Now that Ole’s underwhelming three years as United manager have, thankfully, finally been brought to a close the search is on for an interim manager.
It’s to be hoped this search is concluded very quickly as the alternative is quite frightening. On Tuesday night the team to play Villareal will be selected, as will the tactics & the substitutes, by the very ‘coaching’ staff who have done very little, if anything, to keep their former boss in a job.
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Roy Keane thinks that, if he’s not careful, Ole Gunnar Solskjær will be thrown under the bus by the players. Why does he say that? If he’s right then there are only really two reasons for this to happen.
The first is that the players don’t like Solskjær and want him gone. This is unlikely as the Norwegian comes across as a very likeable person which, in fact, is one of his problems.
That is the question! And it is difficult to come up with an answer. Now, had the question been, ‘why did some love Solskjær as a player’? then that’s an easy one. He played for Manchester United and, although the majority of his time there was spent on the bench, he did manage to cement his place in the Old Trafford history books.
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He’s back. Picking up where he left off all those years ago before he succumbed to the lure of Real Madrid. By moving to the Spanish capital Cristiano Ronaldo really achieved two things. He played for the club of his dreams and he won the Champion’s League four times.
So why did he then leave and go to Juventus? Certainly not money, probably not ambition to win more trophies because that is still more likely at Madrid. Did he fall out with Florentino Pérez, the Madrid president? That is likely but also unlikely to be the sole reason to leave.
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Let’s be honest, it was time for Ole Gunnar Solskjær to deliver from the day he took over from José Mourinho as manager of Manchester United. If he had been many people who aren’t Ole Gunnar Solskjær then he would have been shown the door long ago.
The debit side of his account whilst in charge at United, which may be of interest to future potential employers, includes the signing of several, (reportedly), world-class players at a cost of nearly £400 million. The losing of three domestic semi-finals, one European semi-final and one European final. It also includes many strange team selections, tactical formations and substitutions or, in the case of the latter, lack of substitutions.
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We had to do it! After years of berating England national football team, it’s manager and it’s perpetually, but unrealistically, (most of the time), optimistic supporters, finally we have to hold up our hands and admit that they have actually played quite well in reaching the semi-final of Euro Not 2020.
Despite occasional attempts by the manager to derail the English train it has kept steadfastly on track and is on course for a first final in forever and possibly, (whisper it), a first trophy in even longer!
Well done gawpy Gareth and the boys. This was teamwork and management above and beyond. Who would have thought we would beat the Ukraine without the Stockport Iniesta and ‘Union’ Jack Grealish, arguably our two best and most creative players?
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We here at WSA have finally worked out the progression of Manchester United. Yes, that’s right, we have finally seen what loyal fans of an ex-substitute with no managerial experience to speak of, (unless relegation from the Premier League counts), have been banging on about for the last three years.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær has progressed from being an abject failure in semi-finals, (four of them to be precise), to being an abject failure in a final! Granted, he has only lost one but, the main reason for that, is because he has only reached one. So, having improved his loss percentage in semis from 100% to a mere 80% in one fell swoop, he has immediately started his appearance in finals with a 100% loss record.
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In the time Ole Gunnar Solskjær has been in charge at Manchester United his achievements have been few and far between. In fact, as far as tangible achievements go, there haven’t been any. Progression has been in the form of improving and transforming the team which had once finished second and won a Europa League under José Mourinho, into one which has now finished second and reached the Europa League final. Some progression that!
His greatest achievement to date, given his previous four attempts in three competitions, was NOT losing the Europa League semi-final against Roma.
He has, however, bought himself some more time in the job and will certainly be at the helm next season when, hopefully, this inept government will see fit to allow more fans back in the grounds.
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So Ed’s dreams of a new league are over for the time being. Only a few days before the collapse of the €uropean $uper £eague Ed had, apparently, been discussing the benefits to be reaped from the changes being made to the Champion’s League which will take effect in 2024.
This is the only part of the whole clustermess of which we here at WSA are unsure. If Ed really was discussing the Champion’s League he may well have been oblivious to his club’s owner’s plans to form their own. Yet this would be even more remarkable given that the Glazers always appear to have Ed do their dirty work so the chances of him being unaware of their dastardly plan would be lower than a snake’s belly!
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We here at WSA are all for modernity. We live for the now, not the then or the was. Just because most of our life is in the past does not mean that we choose to live there although, to be fair, it is often a much better alternative to what we have nowadays.
What we have nowadays, for example, are words and expressions attached to the game of football which would have drawn a more than quizzical look if used in the not too distant past.
Take Manchester United, (we wish somebody would take it, at least off the Glazers), for example. A massive club with millions of fans/supporters worldwide.
It is now very easy, through social media, for these fans/supporters to “talk” to each other and boy, do they talk to each other!
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WHY SAY ANYTHING? 