It’s time to pay tribute to Solskjaer! How did the time with the Manchester United joker go?

What was inevitable was finally confirmed on November 21, 2021. That day will forever be associated with the departure of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for Red Devils fans. The Norwegian joker always came in when the club needed him most and led to many memorable moments. That’s why, for the second time in his life, we need to pay tribute to him!

Ferguson’s joker

We certainly can’t start our reminiscing anywhere other than the 1999 Champions League final. Solskjaer came on for the last 9 minutes of the game, but his goal sent all the Bayern Munich fans to their knees and in turn he ran with the rest to celebrate his first and last Champions League title.

In 11 years at Old Trafford, Solskjaer played 365 games, scoring 126 goals and assisting another 50. But a better description of his exceptionalism is when we recall the fact that he scored a goal every 152nd minute in the Premier League.

As many of you will know, the Norwegian striker only came on the pitch during games when Sir Alex Ferguson no longer saw the juice in the players on the pitch. It was then that he waved to his joker who served him well for 11 years and together they also achieved 6 league titles.

The early days of his coaching career

Solskjaer stayed at Old Trafford after his active playing career ended and spent some time passing on his experience to the strikers. After a few months, however, he took over the Red Devils’ reserves for two and a half years, after which he answered the call of Molde, from where he left for Manchester in the summer of 1996.

During his first stint, he coached the Norwegian team in 123 matches and enjoyed two titles. That’s also why he was engaged by Cardiff in January 2014, but he failed to save the Premier League and ended up with the team after 7 games in the second highest English league.

After that, Solskjaer took a break from big football for a year when he returned to Molde in the autumn of 2015, who he subsequently managed for 118 games. He did not win anything with his new team this time, but in terms of average points per game, he was almost at the same number (first engagement in Molde – 1.85 points per game, second engagement in Molde – 1.84 points per game).

Return to Old Trafford

After Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure, Manchester United was in big trouble. However, no one could be surprised at this, the always Scottish coach was a club in his own right, having certainly not only held the position of coach at Old Trafford, but many others as well, and few decisions were signed without him.

David Moyes was chosen to succeed him, then Louis van Gaal was supposed to take the club back to the top, again unsuccessfully, and the same was true in the case of José Mourinho, who was sacked shortly before Christmas 2018.

A day later, Solskjaer’s arrival as head coach was announced, and he was expected to lead the team until the end of the season while the club’s management found another coach. Only, the Norwegian coach won 14 times with the team during 19 matches and the first loss came in the eighth-final against PSG, which he then managed to beat in a shocking way thanks to VAR.

However, this incredibly lucky moment seemed to herald the beginning of the end. After returning from Paris, Manchester United lost to Arsenal and Wolves. However, this didn’t bother the Red Devils management and for this amazing run, the future coach was clear.

Solskjaer signed a new contract, this time for a long term, and was looking forward to the summer transfers when he would be able to start building his new team and follow in the footsteps of his great mentor.

However, after signing a new contract, Manchester United only beat Watford, who later became his fate, and West Ham. Otherwise, it was an appalling run of results and, more importantly, performances. Solskjaer’s team before signing a long-term contract and after, it was really a difference!

Manchester United, due to a poor end to the season, finished 6th and only wandered into the Europa League.

The beginning of the new Solskjaer era

Solskjaer was well aware that Manchester United’s biggest problem was in defence. That’s why he brought in Harry Maguire for a record fee and also brought in Aaron Wan-Bissako on the fringes. Then, on the wing, the speedy Daniel James.

The Red Devils kicked off the season with a great performance, beating Chelsea 4-0 in the opener. But after that it was all downhill again and Solskjaer couldn’t get his team to win regularly. What’s more, the performances were not even good.

At the beginning of December, Solskjaer had a lot of pressure on his bench and he was facing a series of games against the best teams. But the Norwegian coach shone again as his charges beat Tottenham, Manchester City and started scoring points quite regularly.

In addition, Bruno Fernandes arrived at the end of January and Manchester United really pedalled along brilliantly, especially thanks to the incredible form of the Portuguese midfielder.

A great second half of the season pulled Manchester United up to third place in the Premier League, and they reached the semi-finals of the EFL Cup, FA Cup and Europa League.

