Solskjaer's legacy and his future

The mess has been massively exaggerated in an effort to add significance to the job Solskjaer done.

Mourinho implodes at every club, and all that really entails is some pissed off players. It doesn't require 3 years and a genius to come in and cheer them up.
Yep. You'd think Mourinho left a relegation calibre squad, to hear some tell it. As opposed to a team that finished second the season before.
 
He needs to go now - was great as a player when I started supporting but has outstayed his welcome as a manager. Every week I turn up on a Monday and am having to deal with comments about our results and performances.
Where have you been living for the past week? Just so you know he's been sacked, incase you missed it and Carrick managed our CL midweek....
 
He was a bit unlucky too..that Europa Final and the disastrous last games he had, could have been completely different if Varane and Pogba were fully fit.
He had a massive squad to compensate losing one or two players. The fact he didnt utilise it was baffling, especially as he had bought a lot of the players. So he wasnt unlucky, he was incompetent.
 
For me the Solskjaer story has four chapters. The caretaker, first full season, second full season and the end. Three out of four of those chapters are nice stories.

People have already the toxic shambles that Ole inherited from Mourinho and he did do a fantastic job in turning that around and building a team in his own image. Which sadly meant 'very likeable but not quite good enough'.

When people look back at Solskjaer manager I think we'll see the Europa League final as a turning point. I think we'd all feel very differently about him if there were pictures of him lifting a trophy. Unfortunately it didn't happen.
You know it's bad when people have to justify breaking someone's time into parts to try and then present that he was some how a success. You could do that with anyone, Jose included.

Ole as a player legend
Ole as a manger - not good
 
He simply stayed on longer than he should of
Roughly 2 years and 8 months longer than he should have, if we're being brutally honest. What we're doing now with an interim and Rangnick is what we should've done back then.

He was useful for the initial feel good factor after Mourinho, but that was only needed for a month or two whilst we found a suitable replacement.
 
He needs to go now - was great as a player when I started supporting but has outstayed his welcome as a manager. Every week I turn up on a Monday and am having to deal with comments about our results and performances.
Have you been living under a rock? :lol:
 
The memory of his reign is still fresh so it will color the perception of his work here but I feel he has been our best manager post-Fergie, even if that is a pretty low bar. Some good moments with a positive team spirit returning after Mourinhos time and wins over rivals that I will remember including the PSG robbery. He mostly achieved the bare minimum that was expected of him even if the fact that he did not do a little more than that - winning a cup, having a positive playing style - can be held against him which is why eventually he got sacked. I expect in a few years we will look at his time here more favorably.
 
I think he’s left the club in a much better state than he found it in. He did a lot of good but definitely hit his limit in terms of tactics and game management. Had a lot of terrific performances and excitement under him, some great goals and moments. He’s just not a top level manager, not even close.
 
Yep. You'd think Mourinho left a relegation calibre squad, to hear some tell it. As opposed to a team that finished second the season before.
It is def exaggerated. Why is Jose's position his sack position and Ole's position his peak from the season before? Jose finished 2nd, if you're going to say he left us in 6th position you also have to say Ole left us in 8th. Sometimes I wonder if people are just unaware of the preferential criteria that is always given to Ole in these discussions. It was the Jose meltdown all over but with smiles and manners.
 
He was a bit unlucky too..that Europa Final and the disastrous last games he had, could have been completely different if Varane and Pogba were fully fit.
The Europa Final was not about luck at all. It was bad coaching and in-game management. Under any half-decent manager we would have won that game because we had a superior squad to Villareal. Instead, our players just went in there with motivational talk but no coaching. He ran Marcus Rashford to the ground instead of subbing him, and did not make any subs until very late in the game.
 
He did a decent job overall I think. If he’d left at the end of last season nobody could really have much to complain about. It’s this 1/3 of a season that’s left a bit of a bad taste.

For his sake I’m glad he’s out now. He got to manage the club he loved for 3 years and helped to build a decent squad. He got sacked in the end, but feck it every manager gets sacked at some point. No big deal. Onwards and upwards for him and us now I hope.

Also think it’s a bit unfair when I see people reduce his contributions as a player down to that one goal. He scored 126 goals here, he was obviously a big contributor to the success of the club during his playing career.A very underrated footballer IMO.
 
I'd never seen it done before, but I think the interview he did after getting sacked was a good move by the club.

Personally speaking, he went from an infuriating, stubborn, smackable face of a manager who played clear favourites, back to Ole, a happy and warm legend who just wasn't good enough.

It doesn't make him any less of a disaster, but any animosity I had towards him seemed to melt away - so the interview probably did it's purpose.
 
