PAUL INCE SAYS he is “sick and tired” of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s nostalgic approach, insisting the Manchester United manager must get over Alex Ferguson in a stinging attack.
Solskjaer was permanently appointed manager last month following an impressive interim spell following Jose Mourinho’s December sacking but seven defeats in his last nine games in charge has raised doubts.
United were swept aside 2-0 by neighbours and reigning Premier League champions Manchester City on Wednesday, leaving the Red Devils three points adrift of the top four.
Ince – who won two Premier League titles and 10 trophies in total during his time in Manchester – criticised Solskjaer’s approach and his determination to replicate iconic former boss Ferguson.
“Ole needs to get over Sir Alex Ferguson – he’s the United manager now. We’ve tried this nice approach, the stuff about Ole giving the tea lady chocolates and trying to do what Sir Alex Ferguson has done,” Ince wrote for Paddy Power.
“That’s in the past now, we need to move forward from that. All of this ‘Ole legend’ stuff – yeah, he scored the winner in the 1999 Champions League final, we get that. But he’s not a legend – he’s the manager of Manchester United.
“Regurgitating how he’s going to do it ‘the Fergie Way’ is pointless. It’s doing my head in and I know others feel the same. Ferguson isn’t the gaffer anymore – simple.
“No doubt he would help if Ole was in trouble, but I’m sick and tired of it, he’s the manager, he has to forget about the past and realise Ferguson isn’t the manager anymore, he is.”
Ince added: “I’m looking at the club and the future really worries me. They’re a long, long way from many teams. Why did those players perform so well when Ole came in and now they’re not? There’s no character, no leadership, no desire, but the manager has to motivate the players too. These are the same players that were playing brilliantly a few weeks ago.”
“I called it before he was made manager and got stick for it, but what I said was right,” said Ince, who was sceptical of Solskjaer during his caretaker period. “I want him to be successful, but I don’t think he’s capable of doing the job. It’s a huge rebuilding job. Will the players that are needed to carry it out want to come to Man United to play under him? I’m not sure. It’s different to [Pep] Guardiola and [Jurgen] Klopp trying to attract players.
“The fact is, they should’ve waited until the end of the season before they gave him the permanent job. There was no rush to appoint him, but everyone got caught up in the euphoria and was thinking with their hearts rather than their heads. If you went to the board now and asked whether they should’ve given him the job – I think we know what they would say.”
“Everyone jumped on the Ole bandwagon and now we’re seeing the repercussions,” Ince concluded.
“Zinedine Zidane was available at the time and Mauricio Pochettino has always been the right man to take United forward in my eyes. Whether I’m wrong or right, I’m entitled to my opinion.”
Gavan Casey and Murray Kinsella are joined by Andy Dunne to get stuck into last weekend’s Champions Cup semi-finals.:
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Ince would want to have a look at his own managerial career before slating Ole
@Sham C: yes,left out ” envious,and jealous” from the headline..
I think Ince has come across generally as extremely bitter since OGS took over. But, he has a point here.
Paul obviously got turned down for the role
He’s trying to do a Roy Keane on it, with his opinions, only trouble is people listen to Keane, a real Utd legend.Big difference is Ince says managers should motivate players,Keane says players should motivate themselves.I know who i would listen to…
@running man: people listen to keane? Not the Nottingham forest players or the Ireland players
@GOH: if you you’re old enough to remember keane playing, you’ll have a lot of time for him
@Eoin Murphy: Nope. Can remember a great player for Utd, doesn’t make him a good pundit nor a good manager. And he has ably demonstrated that.
@dear_mud: brought Sunderland from around the bottom of the championship to the premiership and left while they were in a decent position. At Ipswich he had a similar record to big Mick. Its his tempermant leaves him down
@Eoin Murphy: his days as a player have got nothing to do with now, he’s boring and has become a caricature of himself.
@GOH: so have you judging from your profile pic.
@GOH: If they did maybe they might start winning games….
@dear_mud: Best Premier league midfielder by far, great pundit as well, not afraid to speak his mind, other pundits probably told don’t say this, don’t say that, don’t overly critisise blah blah..Lineker said as much when asked why they go easy on motd, because if they upset someone they won’t get interviews.Its great when Keane pops up, you know you will get no bs, and when an ex player of his standing says his piece most football people will listen.
