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Manchester United last won the Premier League in the 2012-13 season. It was Sir Alex Ferguson's last season in charge of the Red Devils. Since then, Manchester United have struggled to replicate their success from the Fergie era.
They've now sacked four managers in the span of eight years. None of the managers who have taken over since Sir Alex Ferguson have had the kind of prolific success he's had at the club.
Manchester United have struggled on multiple fronts since Sir Alex left the club
Manchester United have not fared well in a lot of departments in recent times. Starting with recruitment and sales all the way to getting things done in an organized manner, most of it has been a mess. A lot has changed over the past two years though.
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Manchester United have had two experienced veterans, one promising candidate and a club legend take the reins at the club. Now it's time to take a look at who did the better job.
#4 David Moyes
This is a no-brainer. David Moyes was simply underprepared for the role. Being Manchester United's manager comes with a lot of media scrutiny and fan pressure. Moyes disappointed fans due to his lack of clout in the transfer window and it looked like he was set for doom from the get-go.
Moyes didn't last a full season. He coached Manchester United to 27 wins in 51 matches but lost 15 as well. That didn't go down well with the fanbase, who had just seen the same team win the Premier League title with an 11 point difference at the top.
David Moyes was also found guilty of vetoing the signing of Thiago Alcantara back in 2014. The Spaniard, who went on to do great things with Bayern Munich, was supposed to be Sir Alex Ferguson's parting gift to the club. Moyes vetoed the signing after the telling the board that he didn't know enough about the player.
Moyes' Manchester United stint was stained with confusion and he just didn't have the wherewithal to help navigate a side through an identity crisis. But the Scotsman has improved massively and is currently managing a very exciting West Ham United.
#3 Louis van Gaal
Toni Kroos has revealed in February 2020 that Louis van Gaal scuppered Manchester United's chance to rope him in after the club had almost sealed his signing. Van Gaal, known for his ego, wanted to build his own project at the club and the club did not give Kroos a definite answer. This eventually led him to join Real Madrid.
Van Gaal, known for his 'total football' philosophy and successful stints with Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, splashed the cash in the transfer market. That summer, Manchester United signed Angel Di Maria, Ander Herrera, Daley Blind, Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo and Radamel Falcao (on loan).
After 10 games into his first Premier League season, Manchester United were ninth. This was their worst start to a season since 1986-87. They had suffered embarrassing defeats like the 5-3 loss to newly promoted Leicester City and the 4-0 loss to MK Dons in the League Cup.
Van Gaal insisted that he'd need at least three years to build a project at Manchester United. Eventually, United's form improved and they finished fourth in the Premier League table in the 2014-15 season. The Red Devils spent heavily in the summer transfer window once again.
They brought in Memphis Depay, Morgan Schneiderlin, Anthony Martial and Bastian Schweinsteiger. But the football they were playing was insipid and uninspiring. Early exits from the UEFA Champions League and the League Cup didn't sit well with the fanbase.
There was a lot of speculation over Van Gaal's future and he even walked out of a press conference after being asked too many questions about it. There were even rumours of Ed Woodward rejecting his resignation during the 2015-16 season.
A 3-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur later that season reportedly turned the dressing room against LVG. The Dutchman was able to guide United to an FA Cup triumph. Unfortunately, he was sacked just two days later.
While he did have a philosophy and a style of play, it didn't look like the personnel he had at his disposal were cut out for his plans. So Manchester United ended up playing a lot of boring football with the constant sideways passing turning people away. He also left plenty of deadwood at the club.
#2 Jose Mourinho
Well, Jose Mourinho was the most successful Manchester United manager after Sir Alex Ferguson in terms of trophies. But he left the club in a worse state than he found it. Manchester United brought Jose Mourinho in to replace Louis van Gaal aiming for immediate success.
That's what Mourinho is famous for. The Old Trafford faithful were also pleased to welcome the Portuguese manager. He led the club to the League Cup and Europa League titles in his first season as manager. Mourinho also signed players like Paul Pogba, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Eric Bailly.
