On Saturday 1st of November 1986, a home draw with Coventry left United nineteenth out of twenty two clubs. It was relegation form. On Tuesday the 4th, they went to Southampton for a League Cup replay and were beaten 4-1. On Wednesday the 5th, Martin Edwards gathered Sir Bobby Charlton and his lawyer Maurice Watkins and rang Aberdeen, asking for a certain Alex Ferguson. On Thursday the 6th, they told Ron Atkinson he had lost his job and the press were called to Old Trafford for the unveiling of the new manager. So big Ron has gone down in United’s history as no other manager has been sacked earlier than November 6th. This is the backdrop against which United travel to Goodison tomorrow, 15th in the table as we speak for what is arguably the biggest game of Ole’s tenure as United manager.
Sir Alex was in a similar situation when he travelled to Nottingham Forest and Mark Robins saved his job. The only issue is, Edwards and the board had backed him one hundred percent and that was his third full season in charge. In comparison, Ole who finished top of the chasing pack in third place not long ago, had a summer worth forgetting both in terms of transfers and various issues of the pitch. We all saw this coming. The Glazer trap as I call it. Firing a manager, getting a new one in, living off the bounce, failing to land Champions League football, spending some money WHILE having a net spend of less than £100m, playing well, getting CL football next season, not backing the manager, withstanding the social media pressure, sacking the manager, rinse & repeat. Barcelona, Madrid, Bayern, Juve, nobody would allow the owners and those above the manager to do what these leeches have done to us. Yet, look at social media. Shamelessly celebrating the signing of a washed up Edinson Cavani and thinking that Mauricio or Nagelsmann is going to change everything. We’ve been down that road with Jose and Van Gaal. Experienced managers, proven winners. Could they change things? No. I’ll say this again. The best football we’ve played since Sir Alex has been under Ole. Nobody can tell me otherwise. We’ve stopped signing the Schweinsteigers and Di Marias and Falcaos of this world. The academy has been massively revamped like I mentioned in one of my previous articles. Some people will rightly say, new signings don’t change the glaring issues we have. I disagree. It’s as much a mental boost as a physical one. I’ll come to all of that in my article when Ole does get sacked because he has been set up to fail. If not at Goodison, definitely before christmas.
Something is making United move uncharacteristically fast. They don’t sack managers this early. LVG and Jose were three months too late. Is Poch’s availability affecting their stance? Yes. Is it unfair on Ole? Yes. Is Ole not at fault? Not completely. His never ending support of the way things work at United, his unmovable stance on Maguire’s captaincy, Scott’s selection and the handling of Van De Beek’s game time are some of the significant talking points. Whatever happens tomorrow Ole, you’ll always be Our Solskjaer, the baby faced assassin, the hero of ‘99. And I for one, have nothing but respect for you.
That being said, welcome to the endgame. 1:30 BST, Goodison Park, Liverpool. On enemy soil.
Into Added Time 