Premier League English

Manchester United’s conundrum – Solskjaer, Pochettino and Sir Alex Ferguson

Ever increasing magnitudes of disgruntled diehard fans, well-intentioned pundits and even impartial observers have chorused their disenchantment and dissatisfaction with the way Manchester United’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been unable to extricate the club out of the thorny briar’s patch they’d been ensnared in for a considerable period of time, a situation that’s totally unfamiliar to the past golden era of triumphs venerable Old Trafford have been accustomed to in the annals of English football. Although the ‘official’ stance of the board seems to augur in favour of the Norwegian retaining his status as the manager of the club, at least for the meantime, one pertinent question begs to be asked – what does United’s erstwhile doyen, Sir Alex Ferguson, really think about Solskjaer the manager and not the former ‘Baby-Faced Assassin’ of the earlier United days?

This is not an unreasonable question to pose as the great man himself has been known to be a big admirer of another highly-venerated manager lauded for his stellar managerial accomplishments with various other clubs in the continent, the former Tottenham boss, Mauricio Pochettino.  

After Jose Mourinho’s departure, it was presumed by many that United would wait until the end of the season before opting for Pochettino as the club had themselves expressed this intention about who Mourinho’s eventual permanent replacement would be. Hence Solskjaer, an old United stalwart since his early playing days with the club, was appointed to take over from Jose Mourinho in an interim caretaker capacity. 

The Norwegian was quick off the starting blocks and, for a blissfully brief period, brought the attacking brand of football back to Old Trafford.  The euphoria seemed to be back. This was when he enamoured himself with the club’s executive vice-president, Ed Woodward, with a totally unexpected 1-0 win over Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham in their much-anticipated clash although few had given the Red Devils hope of winning at Wembley. But, as fate would have it, a Marcus Rashford goal engineered by Paul Pogba was enough to seal the deal for Solskjaer as the permanent manager at Old Trafford. That was the day Woodward decided Pochettino wasn’t the right man for the job after all. Last March, Solskjaer was handed the job full-time.

However, Solskjaer’s honeymoon with the club was only too brief. After the initial spell of successful wins, the club began to go on a downward spiral until the present day. The Red Devils are currently eighth in the Premier League table with almost a third of their fixtures this season lost. 

It is no secret that Sir Alex Ferguson holds Mauricio Pochettino in high esteem. And that’s because he always thought Pochettino was the dream fit since the occasion when Pochettino was Southampton manager and the both of them had dinner together and Fergie listened intently when the Argentine poured out his heart to the great Scot. It was then that the Red Devils’ supremo was left suitably impressed, assuring himself that the Argentine’s credentials were ideal to carry on with what he was doing at the time. 

But where does Solskjaer fit into this equation, if at all he fits into it? 

Ferguson is supportive of Solskjaer behind the scenes as his confidant. That’s all there is to it. Apparently, the Scot had never approved of Woodward acting in haste in appointing the Norwegian a year ago as he himself had never wanted his former player to be the Manchester United manager in the first place. 

After all, it was only seven years ago that Ferguson had gifted the club with a Premier League winner’s medal as a parting gift. Today he, together with the rest of the club’s loyal supporters, has been left debilitated by the club’s shocking decline. Sir Alex has always believed that United should opt for nothing but only the best available in order to become the best of the best.  And in his opinion Pochettino ffits perfectly into that slot, despite his dismal ending at Tottenham. 

Now the plot thickens with Pochettino’s public affirmation that he’d love to return to the Premier League and has United in his scope of vision. 

With Sir Alex Ferguson standing in his corner, together with Ed Woodward being put on red alert that the Argentine is desirous of making a comeback to the Premier League, it would not be too presumptuous to entertain hope that there could well be a sensational appointment at the end of the season. 

Although the Glazers and Ed Woodward had initially wanted Solskjaer to succeed and flip the situation, the escalating calls to lay off the Norwegian and appoint Pochettino have grown too loud and almost violently insistent to be ignored.