WHY SAY ANYTHING?

Now that Ole Gunnar Solskjær has been installed as the “permanent” manager, at least until he becomes the ex-manager, has his attitude or approach to the job changed?

Has he, for example, confronted some players safe in the knowledge that HE will still be in charge next season, something he would have been unlikely to do as a caretaker?

Also, some of his recent decisions seem to have been a trifle strange. Why did he rest players against West Ham? United may have a deep squad but it isn’t blessed with more than one or two world class players and they only beat the Hammers courtesy of two penalties when, in fact, West Ham should have won the game.

Why wasn’t this game prioritised over the Champion’s League second leg with Barcelona? Even if United do, somehow, manage to overcome all the odds and win in the Camp Nou it is highly unlikely that they will go on and win the competition whereas, in the Premier League, top four is a reasonable aspiration. Surely beating West Ham was more important than winning in Spain. The fact that they achieved their victory at Old Trafford was down to a vast amount of luck and very, very little judgement.

So is Ole good enough to lead Manchester United into the roaring twenties? Only time will tell but he needs to be backed and given control by the board. If a Director of Football is to be appointed then Solskjær needs to have a say in who that will be and also needs to be involved in any transfer policy agreements going forward.

He needs to be allowed to buy whomever he wants, (within reason), and not have any restrictions placed on him by the board.

He can, and probably will, do a good job at Old Trafford. Whether or not this “good job” includes winning the Premier League and/or Champion’s League remains to be seen.

What would certainly help would be an influx of new players and an outflux of dead wood.

It is currently quite distressing seeing the list of players reportedly about to leave Old Trafford because it includes the likes of Ander Herrera, Juan Mata, Antonio Valencia and Alexis Sánchez. This is not to say that they should be kept as none of them are under the age of 29, but there are certainly players who deserve to be shown the door before two of these four.

The usual suspects are still there. Players who would never get near the first team at any of the other top six clubs are still turning out for United quite regularly. Current favourite for criticism is Jesse Lingard. We have no idea why he was selected for the games against Barcelona or West Ham. We have even less idea why, when he was the worst player on the pitch in both games, he remained on for so long when other, far better contributors were substituted.

Then there’s Ashey Young. Another long-past-his-best-which-was-never-very-good and an embarrassment to the team. When he isn’t being sent off he is needlessly losing possession and giving away free kicks.

How come the list of potential departures does not appear to include Phil Jones and Chris Smalling? Good servants? Maybe. Good players? Very debatable. Nemanja Matić is another of the older players who seems to have diminished in quality since arriving at Old Trafford. He was a maestro in his first few games but now appears ponderous, slow and indecisive and has lost his place, deservedly so, to Scott McTominay.

So hopefully some, if not all, of our suggestions will be included in the clear-out to be replaced by younger, preferably world class players.

United have to spend big again if they are to compete. It is no use moaning about how much Van Gaal and Mourinho spent. After all somebody had to sign those cheques and, instead of blocking moves for some decent players, would have been better off preventing the arrival of some of the decidedly average ones.

As always it will be an interesting close season at Manchester United.