The rose-tinted glasses are starting to change colour

The 2020/21 season was clearly Solskjaer’s most successful, with the Red Devils finishing second in the Premier League and reaching the Europa League final. It should still be noted, however, that many top teams were going through a crisis, which also helped them significantly to these results. Quite similar to how Leicester won the Premier League back then, with all due respect to them of course.

Manchester United once again resembled the team that all rivals had respect for in the past, but…

Already at the start of the season, during the summer transfer window, reports began to surface of the management talking Solskjaer into the job. It may never have changed, it’s just that the Norwegian coach was still a lamb. After a year and a half on the Manchester United bench, you already believe in your abilities and want to go your own way. However, according to many, he was never properly allowed to do so.

These reports were confirmed this autumn by Tottenham’s owner, who publicly let it be known that Manchester United don’t want a capable coach, but a coach they can control. This is also why he reportedly blew Antonio Conte, who could have built on Solskjaer’s excellent work at Old Trafford. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, so let’s go back to the summer of 2020.

That summer, Manchester United made only cosmetic changes and added more to the bench. The only really big signing was Donny van de Beek, who has played 42 games for the Red Devils to date. However, we’d rather not mention how many minutes he spent on the pitch, as it’s an insulting number.

Meanwhile, the Dutch midfielder came to Old Trafford as a great talent who has the potential to become a leader at one of the top clubs. Manchester United were very proud that summer to have blown away such a talent to the other big clubs led by Real Madrid.

Only, despite the best efforts of the player himself, Solskjaer had no confidence in him. The reason is not exactly known and we may find out now after his departure. But rumour has it that it was a struggle by the Norwegian coach to show the club’s management that he, and no one else, would have the main say in transfers.

This of course makes logical sense and even more so when everyone knew that Solskjaer is no great tactician and his game is by no means complex, however if you let him, the results came!

The game itself was sometimes hard to watch, however it was similar in the Alex Ferguson era. However, those were different times and there wasn’t as much pressure on teams to play more offensively for spectators.

So it’s possible that Manchester United’s management didn’t like the fact that the vast majority of the top teams were clearly outplaying them and they were patiently waiting for counter attacks. After all, many times the players themselves start to boycott this style, which I think is what José Mourinho, who was harshly criticised by many after his sacking, is alluding to these days.

Last summer at Old Trafford

Life has changed a lot in the last few months and this has affected many clubs and players alike as a plethora of them have started looking for new challenges. A great season has certainly also helped to bring big names to Old Trafford, but that is what proved to be Solskjaer’s undoing.

That being said, the Norwegian coach doesn’t make a big deal out of football and clings to honesty and speed. In order for his team to win, he needs everyone’s workrate to tick off the whole game and lightning-fast players who can deal with situations at great speed. Of course, there is much more to it, but the basic description is apt.

Manchester United has remained virtually unchanged from last season, which was so successful, apart from the arrival of three big players – Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo – but something has changed. Something that has turned what was on paper an amazing team into a soulless team that is hard for any Red Devils fan to watch.

Whether it’s the issue surrounding Ronaldo, the poor relationship with the management, the lessons learned by the opposition from past games against each other or in anything else, it cost Solskjaer a place on the bench of his beloved team, for which he has done an incredible amount!

However, it was inevitable. Manchester United have such a quality team that you have to crush the vast majority of opponents and be at least an equal opponent to those top teams. You can fail once or twice, but not be a laughing stock game after game. So now someone has to come to Old Trafford to make these top footballers into a top team.

Hats off and three cheers for the saviour

Now it’s time to say thank you! After the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, it was clear that Manchester United were going to have a problem and it wasn’t going to be for a while. Today, the top football club no longer functions the way it did under the legendary Scottish coach, and of course it takes time for all the processes to bed in.

There is also a definite question mark over whether it pays for Manchester United to work with old players, as virtually none of the much-successful Ferguson generation achieved much success. Admittedly, it’s not as much of a tragedy for all of them as it was when Gary Neville led Valencia, but…

Solskjaer, however, has at the very least restored to Old Trafford the respect that had been felt for some time from every opponent that visited the stand. He gave the fans back the joy and pride of believing in a better tomorrow.

And last but not least, it created a great team that even the greatest players of today wanted to join. The new coach who will now come to Manchester United will benefit immensely from his work. No one should forget that!

” I will leave here by the front door because I think everyone knows that I have given everything to this club…”

Solskjaer is definitely not leaving Old Trafford a loser, but a proud winner!

Source: Manchester United, Transfermarkt