In December there was something of a shakeup at Man United. Manager Jose Mourinho received his marching orders despite a relatively new contract requiring a hefty payout from the club. It is fair to say the club was on a spiral downwards and something needed to be changed quite quickly to prevent potential relegation which really would be a smack in the face. How far the former giants had fallen, and as Mourinho himself said as his left, they would need a miracle to scale the table and reach the fourth position. As the world, and freetips.com looked on that miracle did indeed arrive in the form of ex-player now caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
From the moment he stepped back through the doors the fortunes of the downtrodden club began to change. Now 13 games into his leadership campaign the once losers of almost every match they played have won 11, draw one and lost only to PSG which is a stellar record and something the Norwegian must be proud of. This weekend they take on nemesis and second-placed Liverpool, and the game is no longer cut and dried. Under Mourinho the bookies would have almost certainly made Liverpool the favourite, now the game is seriously hard to call. The team has racked up some victories that were certainly far from expensed beating all their high-ranking rivals including Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal. But more significant than that, they now languish in fourth position, just one point clear of Arsenal admittedly but a feat that no one, including Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, thought they could achieve when he walked back into Old Trafford to pick up the reins.
Apparently, there is something to a good manager, and Solskjaer learned from the best. Since he arrived back at the club a familiar face started to be seen pitch side. Mentor and friend, Sir Alex Fergusson had returned to his old haunts and now watches the action, something he didn’t do when Mourinho was in charge. Such is the faith in the older, more experienced ex-manager, Ole has asked him to give the team talk this weekend as the Liverpool game really is a crucial match for the squad. It is unclear at this stage whether he will accept the hand or not, but it has to be a possibility. When he was in charge a young and talented Ole Gunnar Solskjaer played many games for him, and the reds faced off against Liverpool no less than 64 times and won an impressive 29 of those matches with Fergusson at the helm. Unsurprisingly there is a growing movement that wants to see bosses confirm Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the new and permanent manager, but at this stage, the big wigs have refused to pass comment suggesting that no decision will be made until the end of the season when they see his finished season performance. It certainly seems they are on a roll at the moment and it would be good to see him back for good.
