The appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as Manchester United interim manager has been met with, seemingly, overwhelming positivity from fans and journalists alike.
Indeed, this site has been chastised by Manchester United fans accusing us of negativity toward the club – even though we aren’t Man Utd fans and only wrote an honest assessment of his time at Cardiff City.
Good to see the negative has already started. How about we celebrate the fact the club made a positive change in sacking Mou, appointed apparently an interim who understands the club and support him and the club. Quit with the negative shyt that left with Jose
— Nick “Lunchbox” Johnson (@NickBossJohnson) December 19, 2018
A lot of the criticism levelled at Solskjaer has come from Cardiff fans who had him in charge of the club for eight months. Not a short amount of time and he was backed in two transfer windows. As a neat summation of his time at Cardiff, I defer to this tweet.
https://twitter.com/CardiffCityCCFC/status/1075067289052037120
Now Cardiff City wasn’t perfect at the time. The club was dealing with the off-field shenanigans of Malky Mackay and Iain Moody. But when Ole came in, Vincent Tan was very positive and very sure that he was the right man for the job and given the chance to take the club back up to the Premier League after relegation.
Manchester United fans have told me countless times that: ‘Cardiff were already relegated when he took over, what do you expect?’ but that’s pure ignorance, as explained here.
Many replies saying Cardiff were an unmanageable shambles when Solskjaer was there. He started with Cardiff in 17th with 18pts from 20 games, was given what he wanted in January, and took them down in 20th with 12pts from 18. Then he spent more, did worse. But blaming Tan worked. https://t.co/PWlJXc1ZmK
— Huw Davies (@thehuwdavies) December 19, 2018
In essence, Ole was an unmitigated disaster at Cardiff and fans were delighted to see him sacked – and were even happy that Russell Slade replaced him. So why are United fans so willing to ignore this? Granted, he may have had time to grow over the past four seasons and his approach may have changed, but the fact is, their fans seem happy to make excuses on his behalf.
https://twitter.com/OGSolskjaer20/status/1075065555042881543
Said this back in 2014. Cardiff job was no indication of Solskjaer's abilities as a manager. He was a vanity appointment in what was a vanity project by Vincent Tan. He stood absolutely no chance. Interesting that his first game is against Cardiff. #MUFC https://t.co/1H82cweonQ
— Jamie Ward (@jamie_ward84) December 19, 2018
The Solskjaer getting Cardiff City relegated argument means absolutely nothing, he was very inexperienced and has learnt a great deal since.
He lead Molde to their first title in their history and had them playing some good football. #MUFC #Solskjaer
— Isiah Madrigal (@Realisiah1) December 19, 2018
The Cardiff debate isn’t irrelevant. Sure, it might not mean much in the grand scheme of things, but to dismiss the views of people who watched him over a long period is arrogance at worst and wilful ignorance at best.
He was an abject and incompetent manager. He tinkered to the point he played our most creative attacking midfielder at left back, and a potent striker on the wing. He compounded the mess the club was in and took us from 17th in the Premier League to 17th in the Championship.
And yes, you can’t dismiss his experience at Molde out of hand, but when he joined Cardiff, we looked at that as indicator of what to expect at Cardiff and none of it joined up. Plenty of football fans tried to say Pep Guardiola would find it tough in England when he came across, yet many seem to be justifying Ole’s foregone success because he’s done well in Norway.
Sure, United is different. But if previous experience doesn’t matter a jot, why didn’t they hire Mark Hughes, Steve Bruce, or let Phelan have a tilt at it by himself? United fans dismiss Bruce and Hughes because their CVs aren’t up to scratch (even though they KNOW the club), but embrace Ole, despite his CV because he KNOWS the club.
It does matter. Except when it’s Cardiff. We’ve spent this season being talked down by ignorant pundits, fans and journalists alike. It’s a symptom of being a small club in a big league.
If Ole is a success, then all power to him. It’s poetic that he visits the CCS on Saturday. Chances are, he’ll oversee a spanking because we’re Cardiff City and that’s what happens. All we ask is you heed our warning.
We aren’t jealous, or annoyed that you’ve snatched someone from under our nose. We are just aghast that a man who showed no tactical intuition, no ability to find his best team and a complete inability to change a game once it wasn’t going his way, has rocked up at the biggest club in world football.
Some Man Utd fans seem to be a little touchy and dismissive of Cardiff fans mocking Solskjaer. I get it. You’re protective of one of your own and in need of a lift, but I’m sorry, it’s all true. If anything, he got an easy ride because he’s so nice
— Scott Johnson (@roathboy) December 19, 2018