Turmoil at Manchester United is never seemingly too far away in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, but one of their former players believes the club made a mistake in sacking one of his managerial successors.
Nemanja Matic played under four managers during his five seasons at the club with the quartet being Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Michael Carrick and Ralf Rangnick – the latter two in as interims.
And reflecting on his time at Old Trafford, Matic believes it was under Solskjaer that the club were going in the right direction.
The United icon was sacked in November 2021 after winless run had seen them collect just a point from seven Premier League matches – including a demoralising 5-0 defeat at home to Liverpool.
Solksjaer was then given the job full-time in March 2019 on a three-year contract and during that time had overseen a third-place (2019-20) and second-place finish (2020-21) in the Premier League as well as a run to the Europa League final in May 2021.
Matic believes there was progress being made under Solskjaer and is adamant that he ‘deserved more time’.
Nemanja Matic (pictured) believes Man United made a mistake in sacking Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Matic believes Solskjaer (right) ‘deserved more time’ as he was making progress at the club
Solskjaer was sacked in November 2021 after a seven-game Premier League winless streak
‘We finished second and third under him,’ Matic told FourFourTwo. ‘There was an atmosphere in the team that we weren’t happy finishing second, but when you see the results now, we did amazingly.
‘I think Ole deserved more time – and when I say Ole, I also want to mention his staff, like Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna. They were going the right way to bring United back.
‘Of course, they made the decision to sack Ole based on his final couple of results, but he was an amazing person with the right profile for the club. He and his assistants understood football – training was perfect and had every little detail ready for us.
‘I felt sorry because Ole was a great guy and we were on the way to doing something big. I wasn’t his first choice in the midfield and never liked a coach when I didn’t play – I’d fight with them.
‘But Ole was the first coach I didn’t fight with. He brought the players who weren’t in the starting XI together. He knew the club and the fans loved him.’
Since Solskjaer’s exit, United have failed to match his highest league position with the Red Devils finishing sixth the season he was sacked (2021-22), followed by third (2022-23), eighth (2023-24) and then their worst-ever position in the Premier League era of 15th last season.
