Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first move in charge at Manchester United was to look to the past and hire Mike Phelan.
Hiring Sir Alex Ferguson’s former assistant was a smart move. But nobody can accuse Solskjaer of being stuck in the past.
Solskjaer is busy recruiting a brain trust of Britain’s most promising coaching talent to help his United side now and in the future.
Kieran McKenna
One of Solskjaer’s big decisions was to decide to keep Kieran McKenna as one of his assistant coaches.
McKenna, still just 35, was hired as United’s under-18s coach under Jose Mourinho and was quickly promoted.
The Northern Irishman had previously carved out a name for himself at Tottenham Hotspur, leading their under-18s team into the FA Youth Cup semi-finals.
He plays a key role in the day to day running of United’s coaching sessions and match preparation analysing opponents.
Justin Cochrane
Earlier this summer United hired Justin Cochrane as the club’s new head of academy player developmenmt.
Cochrane, 39, is highly regarded in coaching circles after working with the FA.
He will work with the existing academy staff to support them and help the individual development of players across the under-18s and under-23s to prepare them for the rest of their careers.
Eric Ramsay
Eric Ramsay is the latest coach to join Solskjaer’s coaching staff. The club website report he will take charge of set pieces.
Solskjaer describes Ramsay as innovative and with fresh ideas and he joins from Chelsea’s under-23 side.
Ramsay was the youngest Brit to earn his UEFA Pro License and is still just 29 years old.
Smart young minds
Add in Michael Carrick, 39, another of Solskjaer’s assistants, and the innovative Martyn Pert, 43, and it is clear Solskjaer wants to surround himself and Manchester United with a group of coaches who are young and have modern ideas.
The game of football is constantly evolving and hiring coaches like Eric Ramsay will only work to his benefit.
What the likes of Carrick and McKenna lacked in experience beforehand, they are quickly gaining on the frontline of the sharp-edge of top level first team football.
Mike Phelan is there to add his experience and that is good to have too, but Solskjaer quite clearly wants to have input from younger coaches too.
Speaking earlier this year Solskjaer told the club website that the players respond well to the hard work being put forward by his coaches.
He said: “The attitude of everyone doing the work that Kieran [McKenna] and Michael [Carrick] are doing, the work on the training ground and in the meeting rooms is absolutely spot on. The details the coaches give the players, they listen, they look. We want to attack teams and attack them by defending really high, we want to be on the front foot defensively. It takes a lot of energy to do that but modern football requires that.”
With football managers under intense pressure, Solskjaer would be the first to admit that his job security is always at risk if results take a nosedive. But whatever happens with him, many of the young coaches around him may outlast him.
The likes of McKenna, Cochrane, Carrick, and Ramsay all have bright futures in football and they could even have bigger roles at United one day than they currently do. They all have the potential to become managers in their own right, whether it be at United or elsewhere. It is encouraging to see Solskjaer put faith in the young coaching brain trust around him and underneath him in the academy, and it can only make him sharper, and better, for the benefit of the team.
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