They were all effective in varying degrees across multiple competitions. Mourinho' United started the 2017-18 season on a promising note. However, things started falling apart following Manchester United's Round of 16 exit in the Champions League against Sevilla.
Mourinho's press conferences started being confrontational on a regular basis. Even though Manchester United ended up finishing second in the 2017-18 Premier League season, the team were not at the same level as league winners Manchester City.
The 2018-19 season started off poorly. Mourinho constantly complained about the lack of pre-season and was pretty direct in wanting his players to take responsibility for their shortcomings. This eventually led to the 'Special One' losing his dressing room.
He was eventually given the sack halfway through the 2018-19 season. At that point, Manchester United had won just seven of their 17 Premier League games. They were 19 points behind the league leaders. The team had an incredibly high amount of deadwood.
Suffice to say, Jose Mourinho arguably left Manchester United in a worse state than he found it. The team had lost its identity and there was a cultural dilemma at play at Old Trafford. But for two cup wins in the 2016-17 season and for bringing United back to life after LVG, Mourinho gets to sit second in the rankings.
#1 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
It was all going well for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer up until the summer. Such was the mess he inherited when he replaced Jose Mourinho that it was clear as daylight that the man would need years to turn it around. The Red Devils' squad was chock full of senior players walking into their 30s.
There was no focus on youth. The defence was jaded, as was the midfield. There was no recruitment structure in place. Manchester United were spending fortunes on players and then later selling them for peanuts. In came Solskjaer, whose loyalty and commitment to the club was a breath of fresh air.
He immediately got Manchester United to play attacking football and led the team to eight consecutive wins across all competitions. He became the first Manchester United manager to win the Premier League manager of the month award since Sir Alex Ferguson in 2012. Solskjaer won it in his second month as caretaker manager in the 2018-19 season.
Solskjaer also guided Manchester United to a glorious 3-2 win (on agg.) over Paris Saint-Germain. They had to overturn a 2-0 deficit at the Parc des Princes and Solskjaer's young brigade did the unthinkable to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
There was a lot of belief in the squad and the board decided to give Solskjaer a three-year contract. Solskjaer then recruited responsibly but the best thing he did was to greenlight the sales of all the players he deemed surplus to requirements.
His Manchester United side finished third and second in his two full seasons as manager of the club. Solskjaer also led Manchester United to the semi-finals of the Europa League, FA Cup and League Cup in his first full season. But they failed to win any of them.
The Norwegian did a good job in the 2020-21 season as well after getting off to a poor start. His side bounced back and led the Premier League table halfway through the season. But they eventually ran out of steam. One of Solskjaer's biggest regrets would be losing the 2020-21 Europa League final to Villarreal in a shootout.
That would have helped silence a lot of detractors. Solskjaer's side played fluid attacking football at times and they showed great character as well. He led his side to a record 28 game unbeaten streak in the league away from home.
Under Solskjaer, Manchester United scored five or more goals in 10 times in 168 matches. They did it twice in 302 matches under David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho combined. Perhaps Cristiano Ronaldo's signing was ill-advised.
Despite all of Ronaldo's rescue acts, he did bite into the identity the team had under Solskjaer. The Norwegian looked like he ran out of ideas towards the end of his stint. There was also no circumventing an extremely ordinary midfield and humiliating losses to Liverpool, Manchester City, Leicester City and Watford sealed his fate.
But Solskjaer leaves a wonderful squad for the next manager. He has got the club to make significant appointments on the football side of things. Solskjaer's commitment to the club is something that Manchester United fans will miss.
He was also dignified in his press conferences and never threw a single player under the bus during his tenure. He reinstated the Sports Science department, which was dismantled by Mourinho. Solskjaer cleansed the club and has given them a platform to build a good future on.
He also helped bring about a renewed focus on the academy and youth development. Solskjaer had handed as many as 14 academy graduates their senior debut by the end of the 2020-21 season.
It's unfortunate that Solskjaer couldn't take this Manchester United side farther. But these last couple of months cannot stain what he has done at the club. For all these reasons, Solskjaer is at #1 among the Manchester United managers in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.
