ANDREW COLE has backed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to land the Manchester United job. But the ex-Red Devils striker believes the managerial appointment is the most important since Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013. David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho have all tried but failed at Old Trafford. Yet 1999 treble-winner Cole, believes his […]
ANDREW COLE has backed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to land the Manchester United job.
But the ex-Red Devils striker believes the managerial appointment is the most important since Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013.
David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho have all tried but failed at Old Trafford.
Yet 1999 treble-winner Cole, believes his former team-mate Solskjaer is the man to lead United forward with an official announcement expected sooner rather than later.
Cole said: “I would give him the job. I have been very impressed. I don’t think I am different from anyone else.
“He has gone in, he’s galvanised the club, they’ve got results at the right time.
“Fair enough, they have lost the last couple, but I just think he’s trying to get Man Utd playing the way Man Utd used to play – attractive football, scoring goals and being entertaining.
“His staff have had a lot to do it with as well. Bringing Mike Phelan back was essential.
When you play for Man Utd you become part of the fabric yourself
Former Manchester United striker Andrew Cole
“We all know this is possibly the most important appointment since Sir Alex left. We have had three managers in that time. Are we moving forward, are we standing still.
“It’s a massive appointment, and if Ole does get the job, no doubt he will know just how tough it is to try and propel the club forward and be competing with Manchester City and Liverpool.”
Solskjaer has won 14 of his 19 games as interim boss following the sacking of Mourinho in December.
And Cole, who scored 121 goals in 275 appearances between 1995-2001, admitted he was worried about what direction United were heading in.
Cole added: “You have got to be concerned. When you play for Man Utd you become part of the fabric yourself.
“Playing for Man Utd you play in a certain way, and when you see Man Utd not playing that way, you have got to start scratching your head.
“I would like to believe that I played in many entertaining teams that scored goals and played the way Manchester United fans wanted us to play.
“So when it goes away from that, you are bound to get worried because Man Utd play a brand of football that everyone talks about and you miss it when they don’t do it.”
Cole, who was speaking at the launch of the International Champions Cup in Cardiff, says he did not view Solskjaer as a future manager.
But he did foresee Wales manager Ryan Giggs moving into the hotseat.
Cole said: “I didn’t see Ole being a manager because he was very quiet, didn’t say too much, but I always had a good relationship with him.
“I never thought he’d go into management so when he did go into it and he ended up at Cardiff and things didn’t work out the way he would have liked, I didn’t think anything of it.
“So when he came to Man United, I could see why they were doing it but we’ve got to be all brutally honest, I don’t think anyone could have sat here and said he would do as well as he did.
“Because even if you brought in a top tier manager, you’d say if a top tier manager started like that it would be unbelievable. So when Ole does it, it opens your mind.
“But fair play to him, I’d love him to get the job and I’d love him to continue to do very well.”
Manchester United vs AC Milan at Principality Stadium in Cardiff on August 3rd. Tickets available at Ticketmaster available here.