Solid Job first 2 full seasons we constant improvement on and off the pitch. Really helped us build from the mess we were when Jose went. Was the lowest point I can remember supporting us.

Most of his time Was easily my favourite times as a fan since Fergie went. The goal stats alone back this up we had a lot of high scoring matches, and huge amount of comeback wins.



This season went to shit for him. Mostly of his own doing. Was shockingly bad by the end, as I say I think his management of the squad and constant same players in no matter what sped it right up. It's sort of clouded his time here as it's fresh.


Still a absolute legend in my eyes. And he's left us in better nick than when he got us.

Now with Ralf coming in, feels like we acting like a proper club again. Felt like that when lot of changes where happening when Ole was here, but now it's went to another level.
 
He needs to go now - was great as a player when I started supporting but has outstayed his welcome as a manager. Every week I turn up on a Monday and am having to deal with comments about our results and performances.

Best post in the thread :lol:
 
I never really understood the concept that he’d brought ‘progress’ to the club given that his immediate predecessor eclipsed every achievement with the exception of the money spent. The first dozen games of his tenure do a LOT of heavy lifting when it comes to how people perceive his time here.
 
I'd never seen it done before, but I think the interview he did after getting sacked was a good move by the club.

Personally speaking, he went from an infuriating, stubborn, smackable face of a manager who played clear favourites, back to Ole, a happy and warm legend who just wasn't good enough.

It doesn't make him any less of a disaster, but any animosity I had towards him seemed to melt away - so the interview probably did it's purpose.

I agree on it being a good way to soften his exit though I think they should have waited a few days to release it.

Familiarity breeds content.

That was my challenge as far back as his first full season. Like most of us on the forum and across the globe, I adore Solskjaer the player and was ecstatic with his coming on as interim. The results didn't matter then as much as the feel good factor. But when he was hired full time it reeked of nepotism and poor management from the owners who I do despise. Ole never has the CV to warrant managing United, another Premier League club or honestly even any of the top continental leagues (esp, ita, germ). The longer he stayed and results rollercoastered the more strongly I linked Ole's tenure to be the face of the Glazers venomous grip on the club.

The day he left the manager position that connection is severed for me and I can move on as well.
 
Ole's legacy will be that he transformed the club, and reconnected the players and fans. He's presided over one of our clubs most turbulent times in history (Jose divide, lots of mercenaries, covid, super league aftermath) and ensured that we made progress.

Ultimately his coaching and methods fell short of elite management, and he couldn't handle the pressure of managing a genuine title winning squad (which he put together). His loyalty to certain players was his downfall.

I remember one of the posters here said (when Ole was appointed) that at Molde, his loyalty to his first XI was his biggest drawback - and he clearly never learnt from that. I wish he introspects on this a little, and returns as a better manager in future.
 
I never really understood the concept that he’d brought ‘progress’ to the club given that his immediate predecessor eclipsed every achievement with the exception of the money spent. The first dozen games of his tenure do a LOT of heavy lifting when it comes to how people perceive his time here.

A lot or perhaps all of the heavy lifting. Had Bruno not singlehandedly won games immediately upon being signed, Ole was staring at the abyss. The crowd had already started turning during the Burnley match at OT.
 
Roughly 2 years and 8 months longer than he should have, if we're being brutally honest. What we're doing now with an interim and Rangnick is what we should've done back then.

He was useful for the initial feel good factor after Mourinho, but that was only needed for a month or two whilst we found a suitable replacement.

He did well as care taker and deserved a shot off the back of that. He did pretty well, getting us into the champions league each year. Got us to a final (ok we lost but it was a good run) He also did well with the rebuild. Not just player wise but the culture around the club and the attitude. He lifted it.

the issue with him was that at the start of the season it was unanimous.. he had to deliver this season... no more excuses. He had the time, the money, the backing of the board. Excuses that got him through as long as it did. He had to deliver.. unfortunately for him he just isn’t at that level. He was never going to win us the league or a champions league. To be 12 points off the top with the squad we have had highlighted how far off he is.

I don’t understand the boards decision to give him a three year contract. That shouldn’t of happened. We Havnt played good enough football consistently for a long time. He never bought that to us. It was always good streaks, then bad ones, rinse and repeat. We have been grinding out results for way too long.. but you can’t blame him for taking the contract, that’s on the powers that be.

If he had of left at the end of last season, and passed the baton on... everyone would be thanking him. He always did his best and gave it everything he had. On the pitch and as a coach.. he just isn’t elite level. Probably not even close.
 
