LONDON • Manchester United yesterday ended Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's three-year reign as manager at Old Trafford, but plan to wait until the end of the season to name his permanent successor.
Saturday's 4-1 embarrassment at the hands of struggling Watford in the Premier League was the final straw for the board, which had stuck by Solskjaer in recent weeks despite humiliating home defeats by Liverpool and Manchester City.
Former midfielder Michael Carrick, who was part of Solskjaer's coaching team, will take charge of the forthcoming games, including tomorrow's Champions League tie at Villarreal, while the club look to appoint an interim manager till the end of the season.
The 20-time English champions said the Norwegian, 48, "will always be a legend at Manchester United and it is with regret that we have reached this difficult decision". It added: "While the past few weeks have been disappointing, they should not obscure all the work he has done over the past three years to rebuild the foundations for long-term success."
Solskjaer leaves with United seemingly out of the title race, 12 points behind leaders Chelsea down in seventh in the table.
Carrick will be facing a baptism of fire in his first game in charge against Unai Emery's men.
A defeat in Spain would leave the Red Devils needing both results in the final round of matches in Group F to go their way to avoid crashing out at the Champions League group stage for a second consecutive season. After Villarreal, United travel to Chelsea on Sunday before hosting Arsenal.
A run of five defeats in Solskjaer's final seven league games contrasts sharply with the anticipation that surrounded the club in August when Cristiano Ronaldo made a shock return in the final days of the transfer window.
United also spent over £100 million (S$183 million) on Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane as they looked to build on finishing second in the league to Manchester City last season. However, Solskjaer was unable to assemble the pieces of his star-studded squad into a collective unit despite Ronaldo's return of nine goals in 14 games.
"We don't know what to do with the ball, we don't know how to defend properly and we're conceding a lot of goals," said United goalkeeper David de Gea, whose double penalty save from Ismaila Sarr counted for nothing as the visitors could not keep out a rampant Hornets side languishing in 16th place.
Solskjaer had ridden out storms before in a roller-coaster but ultimately trophy-less three years. He took over from Jose Mourinho in December 2018, initially on an interim basis, but after guiding United to 14 wins in 19 matches in all competitions he was given the job permanently in March 2019.
But even his credit as a club legend for scoring the winning goal in the 1999 Champions League final to win a historic treble for Alex Ferguson's side was fading as he was booed by the travelling support in the Watford defeat.
There have been chastising results in recent months. A 4-2 defeat at Leicester City on Oct 16 was followed by a humiliating 5-0 hammering at home by arch-rivals Liverpool. United were then outclassed by City in a 2-0 home loss.
"Thank you Ole. You did us proud," said former United captain Gary Neville, who has been criticised for not calling for his former teammate to be sacked in his punditry. "The last two months were tough but before that you restored some soul into the club."
French great Zinedine Zidane, who won three Champions Leagues with Varane and Ronaldo at Real Madrid and enjoys a close relationship with Paul Pogba, is the bookmakers' favourite to take over. Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers and Ajax coach Erik ten Hag are also in contention.
But the decision to wait until the summer to make a permanent appointment will open up a wider pool of potential candidates, including Paris Saint-Germain boss Mauricio Pochettino, who has previously been linked to the job.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
