'Shocking lack of awareness': Simon Jordan criticizes Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's management after Manchester United revelations

Simon Jordan believes Ole Gunnar Solskjaer allowed a “weak culture to take hold” during his time at Manchester United.

The former Red Devils coach spoke about his former teammate Gary Neville's Stay with football podcast earlier this week and spoke about his time at Old Trafford as a manager.

In addition to talking about Cristiano Ronaldo furious On being benched, Solskjaer also addressed the players' reluctance to do pre-match interviews and take the captain's armband.

“No one said no to being captain of the club, it was only in certain games (they said no)… but they didn't want to say it themselves,” he said.

“There are other people who come to me to say it. While you are doing it, you don't go to the manager to do it yourself, but you find someone else to do it for you.”

“One is mean, the second is strange. I don't think we understood it, but a lot of players said no to doing the pre-match interview. But you had the options, Bruno (Fernandes) would do it, Harry (Maguire) would always do it, Victor (Lindelof) did it, Scott McTominay He did it, David (de Gea) did it, Luke Shaw did.

“But the others… 'Oh, no, I'm worried about the previous questions. I'd rather not,' because maybe they're afraid of all the reaction and you understand (with) the players, their mental health. Some.”

But talkSPORT co-host Jordan is struggling to find the point behind these revelations.

He said: “I mean, why would you be captain anyway? Isn't there a captain in perpetuity? So he changed captains every week?”

“Are we doing a draw to see who will be the captain this week?”

4

When co-host Jim White suggested it would be when the go-to captains were unavailable, Jordan said: “That's a culture thing, right? Some of that will be a culture inherited from managers who have been there before, so no. You can leave all that at the door.

“I don't know what he's trying to say about pre-match interviews. Some people are not very good at media, some people are not very articulate or confident, some people their first language is not English.

“And necessarily, we're not entirely sure what you mean. Are you talking about pre-match interviews or post-match interviews? What is the relevance of a pre-match interview? The post-match interview is probably more meaningful , TRUE?” No? Do you mean after the game?

“I'm not entirely sure what Ole accomplishes in all this.”

Solskjaer helped Man United finish second in the Premier League in his first half-season in charge in 2018, followed by a sixth and third place finish.

The 2021/22 season was the beginning of their decline, with a poor run of results since September, including a 5-0 defeat to their rivals. Liverpool leading to his departure in November 2021.

4

But apart from not being clear about what Solskjaer was trying to illustrate with his antidotes to his time in the Old Trafford dugout, Jordan concluded that his management style fostered an “epidemic of weak thinking” at Man United.

He White and Jordan The host continued: “I think you are suggesting that after three years of managing a football team, the culture of the club, as we know, does not generate leadership. It does not generate important people.

“And again, the scenario that they go to when someone is challenged or has something that resembles adversity is, 'Oh, don't do that because it will affect their mental health.' I mean, people with real mental health problems should scream when you hear that kind of garbage.

“It's not about having a challenge and then fading away in mental health, it's about overcoming adversity. Too many people mistake a bad incident in their life as a reason to protect their mental health and consider it a mental health problem.

4

“I don't think so Ole Gunnar Solskjaer He was a great manager for manchester united. I think it treaded water for three years and I think it allowed a culture to take hold.

“It was already planted there after (Sir Alex) Ferguson left for a number of years, (Solskjaer) allowed it to become almost an epidemic of weak thinking.

“For him to be doing interviews with the guy Overlap about what these things do and don't mean… I don't know, I don't know what I do about it. I think it probably says more, with all due respect, about the… team reflects leadership.

“The leader of the team is the manager. If the manager doesn't create a reaction in you where you want to crawl over broken glass or stand up and take bullets when trash and bullets fly, then that is a reflection of the leader. .

“So that interview is an astonishing insight into the lack of awareness of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's responsibility, perhaps as a football manager.

“The players are an extension of the coach and the culture he creates at this football club.”