He did well as care taker and deserved a shot off the back of that. He did pretty well, getting us into the champions league each year. Got us to a final (ok we lost but it was a good run) He also did well with the rebuild. Not just player wise but the culture around the club and the attitude. He lifted it.

the issue with him was that at the start of the season it was unanimous.. he had to deliver this season... no more excuses. He had the time, the money, the backing of the board. Excuses that got him through as long as it did. He had to deliver.. unfortunately for him he just isn’t at that level. He was never going to win us the league or a champions league. To be 12 points off the top with the squad we have had highlighted how far off he is.

I don’t understand the boards decision to give him a three year contract. That shouldn’t of happened. We Havnt played good enough football consistently for a long time. He never bought that to us. It was always good streaks, then bad ones, rinse and repeat. We have been grinding out results for way too long.. but you can’t blame him for taking the contract, that’s on the powers that be.

If he had of left at the end of last season, and passed the baton on... everyone would be thanking him. He always did his best and gave it everything he had. On the pitch and as a coach.. he just isn’t elite level. Probably not even close.
Last paragraph sums it up well.
 
Ole's legacy as a coach can be summed up by that KDB quot he posted last week where he said Pep gave them a 10min training session and called it a day thats how easy it was to beat us tactically.
 
Ole's legacy as a coach can be summed up by that KDB quot he posted last week where he said Pep gave them a 10min training session and called it a day thats how easy it was to beat us tactically.
Exactly.
In fact seeing how our rivals are tearing opponents week in week out , gave me seething resentment against Ole.
Wasted 3 fecking years for nothing.

Don't come again, saying he left us in better shape than before.
It is a fecking joke right now.
 
An awful manager who has left the club in a mess, no real system and a defence which looks utterly clueless. He hasn't left a legacy he has left a total shambles behind
 
Exactly.
In fact seeing how our rivals are tearing opponents week in week out , gave me seething resentment against Ole.
Wasted 3 fecking years for nothing.

Don't come again, saying he left us in better shape than before.
It is a fecking joke right now.
Honestly I don't get how people can say Jose left us in a mess then say ole left us better. Ffs when Jose was fired he was 6th, Ole was 8th. Ole's final season didn't outperform Jose and his finals season toxicity. If Jose took us backwards by coming 6th (after finishing 2nd) then the same has to apply to Ole for leaving us in 8th position. I was one of Jose's biggest critics but what he said on Sky about the double standards used to judge him and Ole is true.
 
Nothing to remind you off. Some good games here and there (to be fair we did well last season against big teams) but we failed more than we did succeed.
He helped the club calm down a bit after Jose so that's about it
 
Ole inners should be careful using Ole's signings as his badge of honour. The likes of AWB and Maguire will probably adapt to gegenpressing as Neanderthals would adapt in operating an F16
 
Ole's legacy will be that he transformed the club, and reconnected the players and fans. He's presided over one of our clubs most turbulent times in history (Jose divide, lots of mercenaries, covid, super league aftermath) and ensured that we made progress.

Ultimately his coaching and methods fell short of elite management, and he couldn't handle the pressure of managing a genuine title winning squad (which he put together). His loyalty to certain players was his downfall.

I remember one of the posters here said (when Ole was appointed) that at Molde, his loyalty to his first XI was his biggest drawback - and he clearly never learnt from that. I wish he introspects on this a little, and returns as a better manager in future.

Cant explain any better than this, Good summary of his time here
I still believe if he brought in top class coaching setup he might have more successs here.
 
Heard he given all his compensation money to charity, Is it true? Irrelvant to that he is already a gem of good human being but if did that on top of what he already was then it just proves what a good man he is.
 
Nothing to remind you off. Some good games here and there (to be fair we did well last season against big teams) but we failed more than we did succeed.
He helped the club calm down a bit after Jose so that's about it
20/21 big-6 head-to-heads:

Liverpool: 20 points
City: 17 points
Arsenal: 13 points
Chelsea: 12 points
United: 11 points (GD of -3)
Spurs: 10 points

Just another myth of the Ole era.
 
Probably the most lovable human being we've had as a manager, including SAF, and it shows in how much the players and fans genuinely meant there goodbyes even though he failed dramatically towards the end. It wasn't the 'good riddance' nature of LVG and Mourinho's exits. Managed to get a bunch of big egos to not turn on each other and was a fantastic man manager.

He has the tactical intelligence of a potato and I genuinely hope he puts in the effort to reinvent himself as a manager for modern football. Motivation and vibes don't win you trophies on their own.
 
Probably the most lovable human being we've had as a manager, including SAF, and it shows in how much the players and fans genuinely meant there goodbyes even though he failed dramatically towards the end. It wasn't the 'good riddance' nature of LVG and Mourinho's exits. Managed to get a bunch of big egos to not turn on each other and was a fantastic man manager.

