Candidates to the Old Trafford succession : #1 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

TRONDHEIM, NORWAY – AUGUST 07: Molde FK manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looks on during the Norwegian Tippeligaen match betwen Rosenborg BK and Molde FK held on August 7, 2011 at the Lerkendal Stadion in Trondheim, Norway.

One of the benefits of being a footballer, no matter how many hundreds of thousands of dollars you make every week, is that you become part of the lives of the thousands of supporters who throng the stands and watch from television sets in their homes or the local pub, in the hope that you make their days, that you put a smile on the face of all those people, some of whom may secretly be worshipping you.

Or maybe not so secretly.

Leaving aside all the medals and trophies to adorn your plush apartments or fantastic bungalows, all the cash waiting in the bank, all the sports cars you can total in a tunnel on the highways of Manchester, it comes nowhere near the sheer pleasure of listening to sixty thousand people chanting your name in a heart-warming chorus.

And this is what the ‘baby-faced assassin’, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer enjoyed along with much more during his eleven years of pure ‘Fergie time’ magic and the occasional injury lay-off at Old Trafford. He may not have totalled ridiculously expensive automobiles all over town, and he may not have won any European or World player of the Year honours, but he sure as hell deserves a very, very special place in the hearts of every Manchester United fan anywhere in the world.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 13: Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson presents Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with a print of his winning goal celebration from the 1999 Champions League Final prior to the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford on December 13, 2010 in Manchester, England.

I mean, who can hate this guy?

His ‘super-sub’ winners and equalisers, his four-goal feats, his ability to win a Champions League after being on the pitch for barely a few minutes, a run all across the pitch to get red carded and suspended for the upcoming games just to save an important goal for his beloved club. The list could go on and on, but what we are dealing with here is a humble and adored servant of England’s greatest club. And strangely, a Spanish equivalent of this man flashes to mind.

Just as Barcelona won three successive Primera Ligas and two Champions Leagues with Pep Guardiola in a ridiculously short span of time, the Manchester United board must seriously consider, if they haven’t already, scrawling Solskjaer’s name on their list of remarkable men who might inherit the gaffer’s legacy.

We would rather have someone raised under our hood than let some snobbish ‘successful’ European manager take over and ‘do things his way’. I mean, with every ounce of due respect, there are some of us Reds who see suicide as a better alternative to watching Louis Van Gaal or Lippi telling our men how to play. I don’t mean to say they are not fantastic managers in their own right, but I don’t mean any offence when I say we know how to get things done better. And Solskjaer is one of those who flowered in the prosperous garden of United’s glory days.

And even if or when we appoint him, we will not really be able to peg him down as a ‘greenhorn’ or a ‘rookie’. Even momentarily putting aside the massive influences that Ferguson may have had on his coaching style during his tenure as Attack Coach and reserve manager of United until recently, you will notice that he too has a few credentials which, although pales in comparison to winning the European treble, gives him a practical outsider’s chance of qualifying for the United job, even without taking the emotional factor into the equation.

The titles of Premier Reserve League 2009–10; Premier Reserve League North 2009–10, Lancashire Senior Cup 2008–09 and the Manchester Senior Cup are what he has achieved in a short period as reserve manager and he has also won the 2011 Norwegian Premier League with his boyhood club Molde.

If the fans are going to have a say in bringing the best man to replace Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford, then Solskjaer has an outstanding chance to get his feet under the manager’s desk and declare that his ‘greatest challenge is to knock Real Madrid off their perch’ (Certain bits of the quote may have been omitted). And once again Old Trafford will echo to ‘Who put the ball in the Germans’ net?’ and ‘You are my Solskjaer’.

And the Reds will go marching up, up, up!

P.S : It will interest the reader to know that Solskjaer happens to be a patron of the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust.