Manchester United are anxiously on the lookout for a new manager after finally deciding to dismiss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with Darren Fletcher poised to be in charge temporarily.
The Manchester Evening News have been given the understanding that club executives were finally compelled to take immediate action in the aftermath of the excruciatingly humiliating 4-1 defeat on Saturday and technical director Fletcher has been touted as the person temporarily in charge of Tuesday’s penultimate Champions League group game at Villarreal. Michael Carrick is expected to assist Fletcher.
At the Watford game, Fletcher was in the United dugout, having previously observed matches from the directors’ box and the press box.
MEN have had confirmations from multiple sources after the emergency virtual meeting that the Glazers called for after the Watford match that United will indeed sack Solskjaer and are now in the process of finalising the Norwegian’s compensation package of around £7.75million.
Interestingly, United have now opted to downplay all speculation linking former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane with the manager’s role, with sources suggesting the Zidane links were primarily a temporary ploy to appease an increasingly agitated Cristiano Ronaldo as the latter had played under Zidane with the Los Blancos when they won three successive Champions Leagues between 2016 and 2018. Both left the club in the same summer.
The understanding now is that Ronaldo’s agent, Jorge Mendes, had taken the liberty to seek reassurances from the United board that decisive action would be taken to address the crippling managerial issues shortly after the Watford debacle.
United had earlier cautioned restraint and resisted sacking Solskjaer in the wake of the 5-0 dsimantling by Liverpool on October 24 even though they had a six-day gap until their next match at Tottenham. United then also decided against giving Solskjaer his marching orders during the November international fortnight, a traditionally popular time for clubs to change managers in preparation for the continuance of the season’s matches after the break.
The MEN revealed this week the United suits had finally decided a change of manager would be vital and have since started the hunt for Solskjaer’s successor. Solskjaer signed a new three-year contract in July and United gave no consideration to sacking him before the Liverpool result.