Ole on the Line: The Tasks Ahead for Manchester United’s Manager

1. He Must Take Control of His Mission.

The sentiments that attended Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s appointment as caretaker manager and the stirring success that followed his first two months in charge seemed to have prematurely conferred on him a messianic toga as the saviour of the Great Manchester United Realm. Later defeats and finishing trophy-less after a whimpering trudge to the season’s end however must have cast a long shadow of doubt as to his ability to live up this remit.

In order to succeed at Manchester United, Ole must set his sights on what he was recruited to do, forge his own agenda and turn a somewhat deaf ear to the distracting noises that must necessarily attend to the manager of the biggest club in the world. His mission is to return Manchester United to the zenith and to win trophies. Solskjaer must awaken speedily to the realization that neither the dreamy harking back to the fairy tales of ‘the past 20 years’ nor appeals to a badly mutated and faded Manchester United DNA will help his mission at Old Trafford. Willful reminiscing will only open him up to impossible expectations and turn him into a butt of jokes. He cannot afford to be seen merely as a smiling mascot of the ‘Manchester United Way’

He must know that his mission which his pedigree and past association with the club has thrust upon him is to return the club to its traditional roots and of course with the attendant glories of accomplishments.