It is another reminder that despite the disappointing results, the club as a global brand seems as strong as ever, continuing to boast a social media following that is the envy of many sporting entities around the world.
For example, no club in the Premier League can come close to matching United’s Twitter with 28.5 million people – league leader Chelsea comes closest with almost 10 million fewer.
But winning the social media race will bring some consolation to fans, with Solskjaer leaving at a time when the club is falling further behind its rivals on the pitch.
Last year’s runners-up are currently in eighth place after four losses in their last five league games and the team, especially the defence, appears to be lacking in organization and structure.
After an embarrassing 4–1 loss against Watford in Solskjaer’s last game on Sunday, United goalkeeper David de Gea summed it up by saying: “We don’t know what to do with the ball, we’re scoring too many goals. It’s a terrible moment.”
Solskjaer was hired to bring back the good times at Old Trafford and at times, he did.
This season’s performances have also been particularly poor, with the recent defeats to Manchester City and Liverpool showing the growing gap in quality between United and those genuinely challenging for the title.
In his first two seasons in charge, the manager could explain the poor results as the club was in a rebuilding process, but this season was different.
The board had backed Solskjaer in the transfer market with the signings of Rafael Varane, Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo, and when you had a team with elite talent, there was no room for excuses.
The job of the next boss is to tune in to a team of world class individuals.
what next?
As has been the case with United’s hierarchy since the departure of Alex Ferguson in 2013, there seems to be little planning for life after the last manager.
The club announced that Michael Carrick, Solskjaer’s right-hand man, who has never taken charge of a Premier League game in his life, will fill in until an interim manager takes over at the end of the season.
No one can deny that Carrick was a brilliant player for the club, but the question remains whether he can bring something different to the table given his heavy involvement in Solskjaer’s tenure.
The timing of this decision could hardly have been very good, as many of the game’s top coaches are already in the job.
United made the decision to sack Solskjaer almost three weeks after Antonio Conte, a potential replacement, was signed by Tottenham Hotspur.
Former Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane and current PSG manager Mauricio Pochettino have been rumored as full-time replacements, but United still face what looks like an uphill struggle for next year’s Champions League is – to do so will result in failure. A huge blow both on and off the pitch.
‘They’re caught again’
From the club’s board to the coaching staff, the team’s organization has been well below expectations and those at the top have not learned a lesson from past failures.
Glazer’s owners and departing executive vice president Ed Woodward have been accused of not caring enough about performance on the pitch, and have once again been criticized for not having their plans in place.
Former United player Gary Neville told Sky Sports: “I really don’t want to hold the knife to club owners and the club’s hierarchy today, but you have to ask serious questions. I’ve had enough of that.”
“I think the club is run on a commercial side, okay, but I think both culturally and from a football decision-making point of view, it leaves a lot to be desired.
“They’re caught again, they’ve been caught in the last few weeks, they don’t know what to do.”
But until United are challenged again for trophies, fans will continue to pressurize the club’s hierarchy, hoping to avoid another embarrassing episode in a turbulent period in the club’s history.
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