Manchester United have appointed their former player, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the interim manager after firing Jose Mourinho from the post. The 45-year-old does not have the greatest managerial track record in the Premier League and should take a few notes from Ryan Giggs’ previous stint as caretaker boss.
Giggs was appointed as interim player-coach on 22nd April 2014 after the sacking of David Moyes. United were not in a great position then and the Welshman decided to make 20 changes during his 4 games in charge, utilising 23 of the club’s players.
Giggs delivered an effortless 4-0 win against Norwich City in his first game but was beaten by relegation-riddled Sunderland in the next.
Speaking to the press about his team selection, the 45-year-old said, “It’s difficult. We won 4-0, but you’ve got to be fair to the players who were obviously in that game and also fair to the players who maybe trained well or contributed off the bench.”
The Black Cats collected a victory over United at Old Trafford and a very demoted Giggs was quoted after – “I picked a team that I thought could win the game. I trusted the players. Some of the players let me down and let themselves down, maybe I was a little too soft. If you step onto that pitch as a United player you give it your all and if you don’t, you don’t deserve to play in the next game.”
Giggs took an even bigger leap of faith for the Hull City game and handed youngsters, James Wilson and Tom Lawrence their debut starts. While Giggs did push the boundaries of traditional coaching to deliver 2 wins, a draw and a loss, his short stint should be used as a learning curve for Solksjaer.
The United team could definitely use a fresh perspective and players should be held accountable to the highest degree.
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