Manchester United have parted ways with manager Ole Gunnar Solksjaer.
He was dismissed after three years in charge, with the club currently going through a poor run of form.
Photo via AFP
The last straw for the United board was Saturday’s 4-1 defeat to Watford, which followed the earlier 5-0 defeat to Liverpool, and 2-0 loss to Man City.
Ole’s best achievement at Old Trafford was a second place Premiership finish last season, and making the final of the Europa League, where they lost to Villarreal.
He leaves with United currently eighth in the Premier League standings, 12 points off the summit.
Overall, Ole won 91 of his 168 matches in all competitions…for a win ratio of 54.2%.
That puts him behind only Jose Mourinho (58.3%) as the most successful United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson.
This season, though, United have managed just one win in their last seven league matches.
What next for United?
First-team coach Michael Carrick has been put in charge of the team, as the club looks for an interim boss to take over until the end of the season.
Photo via Reuters
Ex-United defender Laurent Blanc, and former Roma boss Paulo Fonseca have been mentioned as possible candidates to come in for the short-term.
As for long-term targets, though, United reportedly already has its eye on one of two managers.
The current favourite is PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentine is believed to be keen on a return to the Premiership, where he used to manage Tottenham.
United’s second choice is Ajax boss Erik ten Hag, who is also reportedly ‘very interested’ in a move to Old Trafford.
UK sources say United also tried to approach ex-Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane, but the Frenchman was not interested in a move to the UK at the moment.
Its been said that Zidane’s main target is the France manager’s job…and he will only consider other options if he fails to land his dream position with Les Bleus.
Fond memories
Despite leaving United under the cloud of their poor performance this campaign, Solksjaer’s reign did include some memorable moments.
The biggest of these was their remarkable comeback against PSG in the Champions League last-16 in 2019.
Photo via Getty
Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, United fought back to win the return match 3-1 in Paris, to level the tie 3-3 on aggregate and advance to the quarterfinals on away goals.
There was also their home and away league victories over Man City last year…which was the first Premiership double over their bitter rivals since the Ferguson era.
By: Nicholas Darren John
