Former Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was fired four years ago. A lot has changed since.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer‘s spell at Manchester United came to a painful end in November 2021, after a bad run of form was topped off with a 4-1 loss to Watford.
Solskjaer was fired the next day, and showed his emotion in a tearful farewell interview that showed the mutual high regard between club and manager, even in his darkest moment.
Speaking to The Overlap looking back on his exit, Solskjaer admitted: “Of course that was a kick. I thought we had something going.”
Now as we look back, let’s take a look at what we have learned since Solskjaer’s sacking in 2020/21.
Solskjaer’s record deserves more respect
In his two full seasons in charge, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer led Manchester United to a third placed finish and a second placed finish.
Manchester United have not come close since. What those finishes did was drastically raise expectation, with United entering the 2021/22 season talking about a title challenge.
Solskjaer was a penalty shootout away from winning the Europa League. This might not have saved him, but it would have put a different spin on his spell as manager.
He was not helped by his very modest previous managerial record, with many feeling he should not have been given the job permanently in the first place.
Since Solskjaer’s exit, however, Manchester United have been heading in a downwards direction, finishing in 15th place in 2024/25.
United hope to be back on the way up now – but for context – United’s record under Ruben Amorim after 10 games was the exact same points total Solskjaer had two weeks before his sacking.
Just to get back to the level of Solskjaer’s previous league achievements is a steep climb, and his management of the club deserves more respect.
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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was not helped by having to manage Manchester United during the Ed Woodward era.
You can argue Ineos would not have turned to him in the first place, and that’s probably correct, but Solskjaer was forced to operate under one of the worst chief executives in football history.
Solskjaer needed a midfielder in summer 2021. He was given Jadon Sancho instead. He signed one midfielder during his time at the club, a player he preferred not to play at all, Donny van de Beek.
This came in summer 2020 after qualifying for the Champions League. United were forced to scrap around on deadline day for last minute bargains after a disastrous window.
The move for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021 served to accelerate Solskjaer’s exit with raised expectations.
By time the 2021/22 season came to an end, there was a mass clearout with the likes of Jesse Lingard, Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba leaving on free transfers; players who United should have cashed in on far earlier, to reinvest the money.
During this time Solskjaer was desperate to sign Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland. Ed Woodward failed to secure either. He also said that he had looked into signing Declan Rice.
Unhappiness with the Glazers came to the fore during Solskjaer’s spell, with protests also a distraction, something that Ruben Amorim has not had to deal with.
Trophies were a relief, but Solskjaer’s comments were right
Amid his own failure to win trophies with one final defeat in 2021 and three semi-final exits in 2020, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was still certain that he was on the right track.
Solskjaer made the controversial argument that getting over the line to win a trophy would not define his progress, or lack of.
He said: “Any cup competition can give you a trophy but sometimes it’s more of an ego thing from other managers and clubs to finally win something.”
Solskjaer was ridiculed in some quarters at the time for lacking a winner’s mentality, but his comments have stood the test of time.
Erik ten Hag ended United’s trophy drought in 2023, winning the Carabao Cup after victories against Aston Villa, Burnley, Charlton, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle.
Did that immediately spell progress? We hoped so, but a 7-0 loss away to Liverpool days later brought United crashing back down to earth with total humiliation.
In 2023/24, Ten Hag was close to the sack before winning the FA Cup Final. This saved him from the sack, but only temporarily.
Months later Ten Hag was fired after beginning the next season poorly, and failing to show any sign of sustainable improvement in the Premier League, the competition Solskjaer described as ‘the bread and butter of the season’.
Solskjaer has failed to prove United wrong
While we are rightly looking at Manchester United’s record since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer over the past four years, we also have to look at his.
Solskjaer decided not to make an immediate return to management, before eventually resurfacing in the Turkish Super Lig with Besiktas.
It started fairly well for the Norwegian, but he was fired early in 2025/26 after losing in the Europa Conference League qualifying rounds.
He lasted only eight months as manager at Besiktas, and links to new roles have been thin on the ground.
In no way at all, has he shown that Manchester United were wrong to sack him.
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