He has the tactical intelligence of a potato and I genuinely hope he puts in the effort to reinvent himself as a manager for modern football. Motivation and vibes don't win you trophies on their own.
In what way was he a fantastic man manager?
 
Probably the most lovable human being we've had as a manager, including SAF, and it shows in how much the players and fans genuinely meant there goodbyes even though he failed dramatically towards the end. It wasn't the 'good riddance' nature of LVG and Mourinho's exits. Managed to get a bunch of big egos to not turn on each other and was a fantastic man manager.

He has the tactical intelligence of a potato and I genuinely hope he puts in the effort to reinvent himself as a manager for modern football. Motivation and vibes don't win you trophies on their own.
Ridiculous
 
I'm quite surprised at how many people praise him as a person. From everything I've heard about him and his agent thet both come across as despicable people.

Protecting a serial rapist isnt someone i would call a "top man".

To each his own though. Would be interesting to hear what the victims have to say.
 
I do startups generally for a living. But I have had a pretty extensive corporate life previously, managing teams and building tech products/services.
One thing I have learnt over the years is that you need different people for different phases of the product/company's a development/life cycle. (A company/product has like 5 stages though some say six.)

I am pretty good at the embryonic and the take-off stages -- from a piece of paper/idea to a product ready to deliver into the market. But get bored once it goes past that phase. I like chaos and making it into some stability and semblance of structure.

Ole played a role in streamlining, to put it euphemistically the organisation with a cultural re-set. A change agent. Putting out the fire so to speak and steady the ship. Trust me, in my experience, this is a horrible job that is part political but also goes unappreciated. But without it, it would be tough if not impossible to implement the next phase.

In order to put the foundations for the 'take-off' stage, we will need a Rangnick to go from a less chaotic but stable situation and put some proper foundational changes or structures into the United organisation. Lots of strategic planning and execution plans. But the United organisation has to be ready to accept these changes too.
This is why Rangnick wants to stay on to see if his project will live on.

Bottomline, you need different people for different phases of the organisation's development. Ole played his role and should be appreciated in the long term for what he had done after the shitshow of the Jose who dealt with the remnants of LVG.
I don't think he's left us with a better culture or team really, or maybe better players but overpaid, a bunch are old, and he's failed with the midfield.

I really appreciate your post, it's very interesting and I get it's a tough job, but I don't think he made a success of it when many are talking about needing a new culture and players.
 
I'm quite surprised at how many people praise him as a person. From everything I've heard about him and his agent thet both come across as despicable people.

Protecting a serial rapist isnt someone i would call a "top man".

To each his own though. Would be interesting to hear what the victims have to say.

I was wondering if someone was going to mention this
 
He was a bit unlucky too..that Europa Final and the disastrous last games he had, could have been completely different if Varane and Pogba were fully fit.
We were very much outplayed, not unlucky at all.
 
I'm quite surprised at how many people praise him as a person. From everything I've heard about him and his agent thet both come across as despicable people.

Protecting a serial rapist isnt someone i would call a "top man".

To each his own though. Would be interesting to hear what the victims have to say.
What on earth is this? Did I miss something? Wrong thread?
 
Probably the most lovable human being we've had as a manager, including SAF, and it shows in how much the players and fans genuinely meant there goodbyes even though he failed dramatically towards the end. It wasn't the 'good riddance' nature of LVG and Mourinho's exits. Managed to get a bunch of big egos to not turn on each other and was a fantastic man manager.

He has the tactical intelligence of a potato and I genuinely hope he puts in the effort to reinvent himself as a manager for modern football. Motivation and vibes don't win you trophies on their own.
This weird obsession of “He gets United” needs to stop. What the feck has someone being a lovable human being has to do with doing great at your job?

And no way he’s a fantastic man manger. He managed the squad poorly. Picking clear favorites and putting some players on ignore.

We biggest the biggest joke under his management that both local and foreign clubs fans were singing “ole at the wheel” at matches whether we were involved in the game or not.
 
Honestly I don't get how people can say Jose left us in a mess then say ole left us better. Ffs when Jose was fired he was 6th, Ole was 8th. Ole's final season didn't outperform Jose and his finals season toxicity. If Jose took us backwards by coming 6th (after finishing 2nd) then the same has to apply to Ole for leaving us in 8th position. I was one of Jose's biggest critics but what he said on Sky about the double standards used to judge him and Ole is true.

Exactly. Had Jose left after coming second he would have won two trophies and a second place with enough points to win the PL in most seasons.
He has no clue how to coach a football team at the very highest level. Football managers should be judged on the results and not whether he is a bellend or not. This is not a popularity contest.