@Hardly Normal: amazing how precious people get when keane gets critised, I thought you keane fans would appreciate “telling it like it is”
@Hardly Normal: spend a massive amount of money,when the tough gets going so does keane, see villa, Ireland, and Sunderland. Can’t keep dining off the “he got Sunderland promoted 15 years ago” line
Spot on, and I’m a Harchester United fan
@John Craven: You’d want to look at your own team before commenting on other teams. Harchester haven’t won anything in years and their supporters are mainly armchairs followers.
@John Craven: Luis Amor Rodriguez is the man to lead United back to the top. A real legend.
@Gareth Keenan: Need somebody more like Didier Baptiste to shore up the defence first.
@Cian Nolan: if Karl Fletcher isn’t the first name on the team sheet you are going nowhere. Housewives favourite!!
@Gareth Keenan: bring back van gaal
@John Michael Mcdonald: Those players retired years ago.
@John Michael Mcdonald: more of a scott Lucas is required. The Jamie vardy of daytime football entertainment
@John Michael Mcdonald: Linda Block to up their spirits
That’s a pretty big chip you’ve got there Guv’nor
Think Ince had one decent season managing MK Dons and a disaster everywhere else…the managing ability of Steve Kean
When you hear this tripe from him then you realize why he was worst manager ever.
Ole has shown enough to suggest he deserves 1 major transfer one window and a period up until Christmas 2019, to rebuild the mess left by 3 previous charlatans, and to see if he can turn it around.
If not then headhunt Pochettino for summer 2020
@Stanley Baggins: you’re not giving him a whole lot of time. It’s going to take a few windows to sort the mess out, and United need to trust Ole to do it or get rid before next season.
@The Bloody Nine: Agreed. I think he will be a success but if he offloads the crap and brings in say Sancho, Rice, Zaha, Aouar and Meunier then he’ll be shown the door at Xmas if the new team were to lose 7 out of 9. But I have a feeling he’s gonna bring Fergie-type players with the Utd DNA and succeed.
@Stanley Baggins: No the players showed since he got the job full time that he’s not the answer. Ince is perfectly right in his assessment and it was frustrating me all this boss talk about fergie. Be your own man. The players have spotted this a mile off. I’ve always thought pogba was overated anyway. I grew watching world class players like van Basten, gullitt, del perio, zidane, Brazilian Ronaldo, Messi, iniesta, Ronaldinho. He doesn’t even come close to them.
Ince may not have been a successful manager but then again I can’t see the huge success Ole has been either up to now. I think Utd picked the wrong man for the job and they know it. Man City and Liverpool picked managers with proven track records when they took over. Ole is not in that league.
@Gus Lennon: Gus What League was Pep in when he started at Barca ? Or Klopp at Dortmund ?
@David Weston: whatever about Guardiola, Klopp made his name at Mainz before getting the Dortmund job.
@David Weston: fair point but did United miss a trick in not trying to get Pochettino?
@Shane McGettrick: by getting them relegated???
@David Weston: By getting them promoted for the first time in their history, despite them facing relegation to the German third tier when he took over. They also survived their first season in the Bundesliga even with the smallest budget and stadium in the league. He also didn’t run away when the were eventually relegated. It’s hardly up there with getting sacked by Cardiff and managing Molde alright.
Facking big time Charlie!!!
He is trying to instil in the players what it was like in the old days , with a little arse licking , . It is working to a point , at least the tea lady said the chocolates were lovely .
@Tricksy: He needs to offload mercenaries like Pogba and deadwood like Matic, Alexis, Bailly before he can exert the authority needed to move forward. Right now he’s working with a broken uninterested dressing room
@Stanley Baggins: unfortunately Stanley the players have more clout than the manager , I don’t think he is a strong enough character to turn that club around ? I thought he would at the outset but , his comments of late seem to be out there in the media , same as Jose tried .
@Stanley Baggins: I don’t agree Pogba needs players around him , and not to be an escape goat all the time, nobody knows what instructions he’s given ahead of each game. At Juve he was allowed to get on with his game and was very effective, because of the players around him and the same for France at the World Cup. And if there’s any distractions it’s coming from that Sc**bag agent who only interested in what money he can make for himself.
@David Weston: where did the goat escape from??
@spodo kimono: your hole !
Stick your opinion you fking turncoat!