two of them was in the Championship and the last one in Austria. Way before most in here was talking about them.

My biggest issue with his time here was the nepotism. He should have strived harder to bring in the best staff possible. Not Phelan, Dempsey and Clegg (maybe they were the best available, but I doubt it and the approach did not look very professional).
 
Rista said:
I'd say the oppposite, really. Our sentimentality didn't allow as to sack him earlier, when we should have. It was obvious to everyone but he was given more time due to his status of a club legend.

He wasn't a good manager for us, he never had the credentials and was hired based on one purple patch. I'd be very surprised if any half decent club takes him.
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Whether or not any of us agree under the Glazers/Woodward regime every manager who has qualified for the CL has kept their job. And every manager who failed to qualify got sacked.

Solskjaer qualified in his first 2 seasons so kept his job and when things went badly and it looked like he wasn't going to qualify he got sacked.

So where did the sentimentality come into it?
 
stevoc said:
Whether or not any of us agree under the Glazers/Woodward regime every manager who has qualified for the CL has kept their job. And every manager who failed to qualify got sacked.

Solskjaer qualified in his first 2 seasons so kept his job and when things went badly and it looked like he wasn't going to qualify he got sacked.

So where did the sentimentality come into it?
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He got his contract renewed after failing to win anything after 2.5 years, it was shocking.
 
izec said:
He was at United and given hundreds of million to spend. And won trophies, most don’t care about. Well done.

The issue was not only trophies, but everyone who wanted to see could see this is going nowhere.

That no decent club from the top 5 leagues is touching him is no susprise. Says also a lot about him. His level is not a CL club or midtable, but someone fighting for relegation. And he would always get them relegated. Best to stay away then, and enjoy life with the millions we gave him.
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This posts makes it seem like the 3 trophies were with United, he didn't touch any silverware during his time here.

"Trophies are for ego".
 


This was quite widely reported back in May
 
AjaxCunian said:
He got his contract renewed after failing to win anything after 2.5 years, it was shocking.
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He qualified for the CL 2 years in a row. That's all the Glazers care about.

Do you think Joel and Avram considered sacking him but Joel said ''I just can't do it Avi, he scored the winner in 99.''

There was no sentimentality involved in him keeping his job just as there was no sentimentality in Jose getting a new contract in 2018 after qualifying for the CL 2 years in a row.

Under the Glazers this is the policy.

Get CL = Keep your job.

Don't get CL = Lose your job.

Why this pattern seems to have escaped people is a bit baffling.
 
stevoc said:
He qualified for the CL 2 years in a row. That's all the Glazers care about.

Do you think Joel and Avram considered sacking him but Joel said ''I just can't do it Avi, he scored the winner in 99.''

There was no sentimentality involved in him keeping his job just as there was no sentimentality in Jose getting a new contract in 2018 after qualifying for the CL 2 years in a row.

Under the Glazers this is the policy.

Get CL = Keep your job.

Don't get CL = Lose your job.

Why this pattern seems to have escaped people is a bit baffling.
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Well we didnt get CL when he was interim. He got us into top 4 position, and then bottled it with a very easy schedule.
 
Solskjaer's tenure as a United manager fell off a cliff towards the end but his legendry status as a player will trump all that by a country mile.
 
Saudi Arabia is calling... :wenger:
 
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