Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has turned back clock at Manchester United and is reaping rewards (so far)
Sir Alex Ferguson back at the training ground, blowing out candles on his birthday cake, best wishes swirling around Old Trafford, goals flying in, it’s like the last five and a half years never happened.
Such was the degree of dysfunction under Jose Mourinho, so fractured had relationships become, the old malcontent had only to collect his cards to affect a feelgood rebound. How much of Manchester United’s sudden exuberance is down to Mourinho’s departure or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s arrival is yet to be understood. What is clear is the rule of thumb by which Solskjaer is working.
Apologies for going all high brow so early in the New Year. “All happy families are alike but an unhappy family is unhappy after its own fashion.” By applying Leo Tolstoy’s understanding of 19th Century Russian dynastic sagas to football’s 21st century upper class we can see that Solskjaer has bolted the door on Jose, his crippling divisions and ruinous machinations, and re-introduced a sense of togetherness and belonging fundamental to the wellbeing of any group.
Happy place
In this he is following the example set by Gareth Southgate with England, a happy place where footballers are encouraged to give their best and are reminded that this is their team to love and to cherish. “I don’t know if I’m at home at his level, but I’m at home at this club,” Solskjaer said after the 4-1 dispatch of Bournemouth. “It’s me. I’m confident in my environment. It’s up to you [others] to rate me. But I’m enjoying myself being back home.”
Solskjaer has made a fuss of Fergie too, involving him at Carrington, which is another nod to the importance of extended family and the familiar. It is not all about the past, however. Solskjaer understands that the absolute power enjoyed by the man he calls ‘the boss’ is no longer available to the modern manager. Those traditional relationships were based on ancient patriarchies blown away by football’s new economics in which power has followed the money into the dressing room.
You wonder if Mourinho properly understood that. If he did his methods suggest he was resistant to the shifting dynamic. When Paul Pogba said in the immediate aftermath of Mourinho’s removal that his ex-boss had “f**ked with the wrong baller”, he wasn’t joking. When it came to resolving the tension at the heart of United’s dismal season the board fell in behind Pogba. Like it or not, we can see how Pogba has responded to the prompts of a manager sympathetic to the new rules of engagement.
Power surge
It helps that Solskjaer brings a quieter psyche to work. He does not have any of Mourinho’s power surges, does not need to crush in order to bring subjects to heel. This does not mean he is without authority, only that he takes his own ego out of the decision making process and does not get in his own way.
“I have just gone about the job as I experienced it as I did as a player and as a young coach. We want to go attacking. We have to entertain. We have got good players. They are good people. They want to improve. I just want to do my bit while I’m here. I want Man Utd to look like this when I’m here. We will get tougher tests for example at Newcastle. I never enjoyed going up there. We need to keep clean sheets. Not done that so far,” he said.
In one sense Solskjaer can’t miss. Adoration is on tap. He is not fighting to save his job, nor is he answerable to his employer in the conventional way. And what came before was so bad, the Stretford End are still celebrating corners. All of this allows Solskjaer the freedom to get on with the job unencumbered by politics.
“We are thinking only about the next game. Let’s see what that brings. You don’t always get the results you deserve. We just want to play the right way. More often than not that will get you the points. They are top players. It is down to how you prepare and the standards you set yourself.”
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