Voices
At the end of August, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer gave an interview to mark his debut for Manchester United 25 years ago on which, of course, he scored.
The interview began with Solskjaer quoting Alex Ferguson and moved on to him remembering something Roy Keane used to say before it fell back into further reflections of the glory days.
As the interview was intended to mark this notable anniversary, Solskjaer couldn’t be criticised for failing to discuss his management ideas or his vision for the game but still it felt like a curious decision.
Clearly, Solskjaer was in his happy place among the recollections of the good old days while recalling the stirring deeds and words of Ferguson and Keane.
Pep Guardiola may well give interviews this season to mark the 30th anniversary of Barcelona’s European Cup victory in 1992, but he will be doing it as an ex player who is now defined by all he has achieved in his managerial career.
Solskjaer is still defined by his time as a player. Some managers might be concerned about this but Solskjaer doesn’t seem to be one of them. His association with Manchester United which began a quarter of a century ago remains one of his strongest assets as Manchester United manager.
“Of course we look at Man United throughout the history,” he told The Athletic last year when explaining how he wanted his team to play. “We’re a team that wants to attack. We want to be quick on the break, with quick players. Quick attacking players to cause problems when we’re defended against well.”
There is nothing wrong, too, with a team following in their traditions, Barcelona followed the template of Johan Cruyff and if United want to a side in the image of Alex Ferguson’s most thrilling sides then it is a noble aim.
Ed Woodward also explained why Solskjaer was appointed. “The communication of the high level direction and vision and strategy that we had from a football perspective had become blurred.”
Solskjaer allowed them to try something different, but it was consciously old, not new. “We hired Ole because he syncs with that vision…There should be both a humbleness and an arrogance. Humble when you are on the team coach and you wear the club suit, you do up your top button and wear your tie, you represent the club in the right way. Then you sign autographs for the people who pay your wages.
“Then, when you go into the dressing room, you put the red shirt on and you feel arrogant, self assured.”
Manchester United supporters often point out the drift under Louis Van Gaal and Jose Mourinho and ask how their status as top coaches benefited Manchester United? Solskjaer’s relationship with and understanding of the club can offset his weaker managerial cv, this argument goes.
It may be, too, that a manager with a more forceful personality, would want to shape a club in their own way, which may not be the Manchester United Way. The problem may be that the Manchester United Way can mean a lot of things and, primarily, during the glory years, it meant whatever one man wanted it to mean.
Solskjaer’s managerial ability was questioned again after the Champions League defeat to Young Boys in the Champions League which naturally led many to then question those doing the questioning as they pointed out that Manchester United were top of the Premier League after four games.
In fact, only Manchester City finished ahead of United last season so if you are looking for signs of progress they were right there. United are moving in the right direction, only the churlish would dispute that.
But the churlish would point out that, despite Solskjaer stating in 2019 that “it is not about buying a superstar that will fix things”, United have spent £400 million on players in the two and a half years he has been the manager. Moving from third to second and being top of the Premier League after four games is what you would expect to happen in that instance.
The signing of Ronaldo has led to another rearrangement of the side but that is nothing new.
United’s structure and Solskjaer’s own perpetual vagueness as a coach sometimes appears to work in his favour. Other managers are often personally associated with their signings, (nobody could have imagined Marouane Fellaini at Manchester United until David Moyes provided his input) but at Solskjaer’s United, it is Manchester United doing the signings while Solskjaer remains a vivid representation of the thing all managers find most frustrating: the overwhelming powerlessness of the manager once the players go on to the pitch.
The problem is that he still has the power to make tactical interventions and against Young Boys he demonstrated again his fallibility in that area.
It may be that United demonstrate the redundancy of the manager in the modern age for a certain type of club and Solskjaer becomes a front of house man, talking about values and culture while the players overwhelm teams by the magnitude of their talent.
In that scenario, Solskjaer is in the room when the big decisions are being made, but he is in the room the way Tom in Succession is in the room while everyone defers to Logan Roy.
In the signing of Ronaldo, the role of Logan Roy was played by, well, Manchester United’s Logan Roy, or Alex Ferguson as he might otherwise be known, but it was, famously, a collective effort from all of those, Solskjaer included, who just want the best for Manchester United.
This signing has led to another shift of emphasis and the remodelling of a team that did seem to be heading towards Woodward’s definition of “playing attacking football with players that have an ‘X-factor’ and giving youth a chance”.
Ronaldo certainly has the X factor but those like Mason Greenwood and Jadon Sancho will find it harder to get in the side, while Paul Pogba’s move to central midfield will allow opponents to strive to be as thrilling as United.
After he was taken off against Young Boys, Ronaldo joined the manager on the sideline for the final minutes as United tried to hang on for a point.
“If I’m the manager, I’ve got to be honest, I’m telling him to sit down,” Rio Ferdinand said afterwards, before adding, “when it’s someone of his standing and stature in the game how can you argue with it?”
While the formulation – ‘What would Alex Ferguson do?’ might have been invented for this scenario, sometimes it’s better to forget the past and try to embrace the future.
